3.

PENNY

Wickedly smart. Insanely intelligent. Sexy and terrifying. Son of a senator. CEO of Hilton Tech and the most eligible bachelor under thirty. Christian Hilton is apparently a huge deal and now a giant wall standing between me, my inheritance, and opening my bakery. 

“The city’s leading man,” Jess reads off her phone beside me, then snorts. “I’ve never heard of him.” 

Which is the truth. He’s a stranger. An unknown and I’m expected to just marry him. 

I'm tempted to wonder if my mom lost her mind.

Tiny rain droplets run down the car windows as I pull into a large parking lot. His office is at the top of the largest skyscraper in the city and I hope to find answers in there as to why my mom thought it was a great idea to demand such a thing from me. 

“But damn, he’s built like a sexy god,” Jess murmurs more to herself than me. 

“It doesn’t make any sense,” I say, my voice full of wariness. “Mom has never mentioned him and they did no business together.” 

I’ve spent the better part of the past five months grieving and attempting to understand my mom’s will. That meant spending sleepless nights poring through her ledgers of business associates and clients trying and failing to find a connection. 

No loophole either. I have to marry a man I’ve never met or lose everything. 

A car pulls up next to ours and Lucas waves from the driver’s side, his expression stony. It isn’t hard to see he wasn’t onboard with the idea but knowing who my mom was he wouldn’t have changed her mind even if he tried.  

‘I don’t want to die without being sure the Castillo legacy will live on. That I fought for something.’ My mom’s words run through my head as I step out of my car. 

Will her legacy live on if all her life's work is liquidated and given to charity?

Jess hurries out the other side and grabs my hand pulling me from my thoughts. 

“We got this,” she whispers as Lucas joins us. 

We enter the building briskly and the receptionist waves us through to the elevator with a curt smile. 

My expression tightens the higher the elevator climbs and I break out into a cold sweat. 

I don't know these people. I don't know what will happen in the next few minutes. I don't want to marry a stranger.

“You okay?” Lucas reaches for my hand, a concerned look on his face. Before he can touch me I step away and fold my arms. 

“I’m fine thanks.” 

He tucks his hand into his pocket with a nod. “Okay.” 

The brief interaction has Jess watching us intensely, her keen brown eyes bouncing between us as if expecting something to happen.

There isn’t a single romantic bone in my body for Lucas and ever since he told me how he felt I no longer see him like a brother. I had let him down easily which still gives him hope that something can happen between us. 

There’s a slight pang in my chest as I remember how my mom had tried to get us together. Before the memory can stir my emotions and make me cry, the elevator doors slide open and I’m stepping into a hallway. 

Large panes of glass overlook the cloudy city skyline on one side, potted plants, and two doors lin the other side. 

“Look at that view,” Jess whistles appreciatively. It's nauseating to me and I grip her hand tighter.

Lucas walks stiffly ahead of us as if itching to leave and opens the first door. 

A thought spins around my mind as I walk through the doorway. The city’s leading man and a baker? 

Two men are seated on a carved, round table and another stands on the far side of the office facing the floor-to-ceiling window like a black shadow. 

One man in a blue suit mirroring Lucas’s stony demeanor looks up at my entrance, adjusts his glasses, and frowns. The other much older man in a dark suit to match his greying hair and a glittering Rolex on his wrist, glances at us and breaks into a practiced smile like we’re members of his campaign.

The third doesn’t look up from his phone or move from the window and keeps his back to us. 

Lucas breaks the silence. “Hello, Mr. Hilton,” he says dryly, not offering his hand for a handshake. 

“Hello, Mr. Sawyer. I’m glad you’re all here,” Edward Hilton smiles at me in a friendly manner that rubs me the wrong way. “Have a seat.” 

“I prefer to stand if that’s okay.” I tighten my arms around myself, wanting this to be over as quickly as possible.

Edward laughs deeply and almost cheerfully. “I insist Miss Penelope.” 

At the sound of my name, the third man turns in my direction, and my heart… jolts. 

Dark tousled hair, piercing dark green eyes, and a broad muscled body that ripples in his impeccable coal black suit with the slight motion of him putting his phone away. 

There’s some resemblance to his father, Edward, but his features are more defined and sharp in a way that’s both terrifying and elegant. A perfect balance.

Pictures don’t do him justice and neither does the gloomy cast of light from the window. 

Christian Hilton. The man I'm to marry.

His gaze snaps sharply to mine and my heart hammers for reasons I can’t understand. A silver chain curves around his neck, highlighting the black ink tattoo crawling on the left side of his neck and disappearing beneath the suit he wears without a tie. 

When he moves, it’s with a certain poised grace that has all eyes following him across the room. Calm, calculated deadly grace. 

My mouth goes dry.  

Jess mutters something and his eyes narrow slightly as he advances to me. It feels like everyone is collectively holding their breath or is it just me? 

“Penelope Castillo?” He reaches me, crowds me as I look up…and up. My five foot eight inches feeling so small in his presence.

“This is the reason you canceled my trip, Father?” His voice runs deep and smooth like silk but is spiked with arrogance and…disgust? 

I find my voice, hoping it doesn’t betray how shaken I am. “I don’t believe we’ve met.” Before I can stretch out my hand, the shimmering green of his eyes fills with cold hatred and he turns away from me and glowers at his father.

“I don’t have to be present for this” 

Lucas jumps in, his voice tight. “The two of you need to meet so—” 

“Don’t speak directly to me.” He silences Lucas with a hand and fixes his glaring gaze on me like he’s absorbing every detail and trying to decide how much he hates what he sees. 

Heat prickles on the back of my neck from his hard eyes. I hadn’t put any thought into my appearance. Faded jeans, my mom’s shirt and scarf, and my hair in a messy bun. 

After all the rollercoaster of grief and emotions I’ve been through, looking good for a man I don’t plan on marrying is the least of my concerns.

Christian inhales sharply and his jaw flexes. “I already agreed to marry her, demanding my presence for a meeting is pushing it.” 

…Wait. Marry me?

Jess gasps, “What?” 

Confusion races through me as I blurt out. “You agreed to marry me?” I tear my gaze away from his to stare at Lucas whose expression hasn’t faltered. 

“You wouldn’t have come if I told you.”  

My heart thunders for a whole new reason. “So you lied to me? What happened to finding a solution not involving marriage?” 

“It doesn’t exist,” Edward replies calmly. “You need to sit down Penelope.” 

“I'm sorry but I'm not marrying this man!” 

Christian scoffs, his eyes darkening and not leaving my face when I look back at him. “I'm done here. Let's go, Liam,” he says to the quiet man still frowning behind his glasses.

“Just wait, son.” Edward rises, arms outstretched. Lucas rubs his temple impatiently. 

“Mr. Christian you have to—” Liam gets to his feet, putting out a hand to stop Lucas in his tracks with a silent warning. 

A devilish smirk flashes on Christian’s face as he drops his head and leans in, momentarily engulfing me with spicy cologne. “I hate you, Penelope,” he says softly in my ear like he's whispering sweet nothings to a lover and my blood turns to ice in my veins. “The very sight of you makes me wish I had a gun in my hand. But that'll be too easy. No... I'll marry you like your mother wanted and I'll break you till there's nothing left behind those fucking eyes but regret and pain.” He pulls back so his beautifully cruel gaze can lock on mine. “And I'll enjoy every second of it.”