The Billionaire's Family Secrets - PAPERBACK

Discovering she’s secretly engaged to a billionaire playboy who is the family’s enemy, turns her world upside down since she is already engaged to another. To claim his inheritance, he must marry the enemy and stay together a full year. Which man will win her heart?

What’s worse than losing an inheritance? Finding out you’re secretly engaged to the son of your father’s worst enemy.

Rayne Kennedy’s world is upended when she learns her father’s will includes a surprise twist: she must marry Calvin Gates, the man she’s been unknowingly promised to, and stay married for a full year to claim her inheritance. Putting her own engagement on hold, Rayne struggles to resist Calvin’s irresistible charm, all while trying to remember the life she thought she wanted.

Calvin Gates, an attorney who’s spent years trying to escape the twenty-year-old contract binding him to Rayne, reluctantly agrees to the marriage, even though Rayne insists it’s purely in name only. But as their connection deepens and memories of a passionate kiss linger, Calvin realizes he wants their marriage to be real—and hopes Rayne is ready to embrace true love.

Step into this wholesome billionaire romance, where passion and intimacy are gently implied, keeping the spotlight on deep connections and heartfelt moments.

And just like that – in a matter of seconds, no less – Rayne Kennedy’s life was ruined.

Mr. Parry, the family’s attorney who had been reading her father’s will, glanced up at Rayne from across his large cedar desk, scrutinizing her with his beady brown eyes. “The binding contract states, that in order to keep the family’s money with the right connections, you must marry Calvin Gates. The marriage must last for one full year, and it needs to be consummated by the contracted parties.” Mr. Parry arched an eyebrow.

“Which are you and Mr. Gates, of course.”

“I know who the contracted parties are,” Rayne snapped as anger shot inside of her like a rocket, immediately starting a tension headache. She rubbed her forehead, trying to figure how to get out of this mess, and trying not to put all the blame on her father. It was nearly impossible since the shock was still spreading through her.

The lawyer looked back at the parchment. “If the contracted parties get an annulment or divorce before the year is up, neither will receive an inheritance.”

Rayne cleared her throat. “And when exactly did my father write this in his will?”

The middle-aged lawyer glanced over his paperwork in silence, rubbing his clean-shaven jaw. Rayne’s hands were fisted so tightly in her lap they turned white. She was sure her face was the same color. She wouldn’t be surprised if her eyes were bloodshot red, since the heat boiling inside her testified to her mood.

How could her father do this to her? There’d been many stipulations he’d given her while growing up, but this took the prize for being the most ridiculous.

“Ah, there it is.” Mr. Parry grinned. “This contract was signed by both your father and Calvin Gates’ father twenty years ago in March.”

“Are you kidding me? I was only four years old?” Rayne jumped to her feet. The rockets inside her head were going off like the Fourth of July – and not in a good way. “All this time I’ve been promised to Calvin Gates, and my father just forgot to tell me?”

Mr. Parry held up his hands in surrender as his smile disappeared. “Please, Miss Kennedy. I can see why you’re upset, but I’m just doing my job.” He motioned to the chair. “Will you let me finish now?”

Rayne tried to breathe slower as she lowered herself back down on the chair. As Mr. Parry continued to read her father’s will, rage ran rapidly inside her while tears stung her eyes. For years she’d known that her father wasn’t the most practical person in the world, but why had he done this? He had always told her, “What I do, I do for a reason.” Most of the time, she’d figured out his reasoning, but a handful of times, he made no sense at all.

Just like this particular situation. Since she was a little girl, her family and the Gates family had been at war. Well, maybe war wasn’t the correct term to use, but they definitely did not get along. The Gates family had power, wealth, and prestige, just like the Kennedy family, but it seemed that all her father and Calvin’s father could do was compete against each other. She’d never heard her father say a civil word to Mr. Gates. So, why would her father and Calvin’s father sign a marriage agreement between the two families? And after all these years, why hadn’t her father realized the mistake and amended his will before his death?

She rubbed her pounding forehead. The timing of this disaster was all wrong. The man she loved and had been dating for six months, finally popped the question the day before her father died. And now she couldn’t marry him for at least another year?