As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Fifty ~

Cynthia didn't bother knocking on her brother-in-law's door, but instead pushed her way past a blustering Greg and promptly shut the door behind her before she threw her purse on a side table and flashed her hands in the air as a sign of truce.

"Before you say anything, I need you to hear me out."

Evan cocked a semi-interested brow in her direction, then turned his focus back to the box he was packing. "I haven't said a word."

She smiled. "Remember that when I tell you my news. It's exciting, but your first instinct is probably going to be to yell at me."

"I've had enough exciting news today, Cyn."

She gave him a puzzled look at his words and glanced around the room for the first time; his few personal items were peeking out from a file box on his desk and a large abstract portrait rested on the floor against a table leg.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're packing up your office. I'm asking why are you packing up your office?"

He offered her a cheerless smile and kept filling the box. "I was just fired from Beaumont Industries. Actually, I quit, but who gives a damn about the details, right?"

Her mouth dropped. She moved herself directly in front of his desk and put her hand on top of his, forcing him to stop what he was doing. "Would you please stop and talk to me? Why would Patrick fire you?"

"I quit, remember?"

She levelled him with her typical scowl, one that he had none-too quietly dubbed 'the Cynthia' some years prior.

"Your husband opened his mouth about my pending divorce—"

"Your what!?"

"And when the old man found out he took it upon himself to once again step in and fix my life for me. I wouldn't bow down, so here we are. Simple."

"What do you mean, 'once again'?"

His brow arched in genuine surprise. "John didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what? What the hell are you talking about, Evan?"

"Hmph. He kept my secret better than I thought he would. About a year ago Dad started in on me about Victoria, about settling down and whatnot, and then he made me sign a marriage contract in the hopes it would get me back in the dating game. Or maybe it was the marriage pool, who knows."

Cynthia's eyes widened. "He made you sign a what?!"

"You heard me. If I wasn't married within a year of the contract date I would forfeit my position at Beaumont Industries, my seat on the board, everything. Everything I worked for since I was twenty years old would be gone."

"You've got to be kidding. I mean, you're kidding, right?"

If he heard the question he didn't acknowledge it.

"I met Kirsten shortly after I signed the contract. It was a stroke of luck that Travis Enterprises needed money following their CFO's embezzlement scheme, and I needed a wife to get the old man off my back.

"She married me in exchange for her family's financial security and I married her to fulfill the terms of the marriage contract. We agreed that once the contract was nullified we would separate and divorce. I just assumed John told you, especially after Kirsten left and you backed off from asking questions."

Evan and Kirsten's marriage was a sham? It wasn't possible.

"But... you were so happy. I saw it. We all did. I mean... I thought you were sleeping together?"