Chapter 128
-OLIVIA-
I had never seen Ethan this pissed.
He drove in silence for a stretch, then not in silence, then silence again.
The lecture covered Luca, the video, the family name, Blair being pregnant, dad finding out.
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He did not raise his voice. He used the quiet version. The one that meant he had already decided I had crossed a line he did not usually draw.
“I am not dad,” he said, eyes on the road. “I am not strict. I have never been that brother. But I watched that video on my phone. You were being wild and reckless with a stranger. A stranger with the worst record for sleeping aneh women.”
this over Luca, what would he do if he found out I was in love with his best friend?
not want to think about that.
I hated the look on Roman’s face more. Standing there by the Mustang, lying about Eden and being in the
area.
He had looked like he was betraying Ethan the entire time he spoke. The guilt was so obvious, I was surprised my brother hadn’t noticed it.
Someone’s best friend did not drop everything, leave practice, and walk into a club just to be protective of his friend’s sister.
No.
I had seen something else in his face tonight. Something that made my stomach do little flips.
Possession. Like he wanted to claim me but didn’t know how to.
I blushed as I remembered him dragging me onto his lap. He even said he just fucking cared and that would never change.
Then my brother appeared and there was no sign of that man anymore.
Using Luca again after tonight was probably a bad idea.
I still loved seeing Roman’s reaction.
I wanted more of it. I wanted him losing his mind over me. Like the thought of another man next to me drove him insane.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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Ethan parked at the house and told me to go inside. He had calls to make. Damage control. I nodded and went in expecting the house to be dark with everyone asleep.
The office light was on.
Dad was awake.
He stood in the doorway like he had been waiting for me to come home. No softness in his face. He looked like a man who had already made one daughter marry her way out of a scandal and was prepared to make it happen again.
“Come in.”
I inwardly groaned.
This could not be good.
I followed him in. The house felt too quiet after the club. He did not sit right away. He looked at me the way he looked at a problem that had already reached the press.
“There is a video of you,” he said. “With Luca Vescari. I assume I do not have to describe it.”
“No.”
“You are a Monroe. That name is not a costume you take off at a club. I have spent years keeping your faces off the internet for a reason. Tonight you handed them everything from one scandal.”
My throat tightened. “I know.”
“Do you?” He studied me. “Because knowing and still doing it means this was not an accident. I want the truth. Is this about attention, or is this about someone I have not been told about?”
Roman’s name sat on my tongue.
I swallowed it.
“It was a bad night,” I said. “I will not do it again.”
Dad did not look convinced. He never did when it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. He walked around the desk and sat, folding his hands like this was a board meeting and I was an item on the agenda.
“When your sister almost became a scandal,” he said, “I did not ask her how she felt about the solution. I found the solution. Grayson Shaw. A marriage that fixed the story before it could finish destroying this family. You remember how that started. You remember how little choice she had.”
Destroying the family? I doubt one scandal could have caused that. My father could be dramatic at times.
I remembered though. Blair in a dress she had not picked. A wedding that had been a lie.
“I am giving you another chance,” he said. “One. Because you are younger, and because I would prefer not to do that again if I do not have to. But if this happens again-if I see your name next to another man like
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Vescari, another video, another night that makes this house look sloppy, I will start looking for a groom.”
I gasped.
“Father. You can’t do that.”
“I can.” His voice did not rise. That made it worse. “I have done it. It worked. Blair is happy. This family is intact. Do not mistake my patience tonight for weakness.”
I stood there in the dress I should not have worn and felt the walls of the office close in. Marriage.
To a man who would be selected the way Grayson had been selected.
The only man I wanted was Roman.
I could not be with anyone but him. Not a groom from a list. Not a solution with a last name my father approved.
Unfortunately, Roman had rejected me. He had brought Eden into my kitchen. He had lied to Ethan in a parking lot. I still could not imagine standing at an altar with anyone else.
I would not quietly marry someone the way Blair had. I was not my sister.
Yes, it had worked out in her favor. Love had grown in the mess. That did not mean I wanted the same beginning. That did not mean I would be as obedient as she. Blair had swallowed the arrangement and made a life inside it. I already had someone I loved. Even though he had told me I was too young, too off-limits, too much his best friend’s sister, I was not giving up.
I would not say that in this office. Not in front my father. The last thing I needed was him telling Roman he couldn’t come here anymore.
“I understand,” I said.
It was not surrender. I just wanted to get out of the room.
Dad dismissed me with a look that meant the conversation was not over, only paused.
“Security until I say otherwise. Your mother will have a talk with you in the morning. And you will stay away from Vescari. That is not a request.”
I nodded.
Inside, I was still in the Mustang. Still watching Roman lie to Ethan. Still feeling that flip in my stomach when he had looked at me like I was his.
Still feeling his hands on my thighs and the insane, stupid hope that a man who said he just fucking cared might someday change his mind and decide he wanted to be with me.
I went upstairs, shut my door, and sat on the bed.
Ethan was furious.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dad was awake, already holding a groom in reserve.
Roman had come for me.
:
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And I already knew, even after the office, that the part of me that wanted another reaction from him was not as sorry as I had just pretended to be.
I was not going to marry a stranger even if I entered another scandal.
I was not going to give up the only man I wanted because he was too stubborn to admit he felt something for
me too.
I took the dress off, laid it over the chair, and stared at my phone.
I wanted to send him a risky text. But after tonight, it was best to save that for another day.
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14:58 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.