Between Commitment and Betrayal: An Arranged Marriage Romance (Hardy Billionaires)

I THINK she punished me with silence. I swear it was the most effective weapon known to man too. That and the fact that she wouldn’t wear the ring or the bracelet drove me to near madness.

She didn’t come to dinner or breakfast. That ship had sailed for us too. She instead would open her own door to go to work every morning, then slam it extremely hard. I still counted silently every time she did for a fucking punishment later.

Worst of all, she ignored me. Flat out didn’t even wish me good morning or say goodbye.

I’d made a decision for us both one freaking time, and the woman was going to go millions of times without talking to me for a whole week. I told her when the doctor’s appointment was and practically prayed to all that was holy that she would be ready when I drove up to the guesthouse in one of my less used electric vehicles to pick her up. I didn’t want anyone following us to this appointment.

Thankfully, she appeared right on time and we drove in silence, walked to the office in silence and then we sat in the doctor’s office.

In silence.

At least the waiting room had no one else in it and the nurses were cordial. They’d rearranged the schedule for us both and it was confidential enough that they’d made it a private visit.

The doctor asked for my autograph before he handed Everly two forms to fill in. I took the insurance one with a grunt and scribbled information on there harder than necessary. I was frustrated with the fact that she hadn’t had insurance and that I hadn’t thought to put her on mine the day we were married.

I hadn’t thought about a lot, but I damn sure was now.

I didn’t know her middle name was Rose.

I didn’t know her social security number.

I still had to write her maiden name instead of mine. “Didn’t take my name, and I don’t know half the shit about my wife on this form.”

“It’s for the best,” she finally said but only to reassure me of something I didn’t want.

“Why is it for the best?” The more I thought about it, the more it wasn’t if she was going to be the mother of my child. I needed to know everything about her now. Didn’t she understand that?

I wanted a damn kid. With her. Sooner rather than later. It might have been an irrational decision, and I may have made up my mind quickly, but Everly would have to come around to the idea. She had to see that this would be okay, that it could be more than okay.

It was the logical thing to do. Sure it was about the empire and the studio, but more than that, I’d make sure the press painted her in the way she should have been seen from the very beginning. And as I stared at her and pictured her pregnant, rubbing her belly with a small smile on her face as she felt a kick from our baby, I knew it’d be easy to do.

The world would fall in love with her.

I wanted to experience everything with my wife of convenience. Babies, weddings, happily ever afters. The inconvenient part of it was, I wasn’t sure she wanted the same.

They called her back and told me I could finish filling out forms before I met them in suite 10. Once, I got there, Everly was in a robe and I sat down to listen to the doctor talk over the birth control she was on. He seemed concerned.

“Wait, what?” I asked. “So you’re telling me there are all those side effects? Breast cancer?”

“Well, there are of course others. Everly, you put here you have migraines?”

“I’ve had some in the past, sure.”

“So, if you’re considering children, you can come off this birth control. Keep in mind, your period will be irregular for a few months. If you aren’t planning on considering children yet”—he glanced at his computer screen—“I’d still recommend a different birth control. With this one, you have an increased risk of blood clots.”

What in the actual fuck?

The doctor smiled softly, “And with your migraines, well, they may get worse with this bi—”

“Take out her birth control.” I cut the doctor off with my demand.

“I’m sorry?” the doctor said just as Everly blurted out, “Excuse me, what?”

“I said. Take. It. Out. We’re not risking her health. And I want a baby with her anyway.”

“Declan!” she grabbed my arm and wide-eyed me. “Are you joking right now?”

“You heard what that birth control is doing to you. I want it out. Now.”

The doctor cleared his throat, probably not sure how to continue. “Mr. Hardy, it would be Ms. Belafonte’s decision.”

“Ms. Belafonte.” I muttered her last name in disgust, mad that she didn’t have mine instead. “She has decided she wants it out.”

The doctor chuckled nervously. “Mr. Hardy, if Ms. Belafonte wants to take out her birth control, she can do that herself. The ring is self-inserted, so …” The doctor swiveled in his chair, glancing between both of us before standing. “If you are looking to have genetic testing to rule out any gene mutations or screen for any unknown conditions, I can draw blood from you both today.”

I lifted an eyebrow at her, but waited this time knowing she had to decide to keep the ball rolling or not.

