Page 166 of Temporary Vows

Dorian

My shoes echo against the marble as I make my way down the corridor toward my father’s office.

He wanted to see me first thing. After everything that’s going on, I can hardly be surprised. When Jeremiah Vale summons you before his coffee has gone cold, it means he’s had all night to think. And that’s when my father is at his most dangerous.

It’s barely seven, and all hell is breaking loose.

The fucking press are all over my ass.Again.

Dorian Vale’s Brother-in-Law Arrested on Drug-Related Charges.

I saw the headlines before I left the house. Every fucking tabloid, news site, and gossip column was running the same story with the same fucking photograph of me standing in The Black Key while my brother-in-law gets hauled away in handcuffs.

Fuck.

The fucking mole obviously struck again. Right under my damn nose.

Everything happened so fast, this whole thing could only be their doing. I’d been thinking about it all night.

The mole couldn’t find anything on me, so they went after the next best thing—someone close. Someone who wasn’t taking the precautions I was taking.

The trap was laid from the moment Elodie and I walked into the restaurant. They were waiting for Jack. He’d barely been there five minutes before the police busted in and arrested him.

And the damn press… they seemed to be lying in wait too. PR said the first story went live at midnight, then the rest started trickling in.

When Jack was arrested, I was so busy thinking about him and Elodie that the mole didn’t even cross my mind until later that night, after I’d returned home with the bad news. By then, it was already too late.

Apart from the fact that Elodie was deeply upset, this fresh hell was another scandal I didn’t need. Another front page that made me look bad. Another motherfucking reason for the board to question whether Dorian Vale is worth the trouble he brings.

I already know what’s waiting for me in this meeting with my father. It will be just like last time. Except this time, it cuts deeper.

This was personal. And it unearthed old wounds.

Elodie needed to know the truth about Jack, but I would have preferred to give it to her another time. Now she knows, and I suppose it’s for the best. Better to get the pain over with in one go than drag it out.

I push through the double doors of the executive floor. My father’s assistant glances up at me with a sympathetic yet careful expression. She doesn’t say a word. She just nods toward the closed door ahead—Dad’s office.

I nod back and head over. I knock on the door with confidence, already going over what I’m about to say.

“Come in,” he calls out. I try to gauge his tone, but it’s too neutral.

When I walk in, I try to assess his face, but that’s neutral too.

Maybe I’m too damn tired to tell up from down, or right from left.

“Dorian,” Dad begins in that gruff voice. That alone tells me where I stand.

“Before you say anything more, let’s be clear.” I square my shoulders and level him with a hard stare. “If you demand I leave Elodie and find a new wife, I’m gone. We part here in peace and go our separate ways. I will completely understand your reasoning and respect it, but I’m choosing my wife. I don’t care what I lose. I’m not losing her.”

He holds my stare for a long moment, watching me the way he watches the stock market. Then he leans back in his chair and lets out a slow sigh.

“Well, I guess you passed my test then,” he answers, his words sharp and to the point.

My brain stalls and every muscle in my body that was braced for war has nowhere to go. I stand there, my arms at my sides, completely disarmed.

“What?” I stare back at him with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I told you to get married. But I needed to see whether you’d treat it like a contract or make it real.”