365 Days Contract with the Paralyzed Billionaire

OLIVIA’S POV

The fluorescent lights cast a dull yellow glow over the cramped cell room, the walls stained with peeling paint and old scratches. I sat hunched on the cold bench, my elbows resting on my knees, and my head bowed low between my thighs. My hair fell to the sides of my face, hanging like a curtain as I focused on taking a few breaths. 

I have been locked up here for hours, and this place was beginning to creep me out, the occupants looking like they wanted to jump at me at any given opportunity. Although none of them had made any move to bully me, I knew it wouldn’t be long before one of the wild dogs tried to demonstrate authority as I had seen in the movies. 

The metallic clink of keys unlocking the door broke me out of my haze, and I lifted my eyes to find a uniformed officer in the hallway. 

“Olivia Carter?” he asked as he got into the room, a finger clinging to a belt hoop as his hand hung loosely from it, while the other held onto his baton as he struck a funny pose. He looked around, studying the faces of everyone present.

I froze at the mention of my name, my mind running in several circles. What did he want from me now? I already told him everything I knew about Kelvin.  

“Olivia Carter?” he repeated, this time louder. 

I forced a painful lump down my throat and stood to my feet. I didn’t say anything, my throat too dry to utter a word. 

He sized me up before he said, “Follow me, you have a visitor.”

My heart leaped for joy at the statement. Finally, I was getting out of here. Jessica had probably come to handle my bail like I had asked her to. I took one last glance at the cell, praying I wouldn’t return to this dreadful place, before following the officer out. 

As we approached the glass partition of the room I had been interrogated in when they first brought me here, my steps slowed down. I couldn’t see Jessica. 

There was a man in the room… and the inspector who had hurled questions at me as if I were a criminal when they dragged me here.

My heart tightened, my legs growing too weak to propel my body forward. I swallowed tersely, bracing myself for the worst that was to come.

The officer pushed the door open and stepped aside for me to get inside, offering me a suspicious grin when I turned back to look at him, before he left.

My body stiffened at the entrance as the man sitting beside the inspector turned to look at me. 

Mr. Morgan Monroe, the richest man in our city… 

Or would I say in the country, with a net worth running into hundreds of billions.  

“Miss Carter,” the inspector called out, his voice jolting me out of my thoughts as he beckoned me to come over. 

I took a deep breath and obeyed. He gestured for me to sit down as I drew closer, and I tried to steady myself as I did so. 

I couldn’t even bring myself to look at them, my eyes fixed on the table as I waited for either of them to speak. 

The inspector took several seconds before he spoke, and the entire time, I could see his eyes roaming the entire length of my face. 

“I have good news,” he announced, placing his hands on the table as he leaned forward. “It has come to my knowledge that the charges against you have the potential of being dropped,” he continued.

I looked up at him, noticing the smug grin on his face as my tensed muscles loosened a bit. 

This was the first good news I had heard all day. But then I wasn’t easily fooled. 

This was a fraud case I had taken the fall for, there had to be a reason for this news. 

“So, what is the catch?” I asked him, putting up a brave front as I stuck my chin out.

A soft snort escaped him as he leaned back into his chair, his smug grin deepening. He glanced at Mr. Monroe, who gave him a curt nod before he returned to face me. His lips thinned into that smile again, and before I knew what was happening, he sprang to his feet, gathering the files on the table and tucking them beneath his armpits. 

“I will leave you to discuss with Mr. Monroe,” he said. “Do enjoy yourself.”

My eyes darted in all directions as my apprehensions kicked in. No. He can’t leave me alone with this man, I quipped within me as my heart pounded hard against my ribcage.

The room fell silent after the inspector’s exit. I picked at the bare thread hanging loose from my sweatshirt, actively avoiding the daunting gaze of the man before me. 

“I admire your courage, young lady,” Mr. Monroe finally said, his deep voice reverberating through the room. “Taking the fall for who I suppose is your boyfriend. It takes guts to do that, and I admire people with that.”

The scene of what happened earlier this morning replayed in my head. We were in his apartment after I had spent the night there yesterday and all of a sudden, we began to hear police sirens. Kelvin jumped off the bed, pulling his shirt over his head and rushed to the back door. I rushed after him, breathless. 

“Where are you going to?” I asked, my gaze barely fixed on one spot. “What is happening?”

He drew closer to me, held my face with both hands, and looked deep into my eyes. “They are coming for me,” he told me, deepening my confusion.

“Who is coming for you?” 

“The police.” My eyes widened. “Something happened with me and the boys, and we got caught.” He took a deep breath, each ticking second bringing the cars closer to the apartment. “If they get to me, I could go to jail for many years, given my previous criminal records.” 

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, feeling stupid the moment those words left my lips. 

His face lit up, his lips crashing into mine as his nails dug deeper into my skin, approving of my suggestion to help him out. “Just stay behind,” he told me. My brows knitted. “If you cooperate with them, they would be lenient with you. This will blow off as soon as possible, I promise.”

He barely finished that statement before they burst into the apartment. My eyes darted to the front door, and by the time I looked back, Kelvin was no longer in that spot. 

The sound of distant chatters in the station brought me back to the present, my eyes fluttering rapidly despite my efforts to appear fearless before this daunting man. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” I told him, my voice cracking badly as I spoke.

He chuckled, a smug grin spreading across his lips. He didn’t speak for the next few minutes, each ticking second adding to my tensed nerves. “You do know who I am, don’t you?”

I gulped and then nodded, refusing to meet his gaze. 

“And I take it that you already know the reason why I am here.” I didn’t respond, so he continued. “Your boyfriend tried to defraud my company, and although I fail to understand why you took the fall for him when the police came for him this morning, I am certain you know the consequences of your actions.”

Another lump formed in my throat. 

He relaxed into his seat, exuding that superior aura as he glared hard at me. “We are talking about at least five years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.”

My throat tightened as the reality of my dumb actions this morning dawned on me. And to think that I took the fall for him, and he hadn’t even reached out to me since I got here. The thought of it only made my blood boil. 

“The inspector already said that there was a chance for the charges to be dropped,” I reminded him, straightening up and folding my arms across my chest. 

His lips quaked with the ghost of a smile, the glow of his face shining through. I must admit, pictures and videos didn’t do this man justice. I found it hard to believe that a man like him was in his fifties with how young and handsome he still looked, even at that age. 

What can I say? There is nothing money couldn’t do for you, especially when you have loads of it. 

“Yes, there is,” he said, his head tilting to the side. “I am willing to drop the charges against you and your boyfriend. But first, you have to agree to the proposal I have for you.”

A proposal? 

What would a man like this want from me? 

Why was he even involved in this case? 

Shouldn’t he have some lap dogs or a host of secretaries who should be willing to undertake unimportant tasks like this for him?

My mind whirled with questions as I held his gaze, refusing to cower this time.

“What proposal do you have for me?”

He held my gaze for several seconds, not uttering a word. The atmosphere in the room shifted, and I could sense that I wouldn’t like whatever proposal he had for me. 

“I want you to marry my son for one year,” he finally said after torturing me with cold silence. “Refuse and you would spend the next five years locked up for a crime you didn’t commit.”