She rolled up her sleeve, albeit quietly so as not to cause a scene but I saw the fire burning in her blue eyes.

Blood was taken and the doctor explained we could leave when we were ready before rushing out as fast as his medical clogs could carry him. We were close behind because it seemed Everly didn’t want a scene in the doctor’s office.

Instead, we sat quietly in the car as I drove us home. And the longer the silence lasted in the car, the angrier I got. She was taking a medication that was detrimental to her health for what. When we got home, I didn’t stop at the guesthouse, I drove straight past it.

“Declan, drop me off—”

“You’re coming into our home where you should be sleeping anyway, and you’re taking that birth control out.”

“Am I?” She shook her head. “Funny because I’m pretty sure I told you just a week ago to stop making decisions without me. Now, here we are, you trying to make another one, but guess what? This one, I make all on my own.” Her cool, calm collected tone was not going to fly at this point.

“Did you not hear the risks, Everly? You’re taking that out or I’m going to fucking take it out for you.” I glared at her.

“Do you hear yourself? You sound so ridiculous.” She chuckled, actually chuckled at me. “I’ve been on it for years.”

“All the more reason to take it out now,” I bellowed, concerned that cancer could now have a head start in her body, that blood clots may be forming, that she’d get another damn migraine.

“You realize if I do that, we could end up with a baby, Declan,” she said and her eyes shook with such a blue vivid fear that I noticed something right then.

“What are you so scared of?”

“Scared of?” She jerked her gaze away from me and shook her head. “Nothing.”

I cranked my door open and slammed it shut to go around to her side. I yanked hers open and scooped her up.

She stuttered out, “Declan, I can walk—”

“I know that,” I told her as I opened my front door and passed the kitchen, taking her straight into my bedroom where I set her down on the bed in front of me. Then, I kneeled down and grabbed her thighs. “You’re not agreeing to a damn thing now except taking this out. I need this out of you. He said someone with migraines is more susceptible—”

“I don’t think the side effects were as well known when I first started taking it. I—”

“We can get you another birth control, Drop. If that’s what you really want.”

She bit her lip and I did everything I could to make her see this wasn’t a medication for her. Massaging her hips, I nestled into her neck, “You’re taking it out, Everly. I need you to or I won’t think about a damn other thing.”

“You’re that concerned?”

“About you? Always,” I said, holding those sapphire blues hostage.

“Okay. But only because I said.” She murmured so soft I barely heard it as she tilted her head to the side.

“You sure? Can I?” I said even though I was damn sure.

When she nodded, my hand was already unbuttoning her pants and pulling them down along with her panties. I nudged her back onto the bed, so I could pull them over her feet and then I was grabbing her ass to set her on the edge of the plush comforter. She whimpered when my thumb brushed over her clit, and I groaned when my middle finger slid into her wet sex. “Fuck me. I missed you, missed my pussy.”

She wiggled closer to me, biting her lip like she wanted to admit the same.

“I’ll never get used to how wet you are for me every time, baby.”

“Declan, please,” she begged, her long nails digging into my shoulders as I started working her. I knew the ring was deep, so I took my time swirling my fingers against her walls on my way up to it. Her breathing became rapid, her tits swelled right in front of my face as I watched the blush rise over her cheeks. Her hands started to roam everywhere as her thighs shook with anticipation for a release.

“I think I need to see you in my bed much more, Drop. Much, much more.”

She whimpered but didn’t confirm or deny that she wanted that too.

When I finally was deep enough and felt the ring, I murmured, “This should have never been in my pussy in the first place.” I pulled it out, and she gasped at either the feeling of someone else handling her birth control or at my words. “My cock is the only thing that ever belongs in my wife. Say you understand.”

She murmured yes over and over as I set the ring aside to throw away later, because I was about to take what I wanted immediately. I licked the arousal from her sex. I drank my favorite drink until she gushed on my mouth, screaming my name in her first orgasm of the day.

I didn’t let up. I wanted to reward her for listening, make her understand that this bed was where she belonged, that I’d always take care of her here.

I sucked her clit as she rolled beneath me. “Declan, please fuck me. Please. I can’t take anymore.”

“I know that’s a lie, Everly. You can do whatever you set your mind to. Now, give your husband another one.”