One Night Stand With My Father-In-Law

CHAPTER 1.

CHAPTER 1

Taylor's POV.

Washington DC. 02:35 pm.

This isn't the damn twelfth,fifteenth or Eighteenth century where you marry off your daughter to some stranger against her will. Arranged marriages aren't a thing in today's world! I scoffed, glaring at my mother who sat across from me, sipping her wine so comfortably, as if I hadn't just confronted her moments ago.

Well, she's Mrs. Mia Blackwell. She's well-known for being filthy rich and influential in politics. She's a political powerhouse only I knew about, which is another reason why I despised being around her. Not only that, but I even changed my last name so that people wouldn't know we're related. I hated living in her damn shadow. I'm an adult, for f**k's sake.

I'm freaking 30!

I've made a name for myself in the United States of America. Sure, I know I fled to Africa in the last two years because I wasn't proud of my decisions, but during those years, Mrs. Blackwell never bothered to ask about her only daughter. Yet, just yesterday, she sent her thugs to come and get me. I didn't care how she found out where I ran to; her influence stretches overseas.

"Mom! I'm not going to marry whoever you want me to marry, so..."

My voice trailed off rudely, but she interrupted me calmly.

"Sweetie, you have no choice. What the hell have you been doing in Africa, Russia, and all those other countries you've flown to?"

She scoffed mockingly. "I've given you enough time to find a husband and give me grandchildren but you didn't."

Confusion furrowed my brows as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. She never cared about me to begin with. I couldn't understand why fate took my father away instead of her. My entire childhood was filled with memories of him, and I knew nothing about her except that she provided for me financially and allowed private CIA men to intrude upon our lives.

"Like you care," I scoffed.

She sipped her wine, uncrossing her legs as she finally reached for the remote and turned on the TV. Then she gestured for her maids to leave the room.

"Tay," her voice turned cold. "You're thirty years old and still without a boyfriend. I had you when I was nineteen." She slowly raised her cold, bloodshot gaze to me, sending chills down my spine.

"You have to get married. I need children running around the Blackwell mansion," she smiled, reaching for her wine glass.

"Mom, oh sorry, Mrs. Blackwell. I know you don't care about me. It's been twenty straight years since we last had dinner together as a family, so I know this is all business... Just say it already," I said, my lips curving into a knowing smirk.

She dropped her glass defeatedly. "Taylor, you really learned from your mother."

I rolled my eyes. Yes, she was right. I learned to be cold and strong from her, but I was nothing like her. If she wasn't my mother, I would have said I hated her.

"I want you to marry Mason," she said, maintaining a steady and unwavering gaze, making direct eye contact with me, projecting her confidence like I knew who the hell her Mason was….

"I need his family to be on my side as soon as possible. I can't afford to take chances, or I'll go bankrupt," she explained.

She was like a soaring eagle, gliding through the sky with grace and confidence in her abilities to sugarcoat her words and convince me to marry the suitor she had chosen for me.

I should refuse her offer and stop letting her control my life, since she never cared unless it benefited her. I bit my lip, my eyes drifting away as I got lost in my own thoughts. Accepting this marriage meant letting go of the decade-long crush I had held onto. It left me with a sudden emptiness.

The man who made me feel like a woman that night when I was twenty-four still had a place in my heart, even though I knew it would always be unrequited. And that was better that way. Two years ago, I crossed paths with him again at the White House when I was a communications director. But I knew he could never be mine. He wasn't just a presidential candidate back then, but also a patriarch and almost twice my age.

The scrutiny that would come if my fantasy became a reality would consume me, so I kept it a secret and avoided him for almost a decade. Despite the unrequited love, I rigged the elections in his favor two years ago, and the guilt still haunts me. Returning to the USA on my mother's orders had awakened what I wanted to bury forever. As an attorney of the state, I compromised my integrity for a man I knew could only be mine in the dream world.

"Taylorrrrrrrrr..." she stretched out my name, snapping me out of my daze. "I gave you a total of five minutes." She raised her timer to my gaze. "And you still haven't given me an answer."

Wow! She's freaking hilarious, keeping a stopwatch and checking the time for me!

I slowly nodded my head to signal my approval. It was time to let that love go. It had been a decade already, and he was married, with a wife who stood by his side as the first lady. Would he ditch his presidency for a few minutes of pleasure he had ten years ago... would he?

"Good!" a wide grin spread across her face as she said. "Do you care for our last lunch before you get married? I can go prepare scrambled eggs for you."

I rolled my eyes in disgust, grabbing my bag and heading up the stairs to my room. I had no interest in having lunch with someone who didn't even know her daughter had Ovophobia.

"Get ready, we're going over for a family dinner!" Her voice thudded excitedly as I left.