A Facade to Shatter

‘Congratulations, Lia,’ he said, his voice chilling her. ‘You’ve won the jackpot after all. ‘You’re about to become a Scott.’ ‘This is not how I wanted this to happen,’ she said, on a throat-aching whisper. Tears pressed the backs of her eyes. She couldn’t let them fall. ‘You came here,’ he said, his voice hard. ‘What did you expect? Did you think I would be happy?’ She dropped her gaze. A single tear spilled free and she dashed it away, determined not to cry in front of him. Not to be weak. ‘I had hoped you might be, yes.’ She lifted her chin and sucked back her tears. ‘Clearly, I was mistaken.’ ‘We’ll marry,’ he said. ‘Because we must. But it’s an arrangement, do you understand? We’ll do it for as long as necessary to protect our families and then we’ll end it when the time comes.’