Papers Don't Lie (Lavish Love, #1)

by Maeve Hazel

“Don’t worry, son. I’m happy you have someone. You know that everything I want to see in this life is one of my children marrying.”

“Thanks. I’ll take her out, if that’s okay with you?” I ask, and he nods his head. I take it as my cue to find Irene, but he talks again. “So, she’s the reason you’ve been canceling meetings lately?” There’s a smug look on his face, and I laugh at that, not believing to see him like this after such a long time. I can’t remember when the last time was that he was like this.

“Yes,” I admit. “Good. Bring her for dinner tonight.” Well… I’m fucked.

“What’s your favorite?” He points at the bags in our hands, and I squint at him at his sudden interest. “So I can put it on for you.” His suggestion takes me by surprise, and I stumble over my words before I can come out with a reply for him. “The white silky one. But I can do it myself when we get into the car.”

“Don’t doubt my skills, troublemaker. I have a little sister, and even though she’s not as obsessed with bows as you are, she loves them.”

“Yes. I have three. I’m the oldest. Tristan and Ryker live in Los Angeles, and Kiaran in Costa Rica.” “Speaking of age…” I start, earning a barely visible smile from him. “You’re twenty-six, right?” “Yes.” We walk inside the parking lot, where Kendrick is waiting for us and already opening the back trunk. “That’s not bad. Carter’s thirty-five,” I whisper and give Kendrick the bags. “Thank you.”

“Nothing could save me from this. That’s why I wanted to thank you for today, but I think this has to end. I can’t let him hurt my family and stay away like a selfish bitch.” “You’re leaving?” he asks, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s hurt etching in his voice.

“There has to be a way.” Mr. Graves turns to me, his eyes furious. I gulp at the intensity of them. I don’t know how I can make him understand the way our life works, so I use humor instead. “Unless someone else wants to marry me, I’m Carter’s.” I laugh, but he doesn’t seem amused by it at all. “Don’t say you’re his, because you’re not, troublemaker.”

He has this way of watching me as if I’m the only person in the room, the only one who gets his attention, and I don’t like that. Not only because of the age difference between us, but because we could never be something as long as Carter is alive.

“I want to ask you for a favor before you leave.” “Sure,” I say hesitantly. “Anything.” “Have dinner with my dad.” If I had something in my mouth, I would’ve spit it out. “What?”

“He knows I brought you home last night and wants to meet you. Act like my girlfriend for two hours, and it’ll make him happy.” “Have dinner with your dad?” I repeat. “Alone?” He just stares at me. “Where would you be exactly?”

“With me. There’s an important meeting that he has to attend.” How the hell am I supposed to have dinner with his dad without him in his house? And on top of that, I have to act the role of a girlfriend to satisfy his parent. That’s fucking crazy. “Please." Kai’s voice lowers. “Then I’m free to go, right?” By the look on his face, I know there’s more to come. “Well, I promised him you’d stay the night.” I bang my head onto the headrest. “Goddamn it, Mr. Graves.” “I can’t risk upsetting him with his health issues.”

“Thanks to you, I got a taste of how beautiful life can be sometimes. When I’m tied to Carter, the only thing keeping me going will be the memory of this month.” He watches me silently, and I notice a sense of guilt ushering into him. “Even if you weren’t physically there every step of the way, you’re the reason I got to experience all of this, and you’ve also offered me this amazing last day. I went a little bit crazy with my bows, and that must’ve scared you, but you resisted well, Mr. Graves. Thank you for making me feel alive when I thought I was too lost to find myself again.”

His eyes roam all over my body, but not in a hungry way. In the kind of way that he’s checking for injuries, making sure I’m alright. He’s careful when he pinches my chin to force me to meet his deep green eyes. I take a deep breath, following his silent order as I try to mask what he does to me and how he cuts my breath with one single look.

“After the dinner is done, go in the same room you woke u...

If this is freedom to her, I don’t want to guess what was happening inside of the Hamilton house.

She has one leg over the blanket, the top of her covered by another of my shirts. “This was the first thing I could find in your wardrobe,” she explains when she notices me staring at it. “It’s fine. It looks good on you.”

“Are you just going to watch me sleep?” she asks, taking the same position she had this morning, on her elbows. “Yes.” “Isn’t that… a bit creepy?” “Not at all.”

Esmeray is a stunning woman, and even though I have to remind myself how old she is, when she’s in front of me, it seems irrelevant.

“Goodnight, Ray.” The new nickname just rolls off my tongue. “Goodnight, Mr. Graves,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

"Why Ray?” “Huh?” I ask, not understanding at first. “Why Ray? Everyone calls me Esme, short for Esmeray.”

I smirk. “That’s a story for another day.“ “But what if we don’t meet again and I die of curiosity? What will you do?” She tries to joke, but her voice shudders like she’s close to tears despite the playful tone. A corner of my lips lifts. “Then I’ll make sure we see each other again.”

I had to leave for work. Please have breakfast before you leave.

With a long and dragged out exhale, I get out of bed, still in Kai’s shirt. I glance down at it, deciding to keep it for the moments when I need a reminder that what I lived was true and not my imagination.

This is the dress I saw yesterday. When we were on the hunt for bows, I stopped for no more than two seconds in front of the store where I saw this beautiful yellow dress. Mr. Graves insisted on buying it for me, but I quickened my pace to ignore him. He’d already done enough. A smile creeps its way on my face. He isn’t as cold-hearted as I thought.

“Be home in thirty. There’s someone else willing to marry you after everything that happened,” she says, her words rushed as she speaks. “What?" My mouth parts open, and I drop onto the edge of the bed, threading a hand through the ends of my hair.

“Esmeray, if you ruin this too, nothing can save you from Carter.”

