Page 12

Once my father delivered the name—no, not the name, the names, as in more than one name, as in three names—with all the fanfare of someone who couldn't contain his happiness, I didn't stick around to ask how this was even possible.

Did they know each other? Is this a prank? What the hell is going on? And obviously, I wanted answers from them, not my father, because he might just be an innocent bystander in the war between me and the billionaires. And now this is actually a real war.

I'm so livid there's probably smoke coming out of my ears. Good. I hope fire comes out of my mouth next, so I can set them alight for doing this to me.

How is it possible that my plan to save Darling Rose backfired so badly on me? I failed on both accounts. First, what is a hundred thousand dollars going to do if I need a hundred million dollars, and secondly, how did my father marry me off to my worst enemies ever?

I'll soon find out, and then when I have all my answers, I really hope I turn into a dragon and send them to hell with one breath.

I bang on the door once, twice, before I decide I'm not playing nice, and if I have to drive my car through it to get into their house, I will. Except the door is unlocked and opens when I turn the knob.

They just saved themselves a hefty repair bill. Ugh, what am I thinking? I don't care. I hope they get an infinite amount of bills, so much so they'll be left with nothing.

I find them in their study, lounging around in jeans and t-shirts like casual kings, grins on their faces when they see me charge at them.

"You arrogant, conniving, vicious monsters. You—"

Well, clearly I used up all my steam since I've run out of it so soon.

"Why? Just tell me why?"

"It's not obvious?" Rex says softly, the dark shadow in his eye glinting as he takes me in.

"No, it's not," I say, confused.

"Then let us explain to you, Tia," Brandon says, his voice so deep, the cells under my skin spring to life.

"From the moment we saw you standing in our office building, trying to get our security to let you in to see us, we knew we had to have you," Joel says.

"You saw me then? Is that why I was allowed to see you?" I ask, incredulously.

"Yes," Brandon confirms. "And then you offered us cupcakes—twice—and then both times took them away before we could eat them," he adds, with a smile that transforms his entire face into something even more beautiful. My gosh, I can't keep up with their attractiveness.

"Then you declared war on us, and that took some creativity and a lot of guts considering who we are," Rex says.

"Then we touched you, and by then we were already lost to you."

"We knew we had to have you. All of you. As our wife."

"I don't—" I begin to say.

"We knew everything about you, Tia Langley Montgomery. We knew we needed to stake our claim immediately before some other poor bastard got entangled with your charm but was clueless how to handle you."

"So we paid a visit to your father. Not that we needed his permission to take you, but we wanted to do the traditional thing by him."

"Okay, wait. This is all so confusing. I'm your worst enemy. I'm your worst nightmare. Why on earth would you want to marry me? Are you three okay?"

"Tia, haven't we explained it well enough for you?" Joel asks, chuckling.

"Well, no," I say, shaking my head, trying to grasp the other reason I'm not supposed to like them in my muddled-up brain.

"Oh my god," I shout, and without thinking, I pick up a book and haul it at them. "You think you can marry me just to shut me up so you can go about your business with digging up Darling Rose, all to line your already bulging pockets. Oh, that just makes you absolutely horrible.

"And if you think I'm going to shut up about it, you have another think coming. I'm going to broadcast even louder what terrible human beings you are for callously destroying the love and legacy of one sweet man. I won't stop until the world—" My phone, nestled in the pocket of my skirt, rings.

"You better take that call, sweetheart," Joel says, stroking his jaw.

"Not until I'm done with—" But somehow the ringtone seems to get shriller, and I'm forced to retrieve my phone. My heart sinks when Mr. A's name pops up onto my screen. I haven't even figured out what I'm going to tell the older man.