Tempting Offer

ROSALIE’s POV

‘’You seem shocked.’’ The officer’s voice bloomed, his words barely a whisper to my ringing ears.

He turned the monitor away from me and tapped on the screen. 

‘’You can still file for the loan. Like you said earlier, your credit is immaculate. But you can’t get the loan as a single applicant. Please come with your husband next time, Mrs Blackwood.’’

My heart stopped.

My legs began to tremble and my lips quivered as the word replayed over and over and over again in my head.

‘Mrs Blackwood’

Like a freight train, the dream I had earlier dreamt this morning flooded my head.

His back to me, that sly smirk on his face as he turned to me. The way he grabbed my ankle and pulled me under him, asserting his dominance by kissing me senseless.

No!

Hell to the fucking—

‘’No!’’ I blurted out, my brow arching together as frown lines formed on my forehead.

‘’There has to be some kind of a mistake. I’m not married. Look.’’ I flashed my hand his way.

There was a ring on the finger between my middle finger and my pinky finger and everyone knew that signified engagement. 

‘’I’m engaged, okay?! Not married!’’ My voice rose to a pitch and I could feel eyes burning on me.

I lowered my voice and stepped forward. ‘’I don’t know why you called me Mrs Blackwood. But it’s ROSALIE Mendez. Soon to be ROSALIE Shawn. I’m no longer with Mr Blackwood.’’ My voice was trembling and my whole body was taking the hit.

The officer just kept staring at me, his face unreadable. 

‘’I really don’t care about your family drama. I’ll do you a favor…’’ He clicked on the screen and walked away. By the time he came back again, he had a paper in his hand.

‘’Here.’’ He slipped it to me.

I stared at the paper skeptically before taking it. By the time I skimmed through the content, my chest was already burning with rage, confusion and anger.

How…

How the fuck am I still married to Elijah Blackwood?!

I could still remember it vividly like it was just days ago.

I had signed the divorce papers with tears and a trembling hand and Elijah had done the same too, with hatred and anger burning in his eyes.

He left home that day to process the divorce papers and a week later, we were officially divorced.

So why the fuck was this paper saying otherwise??

Elijah couldn’t have…. He hated my guts.

I turned around without saying another word and ran out of the royal pack’s central bank.

With the address still engraved in my head, I hailed a cab to Elijah Blackwood’s residence.

As I stepped out of the cab, my legs wobbled as I stood in front of Elijah’s house.

A place I had once called home.

A place I had buried most memories in.

A place I had sworn never to return to.

‘Don’t you think it’s fate that you’re back here after years of thinking about him? Maybe the moon goddess—‘

‘Shut up, Kara!’ I cut her off, blocking the mind link.

I exhaled and walked towards the gate. Immediately the security details caught a glimpse of me, they rushed to open the door.

My brow furrowed, twisting in confusion.

The security details were new employees so they had no idea who I was.

Before I could speak, one of them spoke up. ‘’Mr Blackwood is expecting you. I’ll escort you to his study.’’

My heart toppled.

Expecting me?

Elijah Blackwood was expecting me?

My hand curled into fist, my nails digging into the flesh of my palm as anxiety coursed through me.

Why was he expecting me?

I followed behind the security and we walked into the main house and started to climb over a flight of stairs to Elijah’s study.

My eyes darted everywhere and anywhere.

The interior hadn’t changed much. Everything still looked the same.

I swallowed the bile stuck in my throat and focused on getting to Elijah’s study.

We stopped just in front of his door and my heart rate spiked as I stared at the gold placard ‘ELIJAH BLACKWOOD’ 

‘’I’ll leave now.’’ The security murmured, stepping away from me and getting lost in the corridor, his footstep receding.

I exhaled, my lips quivering.

I raised my hand, ready to knock when that familiar, magnetic voice bloomed from inside the room.

‘’Come in.’’

My heart skipped a thousand beats.

My hand curled around the handle and I pushed the door open, stepping in.

Elijah Blackwood sat behind his large mahogany desk, his elbow resting on the wood as he massaged below his chin.

Even after three years, he didn’t look like he’d aged one bit.

He looked the same…handsome, manlier and without a hint of a smile in his hollow eyes.

‘’Rina…’’ He murmured under his breath, a forced smile breaking out on his lips.

‘’You know…I had expected that one day, you’d come back running to me. What I didn’t expect, was that it was going to be this soon.’’

My hand tightened into fist by my side, crumpling the paper.

I gritted my teeth and marched to his desk, my eyes burning with anger as I slammed the paper on the desk, the sound reverberating around the quiet room. 

‘‘What the fuck is this?!’’ I barked, interlocking my hands at my chest, slightly above my breast.

Elijah corked me a sly smirk before his eyes dropped to the crinkled paper.

He picked it up and straightened it, staring at it for a few breathless moment before letting out a chuckle.

‘’Is there something I’m supposed to be seeing?’’

My face faltered and frustration began to gnaw at me.

What the fuck was he playing at?!

I grabbed the paper from him and pointed to the clause at the bottom. 

‘’It says we are fucking married! That you didn’t process the divorce papers!’’ I snapped, my voice high enough to have the words sink into his skull. 

He merely raised an eyebrow, a bored expression plastered across his face.

‘’Divorce? What divorce?’’

My breath hitched at the audacity.

What the fuck did he mean by that?!

Three years ago, he had pushed me into signing those divorce papers. 

How the—

My chest burned from anger.

‘’I don’t know what you have up your sleeve but I’m getting married in a few weeks! You’re the reason we ended things, not the other way round! So get the Blackwood out of my name or—‘’

He cut me off before I could finish. ‘’Or what?’’

My vision tunneled.

Was he toying with me?!

Did he think this was some sort of a joke?

I watched as he pushed his chair backwards and stood up, his shadow falling on me as he towered over me, his height intimidating enough to have me stepping back slowly.

He grabbed the paper from my hand and crumpled it before throwing it in a trash can. Then he pulled out another paper from his drawer and tossed it in my hand.

‘’What is this?’’ My eyes skimmed through the paper.

With every word, sentence and paragraph I read, my eyes grew ten times larger and the temperature in the room dropped ten times faster.

‘’You—Are you insane?!’’ My heart shook violently as I squeezed the paper tightly, crushing it. 

My body trembled and I couldn’t help the disgust in my eyes as I stared at him.

Elijah smiled amidst the scrutiny. ‘’Isn’t that a tempting offer?’’

I huffed angrily. 

Tempting offer?!

Elijah Blackwood wanted me to spend ninety days as his wife again and make him fall out of love with me!