“I don’t want it,” I told her desperately, lunging forward to clasp her hands tightly, forcing her to look down into my miserable face. “I don’t want it, honestly. I-I know I don’t deserve it and you’ve b-been so kind to me. I just want to stay here with her and get Brando and then we could be a family.”
When Caroline shifted, I clung tighter, my voice a high, pleading whine. “Please, Caroline, I’m so sorry I was grateful before. I want to be a proper Constantine more than anything.”
“Well,” she said finally, pushing my face out of my stomach where I’d pressed my tear stained cheek. She tipped my chin up with two cold fingers so I was looking into the mask of her benevolent face. “This is certainly a shock, Bianca. How am I supposed to react to this horrible accusation?”
“I-I have the papers,” I scrambled back, tossing a copy of the will on the table. The real one was safely with Elena back at her offices. “You can see, I’m telling the truth! But I don’t want it, I promise. I just want don’t want to be alone anymore.”
My words ended on a soft whimper that wasn’t hard to produce because the words were true. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I didn’t want to have fight alone, be alone, live alone.
I wanted it all with Tiernan because I knew no one else in the world would fight for us and our family as much as he would.
“You understand you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about this,” she said carefully, flipping through the pages I was certain she had already seen before. “This could bring disgrace on our family and I won’t have that. If you want to stay here with me, you’ll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You could never have been Lane’s bastard, but you could be a real Constantine cousin,” she promised sweetly, dipping down to smile in my face. “I’m willing do to that for you, sweetie.”
I almost laughed into her saccharine face, but I swallowed it down and presented a tremulous smile instead. I’d learned a lot from Caroline about acting in the weeks I’d lived with her.
“You would?” I breathed, grasping her hand tightly in my own. “Really?”
“Of course,” she soothed, smoothing my hair back from my sticky, red face. “If you want a place in this family, I can give that to you. All I ask is that you keep my husband’s mistakes a secret.”
Mistakes.
Brando wasn’t a mistake. He was the best human on the face of the planet and the world would be a lesser place without him.
I wasn’t a mistake either, even though recently I might have been convinced otherwise.
Lane had wanted us. In the end, he’d believed we were the only choice for him.
Tiernan wanted us. Even though loving us both ostracized him from his father permanently. His words reverberated in my head, loving you was the best mistake I ever made.
“I can do that,” I agreed easily, shaking my head so hard it started to ache. “And I meant what I said. I don’t want anything. You can have it all back.”
“Hmm?” Caroline asked as if she couldn’t remember what I was referring to, but I knew better. The hand at her side clenched tight then carefully unfurled.
“I’ll sign whatever papers you need to take control of it yourself,” I gushed. “Do you still have those guardianship papers?”
“I haven’t been able to add Brandon’s name to the agreement yet,” she cautioned, and it was a test, a metal detector held over my words.
I swallowed thickly then bowed my head. “But you’ll promise to get him here as soon as you can?”
Through the curtain of my hair, I witnessed Caroline’s lightning flash smile.
“Yes, yes, I’ll make sure of it. For now…” She stood and rounded the desk, producing papers from a locked drawer. “I still have the old agreement. Why don’t you sign it and we can get the ball rolling on this? I’d love to be able to introduce you to my children as our beloved cousin right now as an early Christmas present.”
I grinned. “Really? Yeah, let’s do that.”
Caroline grabbed the Mont Blanc pen on her desk and laid out the papers for me over Lane’s will on the desk. I reached for the pen just as a knock came at the office door.
Caroline frowned, glancing between the door and me. “You sign and I’ll get the door, sweetie.”
I nodded but as soon as she walked beyond me to the door I sent her back a vicious glare. Of course, I knew who was at the end. Elias had texted her as soon as Caroline had taken my bait.
“Oh, Emelie,” Caroline said with polite surprise, then warmer, “Beckett, darling. I thought you couldn’t make it tonight?”
I had no idea why Beckett was with Emelie, but I took advantage of the distraction none the less and switched out Caroline’s papers with the ones Elena had drawn up for me that afternoon. I tucked Caroline’s guardianship papers in my canvas bag.
“We were stealing some goodies from the kitchen and thought we overheard someone crying,” Emelie explained from the doorway. “Is everything okay in here?”
Caroline laughed lightly. “Oh yes, Bianca is just overwhelmed by her Christmas present.”
Beckett peered around the door and waved at me. “Hello, Bianca! Elias will be happy to see you.”
“Hello,” I returned, grabbing the papers as I walked over to greet them properly. I handed them over to Caroline along with the pen. “I think they just need your signature.”
“Oh, sign those already and get back out here,” Emelie exclaimed, waving her glass of champagne as if she’d had too much to drink. In reality, she’d arrived only twenty minutes before Elias and I had. “Perry was just about to make a toast and then we thought about a game of charades.”
Caroline frowned. “I don’t think we are quite done––”
Beckett stepped forward, just a little too close to Caroline. Her eyes flared wide for a moment when he took her elbow in a gentle hold and rubbed his thumb on the inside of her arm. “Come out and have some fun, Caro. I want to see you smile at least once tonight.”
I blinked at the palpable energy between them, understanding what Elias had said about rumors flying around the nature of their relationship.
So, why was he helping me dupe Caroline, now?
A small grin played with the edges of her full mouth and finally she sighed. “Oh fine, Beckett, but you must know you are the worst influence.”
He laughed heartily, taking the pen from my grip and giving it to her before presenting his back for her to use as a table. “I’m as pure as they come. And chivalrous too.”
Her grin widened into a smile was almost sweet. I felt a pang of something like empathy for her, wondering what it must be like alone on the throne of a family built on secret and lies.
It wasn’t enough to change my course, though.
Excitement burned through me as she bent over his back and signed her name to the line beside me with a neat little flourish.
“Done,” she announced.
Beckett turned and caught her around the waist playfully. “Excellent, now come out and play with the rest of us. Em, can you take care of those? Caro, do you need them scanned?”
“Yes, scanned and sent to the lawyer,” she agreed, but her voice was slightly breathless as Beckett pressed her into his side.