Read His Forever (His #3) for Free Online Page B

father was a control freak.  But I was confident I could beat him at his own game . 
    Henrik might be unusually skilled at recognizing bad acting, but I’d had a lifetime worth of clumsiness to prepare me for this performance!
    I picked up my martini to take a pretend sip.  Then I had a momentary change of heart and actually did take a sip.  It was a shame I wouldn’t be able to finish it because it was delicious!  But getting drunk wasn’t in the plans…getting Henrik drunk was.  Over the past few days I’d seen how his defences began to come down once he had some alcohol in his system.  Having his defences fall away completely once he’d consumed a lot of alcohol was exactly what I was counting on.
    “Oh!” I cried out as I fumbled with the glass and spilled the drink all over my silk dress.  “No!”
    Henrik’s eyes widened and he quickly offered me a neatly pressed, monogrammed handkerchief from his suit pocket, but it was no use.  I’d ruined my lovely silk cocktail dress.  Conveniently, I didn’t even have to feign my horror at destroying such a beautiful garment – it was one of the designer black dresses Hayden had given me and it was something I’d have never been able to afford on a college instructor’s salary.
    “I loved this dress,” I sighed as I dabbed at the stained fabric in vain.  “I’m such a klutz.”   Since both those statements were very much true, I was confident Henrik’s suspicions wouldn’t be aroused.  Why lie when the truth will serve you just as well?
    Henrik opened his desk drawer and pulled out a checkbook.  “It’s pointless to waste time agonizing over problems money can easily solve,” he advised.  “Go buy yourself a new dress.”  He scribbled something on the paper, scrawled his signature and tore the paper free.  When he handed it to me and I got a glimpse of what he’d written, I basically had to pick my jaw up off the floor.
    “This is too much,” I gasped. 
    Getting money from Henrik had been my objective all along, of course, but I would have been happy with a much smaller amount.  It appeared Henrik was in a particularly generous – and intoxicated – mood.  He’d written me a check for fifty thousand dollars.  Suddenly any regret I’d felt over ruining my dress was gone.  It had been well worth it.
    “I’ll be the judge of that,” he said firmly.  “Buy yourself a whole new wardrobe if you like.  If that isn’t enough you just let me know.   There are some ladies shops on Rodeo Drive that you might be interested in.  I can have one of my drivers take you to Beverly Hills tomorrow.  I expect you might enjoy an outing after being cooped up here at the mansion, no?”
    Despite Henrik’s generosity – and what it meant for my plan – I couldn’t help but feel a bit crestfallen.  I’d thought the fact that he was giving me so much money meant he cared, but if he was encouraging me to leave the mansion and be out in public…
    “Isn’t it dangerous?” I asked in a small voice, trying not to let on how hurt I was.  Maybe it didn’t matter to him if I was murdered on the street amidst all the fake tanned, busty blonde trophy wives who were out to spend their surgeon husbands’ earnings on fur coats, leather handbags and snakeskin boots.
    “Dangerous?” he repeated, looking genuinely puzzled.  Then understanding set in.  “Oh, that,” he acknowledged before taking yet another drink.  “The death threats aren’t real.  They never have been.  You’re not in any danger.  Neither you nor Hayden ever were in danger.”
    I blinked.  “Excuse me?”
    “I had the threats sent to Hayden,” he said simply as he poured himself yet another drink.  “Hayden’s so-called bodyguards were hired actors and the dangers they protected him from were entirely fictional.  People will do almost anything if you pay them enough,” he slurred with a touch of disdain in his voice.
    Speechless, all I could do was gawk at