My body is taut with nerves as I continue to tighten the bolts in the automated cheese slicer I built for my sister, but it doesn’t keep my mind off Raya for more than a few minutes. I sigh as I force myself to check that my new invention, built to look like a little guillotine and appropriately named Cheesy, slices a block of cheese into paper-thin slices, just the way my sister likes it. She’s cut herself countless times trying to slice cheese in a stupidly thin way, but this should help.
It isn’t, however, helping me. Coming up with new ideas and building tools for my family always takes my mind off things I don’t want to think about, but not today. No, every few minutes, I’m reminded of Raya’s honey scent, the way she moans when I kiss her, and the way her nose crinkles in the cutest way when she smiles. Then my thoughts involuntarily turn to the way she couldn’t quite face me as she told me that she’s no longer single.
Who the fuck is he? I’ve spent days trying to figure it out, only to come up empty. More than once, I’ve found myself on campus on days I’m not teaching, tempted to find her and demand answers I’m not entitled to. I sigh as I laser engrave the words Let Them Eat Cheese into Sierra’s gift, knowing she loves that kind of twisted humor. Normally this level of silliness would’ve had me smiling, but today my heart feels heavy.
It annoys me how quickly Raya got under my skin. I can’t figure her out, can’t read her motives. No way was she able to walk right into someone else’s arms a mere few weeks after falling asleep in mine. What is she playing at?
“Pippy,” I call, the sound of my voice activating my AI Robot Assistant. “Have you been able to find any new information on Bob Lewis and Lewis Motors? And what about Raya? Did you learn anything new about her?”
“It took a while, but I was able to delve a little deeper into Mr. Lewis’s financial records. Lewis Motors truly is at the brink of bankruptcy, and Mr. Lewis’s personal assets can’t sustain their relatively modest lifestyle for much longer, since he’s reinvested all his savings back into the company. Despite his financial situation, he continues to pay $10,000 a month to an unfamiliar external account, straining his already precarious finances further. I also couldn’t find anything about him prior to when he started his business. There’s a gap between when he graduated and when he started his firm, though I suspect he was preparing to launch his business during that time and may not have been working.”
I nod slowly, uncertain what he might be up to. Debt, perhaps? “Look into the paper trail for me, will you?”
“Certainly, Lex. As for Raya, I’m sorry to say that I have no new updates. I was unable to verify that her relationship status has changed.”
Relief rushes through me, and I smile wryly. Was she just trying to deter me with her words? If she truly was dating someone, I’d already have figured out who he is by now.
“What about Annie?” I ask, my voice soft. “Have you found Annie?”
“I’m sorry,” Pippy says, her slightly robotic voice tinged with regret. “No trace of Annie yet. I’ll keep looking.” My heart twists painfully, and I sigh as I continue to work in silence, hoping to drown out my thoughts by keeping my hands busy.
“Lex,” Pippy says eventually, her tone concerned. “Bob Lewis at the front desk. Would you like me to notify the receptionist that he is to be admitted to your lab? As it stands, our staff are refusing him entry.”
My eyes widen, and for a moment, I stand frozen. What could Raya’s father possibly be doing here? “Yes, Pippy. If you’d please?”
“Certainly, Lex,” Pippy replies.
My hands instantly turn clammy, and I wipe them on the overall I always wear in my lab before remembering to yank off the stained garment. I glance down at the shirt and pants I’m wearing, trying my hardest to remember where I threw my jacket. “Fuck,” I mutter to myself when I realize I left it in my office on the top floor. With the lab being on a different floor, there’s no way I can make myself look presentable in time.
The door to my lab unlocks and swings open automatically, curtesy of Pippy, and Raya’s father walks in, followed by my secretary, Susan. He’s as tall as I am, with dark hair and bright blue eyes that sweep over my lab. The man looks formidable, yet his expression seems to be a mixture of reluctance and helplessness.
“Lexington Windsor, I take it?” he says, and I snap out of it, offering him my hand.
“Indeed. Bob Lewis, right?”
He stares at my outstretched hand, the muscle in his jaw ticking as he shakes it, his grip unnecessarily tight. I smile in response, hyperaware that this man might very well end up becoming my father-in-law.
“You can leave us,” I tell Susan, and she nods politely before disappearing quietly.
Bob glances at my equipment and the various projects I’m working on, each laid out on a separate table. “You don’t seem surprised to see me, and you seem to know who I am, so you must know what brought me here.”
