Family Business

Hannah POV ...

After Roman told me that he had to go to the office, I closed myself in the bedroom.

Before he had returned with his announcement, I had slipped out of my dress to have a soak in the jetted tub.

Once he was gone, I returned to the bathroom, dropping my robe and stepping into the warm, gurgling water. There was a container of lavender bath salts and a bottle of damask rose essential oil. I poured a bit of each into the tub and sank down into the fragrant water until my chin was just above the surface.

There weren't many things more relaxing than a long soak in a tub.

Closing my eyes, I felt nearly content, as if no problem were insurmountable. Breathing in deeply, I let out a long, calming exhale.

The thought of Roman sitting beside me in the tub, touching me like he had during our kiss made me open my eyes wide in surprise.

Now was not the time to be thinking about him.

I forced myself to think of all the other women he had kissed and touched, reminding myself that I was just another one of them. But it was so easy to lose control when he even looked at me with that passionate hunger in his blue eyes.

When he touched me, my mind seemed to shut down and my body took over, wanting him to touch me more, to be closer to me.

I lifted my bare foot from the water and brought it down hard, splashing the water in the tub.

Now was not the time to be thinking of Roman Thaddeus.

This soak was supposed to be about me calming my nerves, and collecting my thoughts.

It occurred to me that the best course of action right now was to forget my old life.

Things had changed the instant that my father relinquished me and Roman acquired me. It was a terrible way of referring to what had happened, but it was true.

I belonged to Roman Thaddeus right now, at this moment, regardless of what his plans were. He was making it painfully clear that he wanted to try and save me, but the only way he could do that was by legally making me his wife.

A maid came to check on me, and I asked for chamomile tea with peppermint. I also asked her to take the bourbon away because I wouldn't be needing it.

After stepping out of the tub, I dried off and wrapped myself in the bathrobe, making my way to the small entertainment area on the other side of the bedroom. I clicked on the TV and curled up on the plush sofa piled high with soft pillows. Choosing a comedy TV show, I settled in for the distraction, sipping my tea, nearly forgetting that anything was amiss.

I made it through season one of the show before there was a knock on the door. "It's open," I called out, thinking it might be Roman back from work. Geoffrey opened the door.

"Ms. Macalester, you have visitors," Geoffrey said. "Freddy and Edward Macalester"

"My brothers are here?" I asked him. "Both of them?"

"Yes," he said, "they're waiting in the study."

I clicked off the TV and jumped up in anticipation of seeing them.

"Tell them I'll be down shortly," I said to Geoffrey. Suddenly, my body went cold. "Is my father with them?"

"No, Ms. Macalester, just your brothers," he confirmed. I let out a breath that I didn't know I had been holding.

"Great, I'll be right down." When Geoffrey left the room, I threw on a short dark skirt with a long lace overlay and a bright patterned top.

There was a maid waiting to show me to the study. We took the elevator down to the first floor and made a right down a long corridor.

She stopped at an open doorway about halfway down, and waiting inside were Freddy and Edward.

"You came," I said, rushing into the study and hugging first Edward and then Freddy.

"We just thought we'd stop by to check in on you," Edward said, eyeing me with curiosity.

"You look well enough," Freddy said. "What did you need to discuss?"

I wished that there was nothing to discuss, and I was in no hurry to break the news to them. "How is Lori?" I asked them.

Edward frowned. "She's fine. All she does is talk about you, but she's fine," he said.

"You wanted to talk about Lori?" Freddy asked. Impatience was evident in his demeanor, as if he was trying to rush an informal gathering.

"No," I said. "We should sit." Without waiting for a response, I peeked outside and asked the maid for a few glasses of whiskey. I took a seat on the sofa at one end of the room, and they both took armchairs across from me. A moment later, the maid brought our drinks and left the study.

"You're marrying him so quickly because you're pregnant, aren't you," Edward said, sipping his whiskey. I raised a brow at him.

"It's worse than that," I said to Edward. "I want to tell you the truth about our father."

"What do you mean?" Freddy asked.

"Did you know that he lost all his money recently?" I asked.

Freddy burst into laughter. "What are you talking about, Hannah? Father hasn't lost any money." If Freddy didn't know, then our father had worked hard to keep everything under wraps. Of course, he wouldn't want a single soul to know that he was broke. I tried another approach.

"Why do you think I would accept a marriage proposal from a man I don't know?" I asked them. "I swear I'm not pregnant," I added quickly to Edward. "Father made sure a man never touched me."

