A TEMPTING ARRANGEMENT

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Andrea Beckett

POV

Just yesterday I woke up in bed wishing for it to be all a dream, my fiancé who I loved with everything in me. Only to wake up with the realization that he didn’t love me, that he used me to get ahead, used me to build his company. While I’m going to make sure I take everything he took from me. This morning, I woke up with the clarity I wished I had during our entire relationship.

I keep going back through our entire relationship, thinking back if I may have missed the signs, if there were moments, he gave signs of not loving me, showing Lacy too much interest, but I don’t remember a moment he never gave me his all.

I take out a notepad and start planning.

· First, I want all the money I’ve ever invested into IC agency.

· Ruin their reputations.

· Have the public turn on them.

· Publicly call off the wedding.

I sit for another half an hour planning. I need to find a way to get more pictures of the two. I need something on them.

I need a PI.

If I call my father, he’ll want to know why. Do I tell him the truth?

He’d kill Tate before I’d ever get my money back. I call the only person I can trust right now, my manager.

I get up from the coffee table and walk over to the bed and pick up my phone. Endless phone calls from Tate. Ignoring those once again I call her.

“You better have a damn good reason for going dark for three days…” She answers without so much as a hello.

“I need a favor…” I tell her. I sit on the bed.

“Just because you’re the boss’s fiancée doesn’t mean you get to slack off. You had a shoot scheduled for yesterday, I had to lie for you.” she complains.

I sigh. “I need you to do me a favor, I need to get a good PI, someone who can’t be bought off or be caught…” I tell her.

She’s quiet… “What’s going on?” she asks.

“I need someone to tail Tate for me. But he or she needs to report his findings only to me and no one else. I tell her.

She goes quiet again.

Was asking her a bad idea? She might have started with me, but she still works for Tate. He is her boss. Karen Abrams was a hire from my father when I told him my dream of being a model later Tate hired her for the company, I pay her salary, yet she technically works for the company.

Looking back, it was my father’s way of protecting me and yet I followed the man blindly. I have no idea what I saw in the bastard in the first place. I gave him all the power in our relationship, and it’s come to bite me in the ass.

“Have you finally opened your eyes to who Tate really is?” she asks softly.

At first, I was confused, but then it came to me. She knew. She knew and didn’t tell me.

“Yes…” That is all I say.

She sighs. “I’ll find someone. They’ll meet with you as soon as you’re back.”

“Thank you, Karen…” I thank her before hanging up.

I lay back on the bed. I couldn’t believe this was my life at twenty-six years old. I had my whole life planned out years ago, I was going to marry Tate, I was going to retire at thirty, have our children and live happily ever after.

Though I am married now, to my childhood best friend, someone who knew my entire life’s story, even the parts of me I’d kept hidden. Parts of me, my ex-fiancé, wasn’t even privy to. Parts of me my parents didn’t know about. My insecurities are why I am the way I am today. He was there to hold my hand through it all.

There’s a knock on my hotel room door, I frown before getting up. I know I didn’t order room service.

I open the door to reveal my new husband. It still feels weird to think of Archer that way.

“Good afternoon wife…” he greets, leaning down kissing the top of my head as he always does, I don’t know why it feels different now.

He walks into the room taking a seat at the table I just got up from.

I close the door following him in.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him.

He smiles, taking a seat by the small dining table looking at the book I left open.

He smiles. “Cute…” he says softly.

I take a seat in front of him.

“You didn’t answer me…” I tell him.

He looks at me before looking back at the book. “I want to know how exactly this plan of yours is going?” he says leaning on the table.

I lift my brow. “Okay?”

“So how much money exactly did you invest in this company?” he asks.

“More than needed…” is all I say, I was embarrassed I put in more than half of my trust fund. I invested in the man I thought would provide for me in the future, I was investing in our future. For our future children.

It’s like he picks up on it and nods. “How exactly are you bringing them to ruin?” he asks.

I look up at Archer, sometimes when I look at him, he reminds me of Damien but other times I think I’m imagining things. Damien Archer Beckett is my little brother, ten years old. Named after Archer’s father and Archer.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Archer says.

I look at him again. “Why are you so interested in my plans?” I ask.

“Whatever you’re planning I just hope you don’t plan on hurting yourself to do any of this…” he says seriously.

I sigh. “I promised you before I wasn’t going to put myself in harm’s way. I was planning my revenge not going to war Archie.” I tell him.

Archer watches me for a bear before he speaks up. “I don’t want my wife getting herself hurt or put in front of a damn bullet. I know Tate and what type of man he is; he won’t go silently. Make sure he doesn’t drag you with him…” he warns me.

I nod. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to ruin my own reputation as well. I plan on playing victim all the way through…” I tell him.

“So do you plan on leaving IC?” he asks.

I shake my head. "No, I plan to leave once I have all my money, and I’ve completely brought the two to ruin…” I explain. “I won’t be letting them off easily, Andrea Beckett doesn’t let anyone double cross her and not turn the knife on them and pay them back tenfold. I’m going to tear them off their little perch, they assume no one can bring them down, they’re wrong…” the anger radiating off me is getting worse. The more I think about it, the more I just want to cut the bastards balls off.

Leans back and looks at me interest… “I understand you’re angry right now, but once you’ve calmed down…” I cut him off.

"I never go back on my word. And we’re already married. We promised to give this marriage our all, I will not regret my decision…” I tell him in certainty.

I’ve already promised myself deep within my heart that I was going to tear Tate Andrews to shreds with my bare hands and once it’s done, I’m going to be sipping a Mai Tai in his honor.

This time Archer remained quiet, but I could already see what was going through his head. He was wondering how far I was willing to go. He didn’t believe me quite yet.

My blonde hair has never worked in my favor. It always made people take me for a dumb blonde. Too bad for them no amount of bleach could ever take my brain from. My natural blonde hair is as real as my boobs are. Those are a nice size thanks to daddy’s bank account. Archer never treated me like a dumb blonde. I was his friend, and he treated me like I was worth it all. Archer was the only man on the planet I could trust, him and the man who raised me.

"You know you’re Andrea Reed, right?” he asks.

That has my lips turning upward. I’ve always wondered who the future Mrs. Reed would be, never once did I think it would be me. I look away from him when I thought of us getting to know one another all of again… I could feel the heat rushing to my face. I was as confident and the next girl but the thought of sleeping with a man I grew up with brings out a shyness I didn’t know I possessed.