HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 56

Meadow’s POV:

My brows drew together in confusion as I froze.

“What?”

The expression on Ingrid’s face was the complete opposite of what I’d seen when she was talking to me and Alaric. The smile had been replaced with a sneer, the soft touch replaced with a hard grip around my wrist.

“You heard me… Meadow, is it?” She scoffed. “How much did my son pay you to marry him?” Her gaze dropped to my wrist. “And how much extra did he pay you to come here and pretend like he can feel your touch?”

My nostrils flared and I snatched my wrist out of her grip.

I suppose I read her welcoming attitude wrongly. She didn’t like me, and she’d been waiting to single me out without Alaric present.

And clearly, she suspected that our marriage was a sham–which it was. But no one except for Alaric and I was supposed to know that.

“Ingrid, I don’t…”

She let out a mocking laugh, her blue eyes flashing with something I couldn’t understand.

“I may be oblivious to certain things, Meadow, but I am not stupid.” Then she shook her head like she was disappointed. “I understand that my son might be… assertive sometimes. So just tell me how much he’s paying you and I will double it as long as you promise to get out of his life and quit that pathetic act, trying to fool me.”

My jaw twitched but I managed a smile. “I can assure you, Ingrid. That wasn’t a pretense. Alaric can feel my touch.”

Her scowl deepened. “Was it that much? The money he paid you to lie to my face? Come on, Meadow. Just tell me how much he promised you and then we can work from there.”

“Why would you think he’s paying me to lie to you? He doesn’t owe you anything, does he?”

Her eyes flashed and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, a dark smirk on her face. “My son owes me plenty, kleines Mädchen.” I didn’t know what it meant, but the sneer on her face was enough to tell that it was a condescending word. ‘Little girl.”

“Just months ago, he wanted nothing to do with women and commitment. And now, all of a sudden, he gets married secretly to a low–class woman like you, and I’m just supposed to believe he paid you nothing?” She stepped forward. “Everyone can be bought, Meadow. Why not stop wasting both our time. and answer my question so I can return to my guests?”

A rock settled in my throat. A low class woman like me? Oh, I knew exactly the kind of woman Alaric’s mother was. The woman who gave birth to me was exactly like her.

Something roiled deep in my stomach. “You seem to have me all figured out and you’ve only known me for what, less than an hour?” My voice shook, and I hated it. I hated that I was letting this woman get to me.

Even worse–I hated that she was right.

Alaric did pay me. Even though it wasn’t for the reasons she thought, he made me sign a contract, and I was getting paid a hundred million dollars to be his wife for a period of time that I’d been so short- sighted to even ask about.

He bought me.

Her nostrils flared. “I saw my son at the office days ago because I’d heard about the… marriage. Now you don’t know my son, but I do. He would have told me about you the second he realized that he could feel you”

I swallowed. I had no idea that Alaric had seen his mother. Not that it was my business, but if they talked about me, why hadn’t he told his mother that he could feel me? Why didn’t he tell me about the kind of woman she was?

I shook my head. Maybe he didn’t know.

I stood my ground, my fists curling at my sides. “You saw what happened with your own eyes, Ingrid. You saw me touch Alaric. You saw him react. Why are you so bent on proving me wrong?”

Something flashed in her eyes as her brows drew together. And then I saw it. The way her jaw was clenched hard, the look in her eyes. And I remembered the expression on her face when she saw her son respond to my touch

She was jealous.

My gaze narrowed as I stepped forward, lowering my voice. “He can’t feel you, can he?”

I had no idea how long Alaric had been dealing with this condition, whether he was born with it or something else triggered it. But Alaric couldn’t feel his mother’s touch. And somehow, the thought of someone as “low–class” as me being able to touch him was like a blow to her ego.

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