I straighten my shoulders and look him in the eye. “I’m aware of my grandmother’s offer, though she doesn’t realize that I know. Nonetheless, I am surprised to see you here today, Mr. Lewis. What can I do for you?”
He locks his jaw and stares at the design plans for my next car, strewn all over one of my tables. The plans are highly confidential, yet I couldn’t care less at this moment.
“I shouldn’t be here at all,” Bob says, his voice soft. “My agreement is with your grandmother, and per our terms, I shouldn’t speak to you until the ink is dry on our contract.” He looks up at me then. “However, I couldn’t sign away my daughter’s life until I had a better understanding of the man I’m tying her fate to.”
My heart begins to race, and I cross my arms as I nod at him. “I was under the impression that you’d declined my grandmother’s offer.”
“I did. My wife and daughter made me reconsider.” He pauses and looks me up and down. “Whether this merger goes through all depends on what kind of man you are, Mr. Windsor.”
“Lex,” I correct him, trying my best to smile genuinely. “Please call me Lex. That’s what my friends and family call me.”
He nods and walks around the room, pausing at each table, clearly conflicted. I know he desperately needs this merger, or his company won’t survive, yet he seems unwilling to follow through.
“You said that it’s your wife and daughter that changed your mind. Does that mean Raya knows about me?”
Was it me she was referring to when she claimed to no longer be single? It didn’t seem that way, but I can’t help the sliver of hope I feel. It would explain why I haven’t been able to find so much as a trace of the man she’s supposedly with.
His eyes cut to mine. “I have yet to tell her which company we’re merging with, or who she’d marry. Raya is rather impulsive, and she has the biggest heart. She’d do anything to save the company, and I can’t risk her taking matters into her own hands,” he says, his tone carrying an edge to it.
“So, she agreed to marry someone without even knowing who it is?” That sliver of hope expands, enveloping my heart. The conversation Raya and I had in my office makes a lot more sense now, and I can’t help but smile to myself.
Bob nods as he pauses by Cheesy, his expression hardening. “Are you some sort of psychopath, Mr. Windsor?” he asks, his tone harsh as he examines what is essentially a miniature guillotine. “Is that why your grandmother is so desperate to find you a wife?”
I run a hand through my hair, mortification washing over me. “That… that is not what it looks like,” I explain dumbly. “It’s a cheese slicer, designed for my little sister,” I begin to explain. He listens as I tell him about the frequent cuts on Sierra’s fingers, and his shoulders relax as I explain her ridiculous love for cheese, and how I’d hoped Cheesy would help her.
My nerves are racked as Bob just stares at me for a few moments. “I’m surprised calling you a psychopath didn’t anger you. I expected you to be the eccentric billionaire the media portrays you to be, but you seem surprisingly normal.”
I raise a brow in amusement. “I suppose I’m not sorry to disappoint?”
His lips twitch, the edges turning up in a reluctant mini smile. “I thought you might take this opportunity to deter me. I was under the impression that you were forced into this as much as we are.”
I nod and lean back against one of the tables. “I am being forced into it, but I also always knew that it was coming. I know I don’t have a choice, and though I’d never tell her this, I trust my grandmother.” Just not fully — not enough to not have sought out Raya before the engagement was formalized. If I’d had even the slightest inkling that Raya had malicious intent toward me or my family, I would have sabotaged our engagement.
Bob nods and takes his time walking through my lab, almost like he’s trying to get on my nerves with his intrusiveness. Before I met Raya, I might’ve been inclined to indulge him, even if it’s just to buy myself a little more time before marriage. Now? Now I simply smile and lean back as he touches highly fragile and expensive pieces of tech.
“You should know that my daughter is everything to me,” he says eventually, his expression serious. “There is nothing I won’t do to protect her. If I ever so much as suspect that she’s being mistreated, I’ll bring her back home by any means necessary, consequences be damned.”
I smile, only mildly surprised by the thinly veiled threat. “I would never disrespect or mistreat my wife.” I pause for a moment, understanding his concerns. “Nor would I ever ask her for anything she isn’t willing to give, Bob. She’d be my wife, not my property.”
He studies me, seemingly less conflicted than he was before, but clearly not convinced either.
“My daughter wants real love, Lex. The kind her mother and I share. Can you give her that?”
I hesitate and look away. “I’ll give her everything she could ever want, but I’m not sure I have it in me to love her.” I take a deep breath and look at him, making him an informal promise. “I would try, though. For my wife, I’d try.”
