Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(83)

Didn’t he see we were broken and ruined before we even began? Could I really believe we’d get through that? That he’d even want to get through it?

Noah was on the bench press and piped up like he’d been listening the whole time. “Yeah, about the gala, you going with your husband, Evie?”

Dom had walked over and draped an arm around me as he stared down his little brother. “Pretty sure my brother will be taking Evie. Right, Declan?”

Anastasia leaned in to whisper between Dom, Declan and me. “Declan and I were just talking about that, and I told him it would actually be best if we went together again. Piper and I discussed it. You know the press actually wants to see it and with this only being a marriage of convenience, maybe it’s best we start to show some sort of separation …”

She drifted off with her statement. My heart raced and my body shook with a jealousy I knew I should control. I bit my tongue before I murmured out, “Yes, it probably is for the best.”

Anastasia sighed into Declan, her small frame dwarfed next to him as she hooked her arm in his while he stared at me. “You really think it’s best?”

I nodded.

“We’ll see about that.” Dom hooked his arm in mine suddenly, and Declan’s gaze flicked to our connection with a flash of warning. “If Declan’s not taking you, you’re coming with me. My family is going to want to meet you.”

“Your family?”

“Yes,” Dom turned to Declan. “Mom’s still furious she wasn’t a witness to your marriage vows, by the way. She said stop ignoring her calls. She’s not coming to the gala, but she expects you to bring Evie home in the next month. But Lilah, her crazy-ass husband, their kid, and Izzy and Cade will be here. Lilah said she’d get a handle on the situation for Mom.”

“What the fuck?” Declan’s hand shot into his pocket to grab his phone as Dom started laughing. “Not happening, Dom. We’re on a damn group text. Why the fuck hasn’t anyone said anything?”

“Right, but it’s been quiet for a reason.” He paused to see if Declan would catch on, then rubbed his five-o’clock shadow. “We’ve all been texting on the other group chat about you. I think Dimitri named it, Declan Didn’t Invite Us to the Wedding or something like that.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. Are you all twelve?” He glared at him and then me. “We’ll talk later.” Then he stormed off like he was going to conquer the world and his family all at the same time.

“Well, that’s awkward.” Anastasia flicked a nail, not making eye contact with me but instead talking only to Dom. “You know if I ever marry him, I’ll definitely invite all of you.”

Dom must have felt my whole body stiffen because he patted my arm. But I was off kilter, not minding how I acted and feeling like anything I said to her was self-defense as she passive aggressively threw punches my way.

Facing an attacker head-on was what I was taught. I didn’t really have anything to lose at this point anyway. “Oh, Anastasia, I don’t think that’ll ever happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m married to him, and I’d object a hell of a lot to another woman marrying my husband.” I felt those words in my bones, they rattled in me like I owned Declan now as much as he owned me. I wanted that, and I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I had to figure it out.

A baby needed to be created in love but the questions began with what he’d said to me. Could we fight through the past? Could we make good from bad? Could we conquer how this was starting and where I’d started from to create a happily ever after?





31




EVERLY





“I’M SORRY. So, you think I’m going with you to the gala?” I asked again over the phone a few weeks later.

“A dress will be delivered in fifteen minutes,” Declan said in a clipped tone over the phone.

“I don’t need a dress.” I’d gotten one for attending the gala with Dom. “Dom and I color coordinated a deep blue. Clara brought one to work for me the other day.”

“He’s trying to fuck with me, and the fact that you even agreed to this is complete bullshit, Everly. We’re supposed to be doing this together.”

“Doing what?” I pulled at the string of a friendship bracelet. I was on my bed making a black one again. Like the one I’d thrown at Declan and said I wouldn’t wear again. I’d made dozens of them. I’d string them together and then throw them in the garbage.

“Being a team through this marriage.”

“How are we a team when every time I try to talk to you about the will, you say we’ll discuss it later?” I pointed out.

“Fine. You want to talk about it,” he growled, like he’d had enough of being cordial and friendly. “I’m coming over then.”

“Well, not right now!” I jumped off my bed and paced out into the kitchen to glance over at his house. “I have to get ready for my date with Dom.”

“Are you fucking kidding? It’s not a date. And you’re going with me, Everly,” he ground out. “Lilah is on her way, and now Izzy is too … with Cade. They’re making it a family event, which means we’re going as a couple. Izzy told Lilah all about you, Drop. I can’t show up with someone else.”