Arranged to the Don, Freed from the Lie novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Library at Two

Santino's POV

At five to two I walked into the Harrow House library alone.

I had left Helena asleep, or pretending to sleep, with her hand curled under her cheek.

I had stood at the bed longer than I should have.

Edmund was waiting by the fire with a decanter and two glasses.

The Council's book lay open on the desk, bound in red leather, with a pen laid across the page.

"Mr. Carraro."

"Edmund."

"Brandy?"

"No."

"You're not a trusting man."

"I'm a married one," I said. "I'm told it makes you cautious."

He smiled, and poured one for himself.

He had a soft voice and a soft hand, and I had known men like him my whole life.

They never raised their voices.

They signed things.

"The oath is a short formality," he said. "The husband swears to the Council that the bride's shares are held for her protection, in trust, and that he will not touch them."

"In trust with who?"

"With the Council."

"So she signs nothing, and I swear to keep my hands off her money, and you keep the money."

"It's a custom."

"Whose custom?"

He tilted his head.

"Yours was a very sudden marriage, Mr. Carraro. These things can be undone. The man from Providence is a reasonable man. For four million dollars, I believe the Council could quietly dissolve the arrangement, and he would go home."

"Four million."

"To the Council. For its trouble."

I looked at the book.

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