Free Merger (Triple Threat Book 3) by Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton Page B

“Don’t tell me you tricked her into marrying you?”
    Lily answered for him, enjoying the moment. “Oh, absolutely. He wined and dined me, seduced me, and convinced me he couldn’t live without me. We eloped at the end of spring break, and I didn’t learn the truth until a couple of days after our return, when I overheard him threatening my father with doing away with me if he continued the investigation. To be fair, he also threatened to do away with my father if I didn’t cooperate with our little marriage. I mean merger.”
    Dominic was clearly angry, glaring at her. “You call this cooperation?”
    She fluttered her eyes at him. “I don’t see the problem, Dominic. Clearly your whole family is in on the mob thing, so I’m just being upfront about it all. It’s good for business.” She finished her glass of wine, hoping the maid would return to refill it quickly, since the bottle was in the other room. Despite her cool exterior, she was still a mass of nerves on the inside, and the wine was certainly helping to relax her.
    “That’s terrible,” said Abby, glaring at her brother-in-law. “How could you do such a thing, Dominic?”
    He snorted. “I did it to protect you as much as any of the rest of us. Don’t think I don’t know that you were trying to get Luka to run away, to take Lukas with you guys and start over somewhere else.”
    Luka held up a hand. “Hey, I said that in passing, not to complain about the idea or have it thrown back at me.”
    Abby turned her ire on her husband. “You told him what I said?”
    Luka looked flustered. “I did, but I was just telling him because I wanted him to see how concerned we all were. I didn’t know he was going to take this course of action though.”
    Dominic slammed his hand on the table, apparently a favorite technique of his to dominate the conversation. She rolled her eyes at the theatrics as she reached for his glass of wine, downing half of it in a long swallow. Lack of food was starting to catch up with her, and her head was swimming a bit, but the wine was also providing a boost to her confidence, and she had no intention of stopping before she’d finished at least the second glass.
    “You’re all being naïve. What choice was there? I had to find a way to call off Faulkner, and his perfect little daddy’s girl was his Achilles’ heel. Any of you would have done the same.”
    She held her breath, wondering if they would disagree or agree. She was unsurprised, though slightly disappointed, when both of his brothers nodded. Anger spurred her to ask, “Would you have tricked me into marriage by convincing me you were in love with me or something? Or would you have just been blunt about it and told me that if I didn’t marry you, both my father and I were probably going to meet unfortunate accidents?”
    Sarah was the next to speak. “Roman would have told you bluntly. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He would have structured the deal whatever way was most advantageous for him, but he wouldn’t have lied to you about things he didn’t feel.” Sarah definitely understood why Lily was so angry. That was clear from her look of sympathy and the glare she darted in Dominic’s direction.
    She turned her attention to Abby and Luka, waiting for one of them to answer. Luka was the first to speak up. “I probably wouldn’t have told you the full truth, but I would have maybe tried to keep it friendly.”
    Abby snorted. “He wouldn’t have told you unless he absolutely had to, but I don’t think he would have tried to force you to marry him under the pretext of being in love with you.”
    She shot a look at Dominic, struggling to hide the swell of victory she felt. “I think it’s clear they agree you did a shitty thing, Dominic.”
    Before she could finish the glass of wine she’d stolen from him, he took it from her fingers and brought it to his lips, deliberately sipping from the same spot she had used. “If you hate me, why do you