Flame – Carmichael Family Read Online Adriana Locke

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Insta-Love Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
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He scoots to the edge of his chair and twists so no one besides me can see his face. A mischievous glimmer twinkles in his eye.

“Think about it,” he says softly. “It’s a brilliant plan to solve an impossible puzzle.”

My heart races.

“Well, what do you think, Bianca?” Jason asks.

I realize my brother can’t see me. I’ve stepped off-screen.

I sit beside Foxx, bumping his knee with mine. “I think Foxx picked a really strange time to try to find his comedic side.” I clear my throat. “Let’s figure this out because there’s no way in hell Dad is getting away with this. And if he thinks the road to getting what he wants is by exploiting me—he’s wrong.”

Jason folds his hands together on his desk. “I’m going to be really honest with you, B.” He glances briefly at Gannon. “Foxx doesn’t have a bad idea.”

My mind is blown.

My brother suggested that I marry his best friend—the same best friend who just told me he couldn’t have anything to do with me because it would be a giant offense to my brother.

What the hell is happening with these people?

“Of course, we aren’t pressuring you to do anything,” Gannon says. “And we’re fully prepared to fight this out in court. But I think we need to take a second and breathe here and really take a look at this logically.”

Foxx is bizarrely calm beside me.

“This is a family issue, but may I join this conversation?” Ford asks. “Can I help break this down into manageable chunks?”

“Sure.” I shrug helplessly. “Why not?”

He smiles. “You have two options, Bianca. The first is to put it all into the hands of your legal team and hope for the best.”

My stomach knots. The time. The money. The stress. The uncertainty.

“You do have a fantastic legal team behind you,” he says. “And I have faith they can find a way to undo this mess. But we would be remiss if we didn’t consider the alternative, which is marriage. I know that’s not the most moral or appealing choice, but you’re not exactly dealing with an ethical situation.”

I bury my head in my hands.

If this had happened yesterday, before Foxx and I had our little blowout, this might feel very different. But I’m not sure now, having endured our conversation last night, that Foxx isn’t taking pity on me. Or, maybe even worse, that he’s not volunteering to marry me in another show of loyalty to Jason.

While marrying him doesn’t feel like a terrible option for me, it’s a completely different thing if being married to him will amount to more arguments like the one we just had.

I can’t do that. And considering the details he shared only hours ago, I can’t see it going any other way.

“Regardless of what you choose,” Ford says, “I do highly suggest that we increase your security until this all shakes out. I would imagine the Downings are waiting with bated breath for your birthday to come and go, and I would also imagine your father is scrambling from the pressure.”

“Hey, B? Are you okay?” Gannon asks.

I lift my face slowly and look into the monitor. My brothers sit shoulder to shoulder, waiting for my reply.

I sit up straight and shake off the shock of the past few minutes. This is business, Bianca. This is bigger than just you. Think.

There’s no way I can let our father get one over on us. He has hurt our family so deeply and cost us so much in every way. His antics have been a cancer that has infected every part of our life, and I’ll be damned if his sneakiness is going to steal anything else from us.

Not on my watch.

I suck in a breath.

“Can I have a minute alone with Bianca?” Foxx asks.

Jason nods. “Sure. Absolutely. Take your time.”

He clicks a few buttons. The screen goes black, and a red line crosses the speaker icon.

The room shrinks as he turns to me. The air gets hotter. I can barely breathe as he begins to speak.

“I want to make something clear,” he says.

“What’s that?”

His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “I’m not doing this for Jason. I’m doing this for you.”

I sink against my chair. The fuzziness cocooning me to protect me from the shock starts to wear off, and tears gather in my eyes.

My father has fucked me over. Me. Specifically me. This wasn’t a generalized hit on our family but a manipulation of his only daughter. The one man who was supposed to love and protect me from the world is the one person I’m scrambling to protect myself against.

“I’m sorry for last night,” Foxx says. “I should’ve handled things differently.”

I smile at him. “I didn’t exactly give you a lot of room to figure it out.”

He smiles back.

“Are you serious?” I ask him, holding my breath. “Are you really willing to marry me?”


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