"Hannah, what are you going on about?" Freddy asked in frustration. "A billionaire proposed to you, why would you not accept?"

I gaped at Freddy. Father had certainly been rubbing off all of his bad qualities on Freddy.

I turned my attention to Edward. "Would you believe that father forced me to accept a marriage proposal?" l asked Edward, hoping that he would be more open to what I was saying. "Father was broke, he needed money, and he convinced Roman to propose to me," I lied.

I had to keep The Auction House under wraps. I just needed them to know that our father was an evil man.

"Please, keep an eye on Lori," I urged them. "A close eye," I added.

"Hannah, you've lost your mind," Freddy snapped. "Why the hell would you accuse our father of being broke and setting you up in a marriage? It's absurd."

"He threatened me if I didn't marry Roman, "I said, tired of beating around the bush. "And he also threatened to marry Lori off in the same way he did me."

"Hannah, why are you blaming father for something you chose to do?" Edward asked me. "This isn't like you at all."

"He's a f*cking liar," I snapped. "Our father is brainwashing you both," I said.

Freddy stood suddenly. "Like hell he is, Hannah," Freddy said loudly. "What's wrong with you? You asked me to come here so that you could lie to me?"

"I'm not lying, Freddy, please just listen," I begged. "Lori could be in trouble, this isn't a joke."

Edward started laughing. "I don't know what's going on here," he said, "but you should be grateful to be engaged to a billionaire."

"I didn't want this!" I shouted. "Our father is a monster! He left me at one of his sick client parties last night at the mercy of any man who would marry me, just so that he could get money."

Edward stood and took Freddy by the shoulder. "We can talk to father about this," he said to Freddy. "Let's go. Hannah has lost it."

"No," Freddy jerked away from Edward.

"She's lying, blaming our father for something he would never do," Freddy said roughly.

"Freddy, you're acting just like him," I said.

"All you want is for things to go your way, just like him. If it doesn't make sense then you reject it."

"Bullsh*t" Freddy shouted at me. "That's complete and utter bullsh*t!"

"Dad is a bit controlling, Hannah," Edward said, "but why would he be broke and not tell us? Why would he force you to marry anyone?"

"I'm telling you, he did, and he's threatening to do much worse," I said.

"Cut it out, Hannah," Freddy snapped. "I've never known you to be a liar, but this is ridiculous and you know it!"

I stood now, facing Freddy in his anger. "You were never dragged along with him to his damn client parties," I said. "Why do you think he made sure I was dressed like a slut? Why do you think he encouraged me to flirt with all those men?"

"That's absurd" Edward snapped at me.

"Because you like it, Hannah!" Freddy shouted at me. "Father was just allowing you to flaunt yourself because he knew that you liked the attention!"

I was taken aback by Freddy's words. "So, you truly believe that I enjoyed acting like that? That father had nothing to do with how I dressed and what I said to those men?"

"What does it f*cking matter what I think?" Freddy shouted. "You snagged a billionaire playboy, good job, Hannah!"

The study door opened and Roman stepped in, his expression dark as he looked from Edward to Freddy and then leveled his blue gaze on me. "Is there a problem here?"

Roman asked as he moved to join me. "I heard shouting," he said, glancing at my brothers.

"This is family business, Roman," Freddy snapped at Roman.

I raised my brow at Freddy's attitude. Roman's arm slipped around my waist, pulling me close to his side. I stared at him, but his hard gaze was on Freddy.

"Good thing we'll be family as soon as me and your sister get married," Roman said. "What's going on?"

"Let's just go," Edward said to Freddy.

"You're not going to greet Roman?" I asked them. "I don't remember you both being so damn rude."

"He's your fiancé, not ours," Freddy snapped.

"We're not discussing anything with him."

"I trust you can show yourselves out," Roman said. He was composed but I could see the thinly veiled anger in his blue eyes.

"Gladly," Freddy said, tapping Edward's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Let's go, Edward." As they made their way to the study door I slipped out of Roman's grasp and followed them.

"Listen, can you both just do me one favor?" I asked them. They stopped in the corridor and turned to face me. "Don't tell father about this, please." They shared a look as Roman stepped up close beside me. Father had gone to great lengths to keep everything from my brothers, and I didn't want our father to hurt anyone if he thought that they knew something he didn't want them to know.

"Whatever, Hannah," Freddy said dismissively.

"It's best to pretend this conversation never happened anyway," Edward said. "See you later."

Geoffrey met them at the end of the corridor to walk them out. Roman took my arm gently, pulling me back into the study and closing the door.