CHAPTER 6: SIGNING THE DEAL

NAYA’S POV

As Cindy walked out of the room, a man strolled in. I was immediately taken aback by the amount of sexiness and confidence the man exuded. He was tall – over six feet, handsome with his hair slicked back. His eyes were sharp and determined and gave him an aura of mystery. He had a stern frown on his face as he walked in, holding a bunch of papers in his hand.

And when he opened his mouth to talk, his voice, though cold, was the sexiest tone I had ever heard. “These are the terms of our marriage contract. Sign it, or you’d lose whatever is left of your pathetic life.”

I blinked at him once. Then, twice. Ugh? Did I hear him right? A marriage contract? Hold up, maybe the doctor was wrong and I’m suffering from a serious concussion. Or maybe the accident affected me so bad that I’m starting to hear things.

The man glared hard at me, obviously irritated by my confused silence. He whirled around, facing Manuel who had immediately rose to his feet. “Is she also deaf and dumb?” he asked in a crossed tone.

Deaf and dumb? Who was this man?

Manuel looked apologetic as he approached the man. “No sir, she’s not. I’m sorry sir, but I haven’t really spoken to her about the arrangement. I… I wanted to give her a little time to recover.” He glanced at me and I raised a brow up, wondering what this was all about.

“Manuel, when I hired you, I hired you for your competence. I certainly expect you to do your job well and when you told me you had a woman fit to be my wife, I certainly expected that you would have told her about it before I arrived.” His voice was flat yet angry.

Okay, so I heard right. He mentioned a “marriage contract” the other time and now he said “a woman fit to be my wife.” Were they talking about me? I was still so confused. I moved my gaze from Manuel to the strange man, then, from the strange man to Manuel and repeated the action all over again.

“Of course, sir and I apologize for that,” Manuel answered instantly. From how he kept referring to the man, I’m guessing that was his boss. “I’m going to talk to her in a while sir.”

“No, you stay back,” the man snapped. “You have been of no use till this very moment, you incompetent fool.” Even I winced at the insult, glancing at Manuel to see how he took it. He looked calm and collected as though this wasn’t the first time the man had called him names. The man turned to me and threw the bunch of papers at me. “Since you are not dead and dumb, I’m sure you heard what I said when I came in. That is our marriage contract. Sign it right now.”

Okay, I might have just been involved in an accident the day before and probably still suffering from a few injuries but that didn’t mean that I was simply going to do as he said. As a matter of fact, what he was saying made absolutely no sense at all. “I’m sorry,” my voice came out in a croak. “Who are you?”

“Uhm,” Manuel cleared his throat, quickly stepping forward. “Naya, this is my boss, Talon Thwaites,” he informed her. “Mr. Thwaites, this is Naya.”

The incredibly handsome and rude man named Talon Thwaites glared at Manuel so hard that I thought the glare would bore holes into the poor guy. “I thought I asked you to stay out of this!”

Manuel nodded. “Right. I apologize.”

Talon Thwaites turned back to me. “Sign!” he snapped, his glare now directed to me.

I would have shrunk back at the intensity of the glare if I still wasn’t confused. “I don’t understand, Mr. Talon, what is this you want me to sign?”

“Are you fucking stupid?” he burst out. “How many times do you want me to interpret it? It’s a marriage contract that you need to sign.”

Okay, someone needed to tell him that just because he was shouting didn’t make him any easier to understand. I certainly didn’t understand him at all. “I… I still don’t get why you’d want me to sign this.”

He looked at me, pissed and exasperated. Then, he turned back to Manuel. “Explain to her,” he ordered, strolling towards the couch on the far side of the room with my eyes trailing after him.

Manuel walked towards my bed and slowly slid onto it beside me, attracting my attention. I moved my gaze from Talon Thwaites to Manuel.

“Naya,” he began slowly. “I know this can come as a shock and all but I… I have a proposition for you.”

My eyebrows furrowed

“My boss needs to get married soon and I recommended you to him,” he stated, watching my face for a reaction.

I stare at him, my brain slowly assimilating his word before forming a reaction. He wanted me to get married to his boss? To Talon Whites? To this same man that just called me dumb, deaf and stupid in less than five minutes? “What are you talking about?”

“It's not a real marriage of course,” he quickly rushed out. “I mean, it’s real but you it won’t be for long. It’s all based on a contract. You will get married for a while and eventually get a divorce.”

I frowned as I listened to him talk. “Why would you recommend me for something like that? What makes you think I want to do something like that? What gives you the idea that I’ll be remotely interested in this deal?”

“I know you currently don’t have anything, Naya. No job, no money and no place to be right now and I promise that if you agree to this deal, all that would be settled. You wouldn’t have to be worried about anything.”

I was beginning to realize that Manuel was in many ways like his boss. They’d obviously go to any lengths to get what they wanted including blackmailing. The worst thing was I started to consider this.

Manuel was right. I had no life. I had absolutely nothing – no money, house and judging from their proposition, no pride and no dignity. I picked the bunch of papers and scanned through the front page.

Manuel must have seen that I was beginning to warm up to the idea because he immediately continued, “We’ll pay you a huge reward of course and once you are married you will be Mr. Thwaites responsibility. You will live in his house and everything will be taken care of.”

I pursed my lips. “Your boss… he’s a rich man, yes?” I asked and Manuel nodded. “How rich?”

“Very rich.”

“And influential?”

“Very. If you want to confirm, you can pick up a phone and G****e him,” Manuel told her.

“That will not be necessary. I want to talk to your boss,” I inform him, turning back to the contract in my hand and flipping it open. Well, there were some sensible clauses in here – like the one that said I should never disclose our agreement to anyone. That made sense.

From my peripheral vision, I saw Manuel standing up and heading to towards his boss. He whispered a few words to him before Talon Thwaites rose to his feet and approached me.

“So… What do you say?” Talon demanded immediately he got to me.

What an inpatient man. I slowly looked up at him. “I will sign the contract,” I told him, “but I also want something in return.”

“You want something in return? I’m going to pay you massively for this. Is that not enough?!”

“No, obviously not. First of all, I want nothing less than ten million dollars for this agreement.”

“Deal,” he answered immediately.

I was shocked at how quick he answered but I tried not to show it. I simply nodded. “Okay… one more thing. I assume you are a very wealthy man and not just wealthy, very influential. If I’m going to get married to you, I want you to make me the hottest model in the industry.” My words made Manuel splutter in shock beside me. I could see the shock registered on Talon’s face but he said nothing to betray his feelings.

Instead, he said, “Fine. We can work that out.”

Wow, he must have been really desperate to agree to make me the hottest model in the industry. Anyone who saw and knew me knew that was a lost cause but I’d take my chances. So, I said, “Good, then, I’ll sign your contract.”

Talon Thwaites pursed his lips, and then turned to Manuel. “Make sure she signs it and bring them back to me.” He whirled around and strolled out of the room.

As I watched him leave, a lone tear slipped through my eyes. This was what my life had been reduced to – signing marriage contracts with strange men. But there was a better end to this. I was going to be the hottest model one day. All this wouldn’t be a waste. I would wake up one day and realize that I had fulfilled my dreams. I would model the best of designs, walk on the best of runways and be an ambassador for the best brands.

One day.