Return to the Apex: No More Mr. Nice Guy novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Then Marry Him
In the Thorpe parlor Sabine says she's marrying her bodyguard, and Weston, who remembers how this ends, refuses to fight for her and ends the money.
My wife killed our son. Three nights later she came at me with a kitchen knife.
"This is what you owe me for Rex," she said, and pushed it into my chest.
Three years before that, she had thrown away our engagement to marry her bodyguard.
I tried to save her from him. I showed her proof of what he was, and they fought in the street, and a car killed him.
She never forgave me for it.
Then I opened my eyes in her parents' parlor, holding a gift box, and she was standing in front of me alive and angry.
It was the day before I would have ruined him.
"Dad, I know how this sounds," Sabine was saying. "Rex is only a bodyguard now, but I believe in him."
She held her father's arm and spoke softly, the way she did when she was sorry.
"Weston works so hard, and he deserves someone who can keep up with him. I'm marrying Rex."
Nobody answered her.
I was standing right there, her fiance since before either of us could drive.
Rex Brannigan stood by the parlor door in his black suit with his hands folded, looking at the carpet.
He was good at looking at the carpet.
Lawrence Thorpe cleared his throat and gave me the smile he saved for the first of the month.
His company had been dying for ten years, and everything it earned now came out of my capital.
All the Thorpes had to do was keep me, and they would never have to work again.
"Weston, she's young," Lawrence said. "She doesn't mean it. You've been at the office every night, and she feels neglected."
"Take her to Nantucket for a week," Sabine's mother said, and poured me a glass of iced tea herself.
"You two were promised before you could walk."
"Two years ago, when she had pneumonia, Weston slept in that hospital chair for a month."
"And the pink diamond," Lawrence added. "Three million at auction, and he didn't blink."
The butler opened the box I had brought and held up the ivory gown inside.
"Miss Sabine, you said you wanted this one from Paris. Mr. Cabot had it made."
Sabine looked at the gown. She looked at Rex.
Then she took a throw pillow off the sofa and held it to her chest.
"I know we were promised. You looked after me when we were kids, and I can't pay that back with my whole life."
"You've been so good to me, Weston. That's what makes it hard."
"I love Rex. If loving him means being poor, I'll be poor."
The last time I heard those words, I swore I would fix it, and the fixing cost me my son.
Her mother held out a cup of tea to Sabine and Sabine pushed it away.
"I can't drink that," Sabine said. "It smells wrong. Can somebody bring me plain crackers?"
The butler went for the crackers.
Her mother fussed over her.
Lawrence stared at me, waiting for the old Weston to say it was fine.
He wanted me to say I understood, and that she could take all the time she needed.
I set the empty gift box down on the sofa.
"Okay," I said.
Lawrence's smile came back. "I knew you'd be reasonable."
"I mean it's okay," I said. "Marry him."
Nobody breathed.
Sabine blinked. "What?"
"You want Rex. He's right there. Marry him." I looked at her father. "I won't stand in the way."
Rex's head came up.
Last time, I had gone to war to keep him away from her, and it had cost me everything.
This time I was staying out of it.
"Weston, don't be hasty," her mother said.
"I'm not hasty. I'm finished."
I took my phone from my pocket and called my assistant while the whole family watched.
"Stop every transfer to Thorpe Industries," I said. "All of them. Starting tonight."
Lawrence's face went from red to grey.
"You can't," he said. "The payroll runs Tuesday."
"Then Rex can find you the money."
I left the gown on the butler's arm and walked out of that house.
I was halfway down the front steps when the butler caught up with me, breathing hard.
He slipped me a folded sheet of paper and went back inside without a word.
It was a bank statement from an account I had never seen, in Lawrence Thorpe's name.
Every transfer I had ever sent the Thorpes was on it, and next to each one was a second number.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend