“Cinderstella.”
A mixture of Cinderella and Stella.
Welp, I hated this guy. I also hated how clever the name had been.
“That’s not clever,” I lied.
“I don’t care, Cinderstella. Just move.”
I crossed my arms. “No. Not until we talk.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Move, or I’ll relocate you.”
“I’m two hundred and twenty-some pounds. I doubt you could move me.”
“I bench press double your weight in my sleep. Trust me, you don’t want to test your theory. Now, move before I really get pissed, Cinderstella.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Stop being that, then.”
“Well, you’re just, you’re, you’re the freaking Beast from Beauty and the Beast! Before he transformed into a hot guy! You’re just a hairy, ugly, grumpy Beast!”
He took a step toward me and arched a cocky eyebrow. “You think I’m ugly, Cinderstella?”
“Yes,” I confidently stated. On the inside at least. Which made his outside appearance that much more hideous. Oh, Stella, the lies we tell ourselves. Damian Blackstone was easily one of the most attractive men I’d ever crossed paths with. Which made it that much more annoying.
“Good. I’d rather not have your eyes on me.”
I tilted my head up to the ceiling to avoid staring his way. “Trust me, that’s freaking easy!”
“Good.”
“Extra good!” I combated, feeling a pool of nerves and rage intermixing within my gut.
“Damian, please, a moment,” Joe said, breaking up Damian’s and my interaction.
With a sigh, he walked over to Joe. The two exchanged words with one another in low voices. I wished I was a few inches closer so I could hear what they were saying, but alas.
When they finished talking, Damian pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
Within a few seconds, he was standing back in front of me. He reached into the pocket of his suit blazer and pulled out a laminated piece of paper. A business card. He placed it in the palm of my hand. “Here’s my card. Call me if you agree to do this fucked-up arrangement.”
“But seconds ago, you said—”
“I know what I said,” he yipped, sending a wave of chills down my spine. “I changed my mind.”
“Why?”
“Because I did.”
I didn’t say a word, but my hand grasped the card. I stepped to the side of the door, allowing Damian the freedom to exit if he’d wished to do so. He took the opportunity and walked outside.
“Stop staring at my ugly ass,” he shot out without looking over his shoulder.
“I’m not!” I hollered back, feeling my cheeks flush.
Okay, maybe I was staring a little bit, but it wasn’t my fault. He shouldn’t have worn a custom-tailored suit that showed off his ugly Beast butt.
It was almost comical that I called him ugly because not an ounce of hideousness lived across Damian’s body. He was attractive in an old Hollywood kind of way. He had his grumpy smolder look locked in, ridiculously addictive blue eyes that reminded me of the stormiest of oceans, and he easily lifted semi-trucks during his free time based on his physique.
Sure, his exterior design was what dreams were made of. Yet what did that matter when his interior was so dark and cold?
Oftentimes, men lost their attractiveness once they opened their mouths and spoke, and Damian was the hottest ugly man I’d ever crossed paths with.
I felt as if my world was spinning round and round at a speed I couldn’t comprehend. That was when Grams showed up and lay a hand against my shoulder.
“Slow it down,” she said in her gentle voice. “You’re disconnecting from yourself, from your inner self. Time to ground.”
“I can’t right now, Grams. Did you hear what just happened? His will? His final wishes? Kevin couldn’t possibly want me to marry a man like Damian! There’s so much that just doesn’t add up. And if that was what he wanted, then why? And how long had he known he had a son? And oh my goodness, can you imagine how hard it would be for Damian to find out Kevin raised another? I can’t even imagine. Plus, the angle with the ex-wives and—”
“Stella Rose Mitchell.” Grams used her authoritative voice. “Go ground yourself right now.”
I knew what she meant. Whenever I felt overwhelmed as a child, Grams sent me to the water. I’d wash away my anxiety while reconnecting with the earth, with myself. It was a habit I’d held on to since childhood, but it felt a bit ridiculous to do it right then and there.
“I don’t have time for that right now,” I explained.
Grams shook her head, a few of her silver locks falling from her high bun. “If you don’t have time for yourself, then you don’t have time for anything. Now go, child.” She took my hands in hers and squeezed them lightly. “Go find your peace. The world will still be here when you return.”
3
Damian
* * *
Fuck me sideways, and call me Kevin Michaels’s little bitch because that was exactly what I’d become. A dead man’s little bitch. That ghost had me wrapped around his finger, and I hated him for it. I had a list of reasons I hated that man, but the latest reasons were loud in my mind.
When Joe pulled me to the side to talk, he gave me the one piece of knowledge that shifted my interest to take part in the absurd arrangement Kevin left in his will: my charity.
If I had millions of dollars, that meant that I could help millions of children growing up in the foster system. I could make a difference. I could help change the corrupt laws that often harmed more than helped the children in the foster programs.
I could open mental health clinics for those kids who struggled.
I could help make sure struggling teenagers never had to get as close to the darkness as I had grown.
That money meant shit to me, but it meant a whole lot to a lot of other people who I might have never met.
“Why do I feel like I missed a chapter of this story somehow? What do you mean you might be playing house with a stranger?” Connor asked over the phone line. After I stormed out of the house, I had to wait for my driver to show up to the property to take me home. So, of course, the first thing I did was call my best friend, Connor, to fill him in on the oddities of my life.
“What I mean is, next week, I’m supposed to get married to a woman I don’t even know in order to get answers about my past and to get a shit ton of money. Kevin wrote it that way in his will. It’s the only way I get the answers I need, and for Stella to get half of the inheritance. If we don’t get married for at least six months’ time, all of his wealth will be divided up between his ex-wives.”
“Jeez.” Connor sighed through the receiver. “I’m not easily thrown off by things, but this is insane.”
“You’re telling me.”
“And the family, this woman—what’s her name again?”
“Stella.”
“Stella’s okay with this?”
“Who knows? It’s a mess. The whole ceremony is set to take place at the property.”