Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
“Fine.” Sig shifted right to left, crossing his arms tight to his chest. As if to mitigate the physical cost of saying the next part out loud. “There is something between me and Chloe. I won’t pretend that isn’t true.”
Harvey slowly closed his eyes. “Jesus Christ.”
“We met at the country club when my truck broke down that night. A lot happened before we . . . knew. I was shocked to see her playing the harp when I showed up. She didn’t expect me to be your son, either. It’s a fucked-up situation, but . . .” He had to stop so he could struggle through the detonations going off in his chest. They were being set off by talking about his feelings for Chloe openly. Out loud. God, it felt great. Scary, though, considering it might not make a difference to the man standing in front of him. “But there’s nothing fucked-up or wrong about me and Chloe, okay?”
“Isn’t there?” Harvey snapped.
“No.” Sig shook his head. “It’s the purest thing I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s like I’ve loved her since I took my first breath.”
“Love,” Harvey said flatly. “You love her?”
“I exist for her.” Sig’s lungs shrunk to the size of straws, air scarcely passing through them in a rattle. “I’ve never asked you for anything in my life . . . Father. I’ll never ask you for anything again. Except for right now. I’m asking you not to marry Sofia. I know you won’t admit out loud that she’s nothing more than a mark to you, but if that’s the case, I’m asking you to please move on. Please. Pick someone else.”
When Sig had admitted to existing for Chloe, he could have sworn his father’s eyes had softened. They were hard now, however. Glittering with irritation in the moonlight. “You still really believe I’m just here to con Sofia out of her money.” Harvey took a stiff step in his son’s direction. “If the heinous shit you believe about me were true, don’t you think Sofia’s high-powered estate lawyer would have found it? Nothing about my past set off alarm bells. The report came back squeaky-clean. Sorry to disappoint you.”
There was Sig’s confirmation. Sofia’s lawyers had concluded their investigation.
Squeaky-clean. Was this man’s depravity all in Sig’s head? No. No, he’d lived through the poverty this man had inflicted on his mother. Experienced it himself.
“Sig, I’m in love with Sofia as much as you’re apparently in love with Chloe.”
Impossible. He couldn’t feel a fraction of this. He wouldn’t even be standing.
Sig didn’t say that out loud. Couldn’t. Hope was slipping through his fingers.
“I’m asking you for the last time,” Sig rasped. “Please.”
“Please call off the wedding to the woman I love?” Harvey scoffed. “No. You can’t ask me to do that. And Chloe’s relationship with Sofia is decent right now, despite what you’ve already done to ruin it, whisking her off to Boston with no warning.” He dropped his voice even lower. “Now, I’m proud of what you’ve done in the hockey world, but you’re a free agent come the end of the season, son. That doesn’t sound like a lot of security. Not like Sofia and this world can offer her. Sofia loves her daughter. But I’ll remind you what kind of shitstorm would erupt if something like this went public. You need to consider how your actions now are going to affect Chloe’s future. Or her relationship with her mother and Darien, in general.”
“Not a minute goes by that I’m not thinking of how everything under the sun affects her,” Sig said through his teeth.
Harvey appeared to be taken aback by his vehemence. “I’m marrying Sofia, Sig. What can you possibly do once that happens? Marry your stepsister? Jesus, Sig. Pull your head out of your as—”
“Watch yourself,” Sig cut in quietly, causing the man to snap his mouth shut. “You might have the upper hand tonight, but you haven’t earned the right to speak to me like that.”
After a tense moment of eye contact, Harvey broke first, sighing. “I don’t want this to come between us. I don’t want it to come between Chloe and her mother, either.”
Sig studied Harvey hard and asked himself the same question he always did. Was this man genuine or was he all an act? A game player? It irked him that he couldn’t get a read, when he was usually adept at making judgments of someone’s character. Was his head too clouded by the past to see Harvey clearly? Was there an ulterior motive in play here or was it all in Sig’s head? If only his mother didn’t shut down every time Sig tried to speak to her about the past, all the circumstances surrounding her relationship with Harvey, maybe he’d have answers.
“Fair warning, I’ve hired my own investigator. If you have any skeletons in the closet, I’m going to rattle them.” He walked backward toward his truck, maintaining eye contact with Harvey the whole way. “You won’t hear the word ‘please’ from my mouth ever again.”