The Tyrant's Wife

"You need to sit down for this." She cleared her throat with a slight giggle and pulled him onto the bed so he would recline against the headboard. He cast a confused glance at her. Why was she making it sound like he would want to kick someone\'s teeth into their throat? Considering they were talking about Oliver West and his insanity, that was a very likely possibility.

He followed her instructions anyway, and when she snuggled against his chest, he finally understood what she was up to. "You just want to use my body as a pillow." He said as she folded her legs and wrapped her arms around him in the position she liked to stay in the most.

"Can\'t help it when my husband\'s body is so perfect." She purred, and cleared her throat again. "Anyway, as you may have already guessed, he wanted me to sign off all shares of The West that we have. It\'s the least we can do for them after what you did to his grandfather for my sake—his words."

Desmond frowned. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing, until he offered to pay half the market price for the shares. He said that was his most generous offer, seeing as we had a lot to pay for. I told him to shove his generosity where the sun doesn\'t shine."

He chuckled. That did sound like something his feisty wife would say. He knew that couldn\'t have been the end of the conversation. It had taken the better part of an hour, after all. "What did he say to that?"

"He was trying so hard not to blow up. He kept sweetening the pot until he realised he was not going to faze me. Not when The West was practically taking a nose-dive toward bankruptcy and we saved it. They cannot push us off the boat now that we have helped them through a storm. In the end, he said I could keep some of those shares if I was so fascinated by The West, but I would have to give something else in return. Namely, a marriage pact between a West and either a Fort or a Williams."

He was confused. "Why does that sound like his way of asking for your hand in marriage?"

She took a few deep breaths to stop herself from laughing. "That\'s what I thought too. I\'m the newest Fort in town, after all. And the official procedure to change my surname to Fort is still underway, so legally I\'m still Zaria Williams. But that was not his aim. He wanted to be permanently entangled with both you and my mother."

It took a moment for him to figure out what she had realised the asshole was implying. He looked down at her and laughed when their gazes met. "He didn\'t really suggest a marriage pact involving Rosaly, did he?" He asked. That was the only person he could think that was unmarried and connected to both him and Lucy.

"He did. And I wanted to slap his brains out. Turns out he had an illegitimate son that has never been accepted into the West family. If that boy were to be engaged to Rosaly, the Wests would find him useful and accept him, seeing as Rosaly is both your daughter and Lucy\'s granddaughter at the same time."

"Right." He clenched his fists. If Zaria hadn\'t given Oliver a piece of her mind, he would do it and he would use his gun to do so.

That had to be the reason why Oliver insisted on him and Rosaly leaving.

Well, not the only reason. They both knew what else there was to it even though they didn\'t want to talk about it for the fury it would evoke in them.

Evan thought since Rosaly was not Zaria\'s biological daughter, Zaria would be less reluctant to give her away in a marriage pact.

Thinking about it, Zaria finally understood Angela\'s role in the kidnapping. "Wait. It\'s not about what happened to Gabriel. They probably don\'t even give a shit about it. But if Angela were to take Rosaly away and sign a marriage pact, it would benefit them. However, they must have tried to do it and found out I\'m also Rosaly\'s legal parent and they thought this would be more convenient."

"If Angela made a decision about Rosaly, it could be legally nullified on the grounds of her not having any custody rights and therefore no right to make major choices. But if you were to do it, not only would it be valid, but it would also drive a major wedge between you and Rosaly when she finally understood what a marriage pact is. Of course, this is just the bonus and probably what they offered Angela in exchange for her getting the job done. The main benefit for them is their position in the family business."

Zaria frowned. If she wasn\'t aware of Lucy having rigged the whole room, and if opening fire wouldn\'t put her and the baby in danger, she would have snatched Oliver\'s gun that she\'d seen peeking out of his waistband and shot his brains out. His son was better off without such a scumbag for a father. It still made no sense how one could have a child and be so selfish as to use them mercilessly.

"Oh right! I have to tell Ximena we found Rosaly. She\'s freaking out." She shot up and grabbed her phone.

______

Ximena was pacing a hole through the living room floor. Liam grabbed her mid-pace and pulled her against him. "Baby, it\'s going to be alright. Des just told us they are safe and Zaria told you the same thing. Relax, okay?"

"I can\'t relax! My parents had something to do with this and it will only get worse. They will do anything to get under our skins." She wanted to scream. It would be bearable if they only attacked her. After all, hitting the road was her idea and it wasn\'t like she wasn\'t capable of making her own decisions. Going after her friend was a low blow but she had to admit it was working. She couldn\'t let Zaria suffer for her to be happy.

She groaned when she realised that meant if Zaria was happy, she couldn\'t be happy too. Why couldn\'t both of them be happy?

"I swear, I have never felt so much hate in my life." She pulled at her hair. Liam wrapped his arms around her. He didn\'t want to go back. They had been so peaceful before all this.

But again, he couldn\'t ignore the fact that Ximena\'s parents were a pair of lunatics just waiting for another chance to strike.

"Maybe we can go back just to have a word with them."

"How many words have I had with them?" She laughed bitterly. "It\'s never going to work."

She let him lead her back to the bedroom and slumped onto the bed. "Your parents may be stubborn as yet another pair of mules but at least your mother cares about you. She would never let your father do something drastic. I wish I could say the same about mine." She gathered her hair in her hands and stopped herself from pulling it at the last moment. She was still baking in frustration. "I can\'t believe I\'m thinking this but I wish they were dead. It\'s the only way I can ever truly be peaceful."

She had said it on a whim but once her words were out, she was horrified by how true they were. She had just wished her parents dead. And that was not all. She was actually considering it.