Bound by hate, undone by him

Chapter 3 A tempting offer

Lucien Gray did not raise his voice often. He didn't need a cold, level tone had always worked better than shouting, a lesson his father had taught him without ever meaning to. But standing in Calloway Gray's office, seven floors above the city, Lucien was dangerously close to breaking that rule.

"Why would you arrange a marriage for me without my consent?" he said, each word clipped and deliberate. "I am not a child, Dad. I can build my own life without your help."

Calloway didn't look up from the documents on his desk, which only made Lucien's jaw tighten further.

"You're thirty-five, Lucien." His father finally set the papers down, folding his hands. "You will marry her, for crying out loud. And frankly, I'm starting to wonder if the real problem isn't marriage at all."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I'm beginning to think you're…"

"That I'm gay?" Lucien cut in flatly, one eyebrow raised. "Is that what you're dancing around, Dad?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. And don't blame me for wondering. I refuse to sit back and watch while I lose both my sons to lives I'll never be part of."

Lucien's expression didn't change, though something behind his eyes flickered, not hurt, exactly. He'd long trained himself out of being hurt by his father. Closer to exhaustion.

"You know Kingsley being with Adrian has nothing to do with me refusing an arranged marriage," he said. "Those are two entirely separate things, and you know it."

"Do I?" Calloway's gaze sharpened. "One son who won't give me grandchildren because he's chasing a doctor who'll never carry them, and another who's thirty-five and married to nothing but a company. Forgive me if I'd like at least one of you to give me something resembling a normal family before I die."

"I'm not opposed to family," Lucien said, arms crossed. "I'm opposed to you choosing it for me like I'm a merger you're finalizing."

"You should start a family of your own, Lucien."

"I refuse."

Calloway studied him for a long moment the kind of look he usually reserved for opponents across a negotiating table, not his own son. Then, unhurried, he reached for a folder on the corner of his desk and slid it forward.

"Will you still refuse," his father said, "if I make you CEO of GTech?"

Lucien went still.

"I know you've had your eye on that position for years," Calloway continued, watching him with the faint, satisfied look of a man who already knew he'd won. "That's exactly why you've been maneuvering your way toward the director's seat for the past two years, don't think I haven't noticed. I'm offering you the position outright. Full authority. No more waiting, no more proving yourself to a board that's twice your age and half as sharp."

"And the condition?"

"You marry Whitmore's youngest,Celeste. That's all."

Lucien said nothing. His father let the silence stretch, clearly enjoying it.

"That's not a small condition, Dad."

"No," Calloway agreed. "But it's not exactly a hardship either. From what I hear, the girl is beautiful. Sharp, too, apparently drives a harder bargain than half my board members." A faint, knowing smile touched his father's mouth. "You could do worse for a business partner."

"A business partner," Lucien repeated dryly. "Is that what we're calling wives now?"

"Call it whatever helps you sleep at night. The offer stands either way."

Lucien turned toward the window, hands sliding into his pockets, and looked out over the skyline he'd spent the last decade trying to conquer one floor at a time. GTech's headquarters sat just a few blocks from where he stood now, close enough that some mornings, if the light hit the glass just right, he swore he could see his own name on the building from here. He'd wanted that seat since he was twenty-two years old, fresh out of business school, sitting in his first shareholder meeting and realizing, with startling clarity, that he was smarter than every man twice his age in that room.

He had built half his career waiting for his father to finally hand over the reins. And now here it was, offered to him outright, gift-wrapped, with a single string attached.

A wife.

A stranger.

For one year, maybe less, if he played the paperwork right.

It wasn't as though he had any illusions about love to begin with. He'd watched enough of his father's friends divorce their way through fortunes to know exactly what marriage usually amounted to, legal documents dressed up as romance. If it was going to happen regardless, better it happen on his terms, with his name on the deed to a company worth infinitely more than any wedding ring.

"What's she like?" Lucien asked, still facing the window.

"Celeste?" Calloway considered the question. "Headstrong, from what her grandfather tells me. Independent. Not exactly thrilled about the arrangement, if I had to guess."

Lucien almost laughed. "So we have that in common, at least."

"See? Already off to a promising start."

He turned back to face his father, and for a moment, something almost like calculation crossed his face, the same look he wore in boardrooms right before he closed a deal that everyone else in the room thought was too good to be real.

"It's a tempting offer," Lucien said finally.

"It's the only offer."