The billionaire’s forced bride

Chapter 5

Colton's POV

"She's smarter than you're giving her credit for."

Nathan said it from the chair across my desk without looking up from his laptop, which was his way of delivering opinions he knew I didn't want to hear. He had flown in that morning because I had asked him to and because Nathan Cross had never once in fourteen years declined when I needed him present for something important.

"I'm not underestimating her," I said.

"You filed custody papers and offered marriage in the same meeting," he said. "And you're surprised she came back with conditions."

"I'm not surprised," I said. "I expected conditions."

He looked up then. "Did you expect the duress clause?"

I didn't answer that. He nodded like my silence confirmed something he had already calculated.

The truth was the duress clause had landed differently than I anticipated. Not because it was unreasonable. It was completely reasonable and the fact that she had thought of it within twenty four hours while managing a four year old and a new job told me her mind was still as sharp as I remembered. What it landed on was something I hadn't examined closely yet, the question of whether what I was doing was actually what I wanted or just the most controlled version of a reaction I hadn't processed properly.

I wanted Lily. That was clear and real and not going anywhere. I had spent the past forty eight hours thinking about a four year old I hadn't known existed and feeling something I didn't have a name for yet. Something that made the hollow part of my chest feel different. Not filled exactly. But less empty than usual.

Whether I wanted Mara was a question I wasn't opening yet.

"The two o'clock meeting," I said. "I need you there."

"I'll be there," Nathan said. He closed his laptop. "Colton."

"What."

"The conditions she's asking for are fair," he said. "All of them. Including the duress documentation. You know that."

"I know that," I said.

"Then go into that meeting and show her you know it," he said. "Because right now she thinks this is entirely about control. And if she goes into this marriage believing that, you're going to have a very cold house."

I looked at him for a moment. "When did you become a relationship counselor?"

"When my best friend cornered a woman into marriage and needed someone to tell him to behave like a human being," he said simply, and went back to his laptop.

**************†******

Sandra Okafor was exactly the kind of attorney I respected and didn't enjoy facing across a table. Precise, unhurried, and completely unintimidated by the room. She arrived two minutes early, shook Dominic's hand without warmth, sat down, and opened her folder like she had done this a hundred times, which she probably had.

Mara sat beside her. She had Lily with her because she had nowhere to take her on short notice, which I hadn't anticipated. Lily sat in the chair next to Mara swinging her legs and examining the conference room with the calm authority of someone conducting an inspection.

Then she looked at me.

"You have the same eyes as me," she said.

The room went very quiet. Mara looked straight ahead. Sandra didn't react. Dominic studied the table. Nathan, standing by the window, found something very interesting outside to look at.

I looked at the child. "I know," I said.

Lily considered this for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Colton," I said.

She tried it out quietly to herself. Then she nodded like she had made a decision about it and went back to swinging her legs. The room slowly exhaled.

We worked through the terms for ninety minutes. Sandra was thorough and Dominic was professional and the two of them negotiated with the kind of precision that would have been impressive in any other context. Most of Mara's conditions were accepted with minor language adjustments. The primary caregiver clause was documented clearly. The exit provision was set at two years with custody protections intact regardless of marital status.

The duress clause was the last item.

Dominic looked at me before responding to it. I gave him a single nod.

"Accepted," Dominic said. "As presented."

Sandra made a note. Mara didn't visibly react but I saw her shoulders drop slightly, just a fraction, the way they did when she released tension she had been holding for too long. I had forgotten I knew her body language that well. The remembering was uncomfortable.

We signed the preliminary agreement. The wedding was scheduled for four days later. Civil ceremony, no guests, a courthouse on the quieter side of the city. Mara's conditions had included keeping it small and I had no objection to that.

When the meeting ended Sandra left quickly. Dominic walked her to the elevator, which left me at the conference table with Nathan across the room and Mara packing Lily's small bag beside me.

Lily tugged my sleeve.

I looked down at her.

"Are you going to live with us now?" she asked.

I glanced at Mara. She had gone still but she didn't look up.

"Something like that," I said to Lily.

Lily thought about this with the same serious expression she had used to evaluate my name. Then she looked up at me with Mara's directness and my own eyes and said the thing that neither of the adults in the room had come close to saying.

"Are you my daddy?"

The silence that followed was the loudest thing I had heard in years. Mara finally looked up. Her eyes met mine across the small distance between us and for one unguarded moment neither of us had a wall up and I could see exactly how much this was costing her.

I crouched down to Lily's level. My voice came out steadier than I felt.

"Yes," I said. "I am."

Lily stared at me for a long moment. Then she turned to Mara with an expression that was almost accusatory.

"Mommy," she said. "You said my daddy was far away."

Mara's jaw tightened. Her eyes stayed on mine.

"He was," she said quietly. "He just found his way back."