My Sweet Seduction

Family Dinner

Chapter 5

Brett’s POV

“Hey, babe,” I greeted Noel, giving her a tight hug.

I had been missing her all week long. The last time we had been able to get together was for Christmas. I hated having to hide like this, but we can’t let Emma know that we’re together. She would never forgive me. Too bad for her, I had met her sister, Noel, first. I already loved Noel, which is why I agreed to help them out with this farce. I had heard so many stories of how Emma had bullied Noel back in middle school and high school.

I was so disappointed in Emma. She hadn't struck me as someone who would do that sort of thing, but I guess you never can tell. I feel terrible about my part in this, but Noel's parents had sworn that Emma deserved this. They told me that Emma had always picked on Noel because she took after Andrea. Emma's mom was not a nice lady. She was a tough businesswoman, and I had heard about what she had done to Halton.

“Hey,” Noel softly answered.

Noel was always gentle and kind, nothing like Emma. Emma was too opinionated, too bold. I was never interested in Emma. She was plus-sized and nowhere near as beautiful as my Noel. But Noel wanted Sweet and Southern to be hers, so I had to date Emma and marry her in order to get it. The paperwork was already ready for her to sign, but Emma was sharp. She wasn’t a pushover. We would have to get married first to get this done, which meant that I was going to have to sleep with her, whether I wanted to or not.

Noel took the chair between Gail and me before she greeted my parents. They adored her, and she was everything that I’ve ever wanted in a woman. I met her during my gap year, while I was working to pay for my next two years of college. I wanted more in life than what I had. When Noel finally approached me with her plan, I just wanted to make her happy. I was doing everything I could to make sure that the moment Noel could marry me, I would be able to make her dreams come true.

“Have you brought up bringing in Noel and Gail in the stores again?” Joan asked.

“I did, Joan, right after Christmas, but Emma refuses to let me hire either of them. I don’t want to push too hard, because she warned me. You know how Emma is, she doesn’t have a good relationship with either of them,” I replied.

“She’s such a b***h,” Gail snapped out in frustration. "She would be lucky to have us running her stores. We would do a much better job than her fat ass would."

“She’s always been jealous of Noel, since she was a toddler. She never wanted my daughter to have anything. She’s just like her spiteful mother, Andrea. They couldn’t stand the fact that Halton was happier with us and punished us for it for years. You saw how rude she was over a simple recipe. She doesn’t want any of us to be happy and will do anything she can to hurt Noel. Don’t fall for her tricks, Brett. Neither she nor her mother can be trusted,” Joan stated.

“Joan’s right, Brett. You need to move the wedding up, so we can just get this over with. Emma is smart. You need to make sure she is wrapped around your finger and signs the paperwork that gives you control of her business. Once that happens, you can divorce her and finally get to marry Noel. Your reward is coming, Brett, just hold on a little longer,” Halton agreed.

“I already have the paperwork written up. I had it done inside the prenup in order to hide it. She won’t even see it coming. It is hidden very well in the clauses. But even if she does see it, it won’t throw up a red flag for her. It states that if she cheats on me, she forfeits her ownership of the bakeries to me. She loves me, and she can't stand cheaters,” I stated confidently. “She wouldn’t ever intentionally cheat on me. So she’ll sign it, confident that it won't happen. All we have to do is get her drunk at the wedding and caught in bed with another man. I didn’t want to sleep with her anyway. This was the only way I could keep from having to sleep with her.”

I shuddered in disgust at the thought of sleeping with Emma. She’s attractive, but after being with Noel, Emma can't compare.

“I don’t blame you, baby. My big sister isn’t very attractive at all. I wouldn't want to punish you by making you do that. You're mine, and I’m a jealous woman. I was glad to help you find a way out of it. I have a friend who is willing to sleep with anyone, but he doesn’t want to get into any trouble with the law. We need to make sure we have proof that Emma was begging him to sleep with her, but you can leave that to me; I know what to do. That way, she has no recourse against him or us,” Noel advised.

“But he’s not going to hurt her, right?” I asked.

“No, baby, he’s just going to have s*x with her. He won’t hurt her,” Noel assured me.

“I'm sorry to ask, as I do trust you, Noel. I just didn’t want Emma to get hurt. She’s always treated me well, but I know that she owes you for making your early years so painful, Noel. Emma will be able to recover from this and move on with her life. But you're right, she owes this to you and your mother for what her mother and grandparents did to your family. I can’t imagine how hard it was on you while you were growing up,” I stated.

“It was so hard,” Noel told me before tearing up. She wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to put on a brave face.

“Halton’s foot only slipped once, and Andrea lost it. She blamed Halton and me for something that wasn’t even planned. She overreacted and divorced him without even trying to talk it out. She intentionally punished us for something that was just a drunken one-night stand. Calling in that loan early against Halton was vindictive and almost ruined him. What we are doing is no more than we deserve. We can’t go back and make it right, but now that Halton’s company is struggling, we need the cash infusion that we can get from owning the bakeries. Emma and Andrea owe us for ten years of suffering,” Joan insisted.

“You know I’ll help in any way I can, Joan. You know I owe your family a debt I couldn’t repay for helping me to get my degree. Emma is smart. She’ll land on her feet. I’m sure she will be able to come up with more recipes and be able to start over again. This is all on her and her family. If her mother hadn’t been so underhanded and vengeful, none of this would have even happened,” I replied.

I did feel a little guilty about my part in this. Noel pointed Emma out to me at college, but they didn’t have to twist my arm to go along with this. I liked Noel, needed the finance degree. They helped me get it, and they are about to be my in-laws. Emma could have helped me out by helping pay for a semester, especially since she knew how much my family struggled. Yet she never felt bad about taking those scholarships away from people like me. I might have been able to get a full-ride if she hadn't snatched them up. She was the one who messed everything up. I had to keep reminding myself of that.

All I was doing was making things right for her sister and father. Joan wasn’t even a part of this. I pushed the guilt back down. Emma was really smart, and she would come back one day stronger and wiser than before. But until I had control of the company, I would play along as her fiancé. Emma should have known better than to think I cared for her. I mean, it's been three years. Who is willing to wait three years to get their engagement ring after a proposal?

Emma's mother was the true villain of this story. Everyone makes mistakes, and this time around, it's going to cost Emma. My own father’s foot had slipped, and my mother ended up staying with him. Loyalty is important, and Andrea has shown she has none by unilaterally divorcing Halton after one small mistake. Someone has to pay for what happened back then. It’s just unfortunate that the person who will suffer the most is going to be Emma. But someone has to pay the price.