The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife (Blair and Grayson) novel Chapter 258

Chapter 258

-MARCO-

My mother came through the door and I groaned before she even started talking.

“Marco.”

55 vouchers

She stopped when she saw my wrist. The monitors. Then the fear turned into the voice I had been hearing since I was sixteen and chose racing over the family business.

“I warned you,” she said. “I warned you about this profession. I was right. It almost killed you.”

I shut my eyes.

I had had a rough day. A broken wrist. A month off from the thing I loved most.

Then Loretta standing in my room earlier, changing her mind about the contract marriage, and then leaving before I could properly ask why.

I still could not believe she had been here.

Ten minutes. Maybe less.

That same look, like I was a problem she had not wanted and had walked into anyway.

She had said she would accept the contract. She had put a number by my hand. Then she was gone, and I had been left staring at a door like an idiot with a strapped wrist, trying to decide if the pain medication was playing tricks with my mind.

My parents had walked in right after.

Of course they had. I was surprised they had taken so long to get here in the first place.

“Mother, can you stop, please.”

“I will not stop. I almost lost my son because he is too stubborn to realize his job is dangerous and he should just take over the family business.”

Not this again.

Not now.

My father stood behind her, quieter, which was worse. He did the folded arms stance. The look that said she was speaking for both of them.

“The car held up,” I said. “I am sitting up. Yes, I have a bad wrist, it could have been worse. I did not almost die.”

“Your crash was all over the news.” Her voice rose. “Do you understand what that does to a mother? To our name? I am supposed to be grateful that you came out with a broken wrist? Why are you putting your mother through this?”

1/4

6

10

111

O

7

The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife

55 vouchers

I did not bother answering. I was already tired of this argument, especially after surviving a crash that bad. My shoulder ached. My head ached. The scrape on my cheek stung when I frowned, and I was frowning.

Luca had gone for coffee. I wished he had stayed. He was better at absorbing her negativity than I was today.

“That’s it,” she said as she threw her hands up in the air. “You need a wife. You need to settle down. You did not like the last girl. I have found someone else, and she is even better. You will meet her the second you get out of the hospital.”

My jaw clenched. Was that all she could think about right now?

She was really doing this here. In a hospital room. With a drip in my arm and a wrist I could not even use to point at the door. Beatrice had been bad enough. Now there was another one waiting, and my mother thought after a crash was the perfect moment to introduce her.

“I am not meeting anyone again,” I said. “I just crashed my car.”

“Which is exactly why you need stability. A wife. A life that does not focus on a career that can kill you.”

Fuck.

I needed that contract marriage more than ever now. My mother would use this broken wrist to her advantage and I could not let that happen.

“I am seeing someone,” I told her. I wasn’t supposed to mention it this soon but she was driving me crazy and I just wanted her to stop.

She paused. I saw the second the words hit her.

Hundreds of thoughts, all of them angry.

I had definitely made it worse. I did not care. I was not going to marry the woman she chose.

“You can’t possibly be serious. You weren’t seeing anyone a few days ago. How can you be seeing someone now?”

“I just didn’t tell you about her. We are quite serious.” I lied. “And after such a bad accident, I know now that she’s the one I want to be with.”

The lie came out better than I expected. Serious was a stretch.

My mother looked pissed.

“Who?”

“You don’t need her name right now, mother.”

“I need her name if she thinks she can attach herself to this family without meeting your parents.” She snapped.

“Drop it.”

“You are injured. That is when men make stupid promises. Stay away from that girl until I meet her.” She

2/4

TUE

6

O

10

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify