Chapter three

CHAPTER 3

I didn’t know how long I stared at the text message on my phone, contemplating how to respond to it. My hands trembled as I texted a response.

Who is this?

I stared and waited, hoping that I would get an immediate reply. Finally, the bubble showed that the person on the other end of the phone was typing.

Someone who knows what happened to the last woman who got too close to Ashton Langford.

What did that even mean? An ex? Was he married before just the way he was married to me now?

Maybe something worse?

I stared at my phone, hoping for answers as I asked the person what they meant by that. There was no reply.

I stayed in and out of sleep until a knock on my door made me jump.

“Mrs. Langford?” Marie, one of the housekeepers, called. “Breakfast is ready.”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” I replied as I got out of bed and headed for the mirror in the bathroom to see if I looked as tired as I felt.

There were dark circles under my eyes, my hair was a tangled mess, and exhaustion may as well have been written on my face. I splashed cold water on my face to pull myself together.

“I can’t let him see me like this,” I reminded myself. “I can’t let any of them see me like this. This is for my family.”

By the time I made it down the stairs for breakfast, I had constructed my mask carefully with makeup and a smile, and it was thankfully enough for Ashton not to notice. If he even cared.

He was already at the breakfast table, his face hidden behind a business newspaper. He didn’t budge or look up when I entered, and I was surprised that he was even at home at this time.

“Good morning,” I said, making sure my voice was steady even when I wasn’t.

“Morning,” he replied as he turned a page.

I poured myself some coffee and sat across from him, the silence stretching between us and creating an even bigger space between us. I didn’t tell him that I knew he was plotting to get rid of me, and I didn’t tell him that I felt uncomfortable with his mom’s visits.

“How come you’re home today?” I asked, trying to find whatever I could to start a conversation. I would rather speak to him, even if the conversation was awkward, than to sit in silence and eat breakfast while he remained silent as if we were strangers at a restaurant.

Hell, even people on a first date at a restaurant said more than we were. And we were married.

I believed he wasn’t going to respond. I thought he would just let my question linger until it was no longer necessary to answer it.

But he simply cleared his throat as he put down his newspaper and said, “It’s not a busy day today.”

I nodded and turned my attention back on my food. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t sound pretentious. We both knew we’d rather be anywhere else.

“Mr. Langford?” Martha, one of the many housekeepers, said as she entered with a polite smile on her face directed at me before turning back to Ashton. “Your father is here to see you.”

“On what grounds?” Ashton asked stoically, as if there had to be a specific reason why his father would show up. Their family really was made up of ground rules that I found rather odd.

“He says it’s business related. He didn’t have the time to talk to you about it earlier, and he believes today’s the day and now’s the only chance he has to talk to you about it,” Martha replied.

“Take him to my study and tell him I’ll be there right after breakfast,” he ordered.

Martha left without another word, and I sat there without a word on my mind to continue the conversation. I could have asked him anything, but my mind was blank. What even was there to ask him?

After a few minutes, Ashton sighed and folded his newspaperbefore taking the last sip of tea sitting on the table.

“Excuse me,” he said, standing up and leaving without another word.

Maybe I should have stayed at the table. I should have finished my coffee there and minded my business like the good, temporary wife I was supposed to be. Instead, I found myself standing up and retreating to my bedroom.

Just as I reached the top of the staircase and made an attempt to turn to the hallway leading to my bedroom, I heard voices coming from the direction of Ashton’s study.

“What…” I trailed off as I followed the voices, making sure my footsteps were silent against the wooden floors.

The study door was slightly ajar from where I stood. I thought it was careless, but I realized that they most likely weren’t expecting me to come here and try to find out what was going on. I pressed myself against the wall outside the study, my heart hammering as I listened.

“…still can’t believe that this is working the way it is,” Winston Langford said. His voice sounded so satisfied, as if he had nothing to worry about. “The Thorne family’s company is still having problems with money. They’ll be completely dependent on us within the quarter of the business year.”

Thorne family? That was…my family. Why would he want us to be dependent on them? What was this?

My breath caught in my throat, my hand covering my mouth as I tried to prevent any sounds from making it out of my mouth. If they knew I was out here, only God knew what they would do to keep me quiet after I just heard this.

“We need to be patient, Father,” I heard Ashton reply. “If we push too hard and too fast, they’ll only become suspicious and nothing more. And the moment they start to get suspicious, things will fall apart on our end.”

“Suspicious?” Winston laughed, and it was a sound that made my stomach curl and twist into something dark. Something I wanted to vomit instantly. “They’re desperate, son. Desperate people done ask questions. All they do is beg. They don’t think about anything but what they need.”

“We still can’t afford to make any mistakes. Not when we’re this close,” Ashton said.

I didn’t want to believe what they were talking about, but I had my suspicions. I didn’t want it to be true, but they were talking about it right there. There was no denying it.

“I do have to say, Ashton, marrying the daughter of the family was a genius idea. It keeps them trusting us while we dismantle everything from the inside.”

The world tilted sideways for me, and I almost fell to the ground. My fingernails dug into my palms so hard that it felt as if my skin would break if I applied any more pressure.

“It’s a necessary evil. Nothing more than that. I don’t want you to think this is going to turn into anything of your advantage. It’s my marriage and I’ll decide how it goes,” Ashton said, keeping his tone flat.

“Surely there could be some benefits to this arrangement as well. Perhaps you could get her to bear you an heir. That way, after the divorce, not only will her family be so down in the pits that they can’t recover, you’ll get custody of the child and leave her with nothing.”