I don’t know who’s waiting for me at home, but I pray to God he’s better than Carter. He can be old as hell for all I care. As long as he keeps his hands off me and isn’t as obsessed as the man I ran away from, I’m happy to be married the moment I get there. All I want is to be free of this man, and if I’m lucky enough, I’ll get to live a beautiful life behind the doors like Naveah.

She’s been married for ten years on paper, but she’s in love with someone who works for her husband. Both of them have different relationships but live a happy life together in front of the cameras and the best life outside of them.

“Why so happy?” “That obvious?” I ask, not able to keep the smile on my lips away. “I just have a feeling my life is about to change.”

“Thank you, Kendrick. Really. I know you were paid to follow my ass everywhere, but no one forbade you from buying earplugs so you wouldn’t have to deal with my daily rants.” I give him a smile and walk away, taking a deep breath with each step I take toward the house. “I have a feeling we’ll see each other soon, Esmeray,” Kendrick says with a small smile before driving away,

My life is going to change today. This man who came for me—despite everything he must have heard about my family and the way I ran away from the wedding—might save a life without realizing it.

Naveah is smiling happily next to Ben, clearly relieved that I might not have to live her life. Taylor’s waist is held tightly in Grayson’s palms, a fresh bruise on her chin showing just how unhappy their marriage is. I give her a look that I hope is consoling, but she just raises her shoulders in a shrug, managing to give me a smile. Victory and Ilory on the other side are happily under their husbands’ arms, Oliver and Paul, all of them seeming to be happy for me. I don’t look at Raven though. She doesn’t deserve it just yet.

“Who is it, Mother?” I ask, curious to see if God heard any of my prayers. But Mom doesn’t have time to answer, a thick voice replying instead. “Me.”

At the sound of my voice, she stands up from her seat, the chair squeaking at the movement. Esmeray’s wearing the dress and bow I left for her this morning, making them seem nothing in comparison to her natural beauty. Her brown hair is hanging low on her shoulders, hiding the evidence that there’s no strap keeping the dress on her body.

I’ve never seen her at a loss for words. Her mouth is open, but no words are coming out, almost as if the lump in her throat stops them in place. Esmeray’s eyes glisten with something I can’t decipher, and I hope it’s because she’s happy to see me and not some other kind of freak.

They threw a lot of questions my way to find out the reason why I wanted to do this and how I found out about everything that happened, but when I dropped a check on the table, the room fell silent. It was enough to make them agree with me marrying their daughter, and I don’t know if I should be happy or worried about how easy it was. The realization of the impulsive decision I made hasn’t settled yet, but I have a feeling it will soon.

“No matter how high my expectations were, Mrs. Hamilton, they could’ve never done her justice,” I say, looking at the entire family.

Esmeray takes the chance to talk to me. She’s not frozen anymore, not mad either, but oddly overwhelmed. “What are you doing?!” she whisper-shouts, her eyes searching all over my face while I readjust my black suit with the yellow handkerchief I picked out just to match her dress.

“I’m keeping my promise,” I tell her and lay a palm over the small of her back, guiding Esmeray to her seat. “You’re crazy,” she murmurs under her breath. “You’re ruining your life,” she continues when we pass by her parents, approaching the end of our walk. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” “I’m happy to meet you too, Ms. Esmeray,” I say and take her hand after she sits down, kissing it. We make eye contact, and I catch her sucking in a breath, her...

I might reconsider this, and I can’t. I already showed up here, and there’s no way I’m disappointing Esmeray like that. It’s a huge risk I’m taking, and it’s already pushing my limits by far.

Come on, Ray. Do it. Her eyes raise to meet mine, almost as if she’s asking for assurance. I give her a nod, hoping this little push is enough to make her go with this. She takes the pen from the man and signs with trembling hands. “Now, if you’ll excuse us,” I say, and rise to my feet, buttoning my coat. “I want to go home with my wife.”

“How could you do something like this, Kai? What were you thinking?” she asks, gesturing with her hands as she paces in my room. Our room. My first instinct is to ask when the “Mr. Graves” phase was over, but I have the feeling now is not the right time, so I let it slide.

“Well, yes? But this isn’t about me! You saved me from my nightmare and got yourself into one. Why would you do that?” “What do you mean I got myself a nightmare? Do you consider yourself one?” I ask, my voice turning thicker.

“Yes, maybe you’ll meet some⁠—” Before she can finish her sentence, I’m on my feet. “Don’t talk about my wife that way.”

“I never said we were friends. We’ll be whatever you want us to be,” I tell her, watching the way her throat throbs. “Do what you will with that information.”

“How are we even going to do this? What are you going to tell your family? Are you really going to sacrifice the chance of finding your great love by being married to me?” My lips curl into a smile at her nonstop questionnaire. She’s right.

And about that great love—I never planned to get married, and I think the only girl I ever dated by all means was Vanessa in sixth grade.” She murmurs something and curls her body into a ball, facing my direction. “What happened to her?” “She broke up with me because she got her hair stuck in my braces.” I let out a small laugh

“You’re absolutely mad for doing this, you know?” “I know.” “Thank you, Kai. Really. I never thought someone would risk so much for a person whose life was planned years before she was born. I promise I’ll try and be a good wife to you, to repay you for the freedom you just gave me by sacrificing yourself. I don’t think I can thank you enough.”

“Don’t try to be a good wife for me. Do whatever you feel like doing, and that’s how you’re going to repay me, by living the freedom I offered you,” I say, meaning it. “We’ll figure out the rest together.” Esmeray’s eyes glisten with tears, and just when I think she’ll shed them, she blinks twice, and it’s almost as if they were never there. A smile forms on her lips when she speaks. “Okay.”