Chapter Four: The offer

Iris' POV

I didn’t sleep. Well it wasn't like I could. I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling, replaying his voice over and over in my head.

'You belong to me.'

The words shouldn’t have affected me the way they did. They shouldn’t have curled low in my stomach or sent a shiver down my spine every time I remembered the way he looked at me in a calm and certain way, like my refusal was nothing more than a cover of how much I wanted him.

"Arghh!!!"

I turned onto my side and punched my pillow.

Arrogant. That was what he was. Arrogant, dangerous, and completely out of his mind.

And yet…

My chest tightened because part of me knew he hadn’t been bluffing.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand.

"Sighs, not again.." I murmured staring at the phone. 

I let it buzz until it stopped. Then, almost immediately, it rang again. This time I had to grab it.

 “What do you want?” I snapped the second I answered.

“You didn’t sleep,” Nathaniel’s voice said calmly.

I sat up. “Are you watching me?”

“No,” he replied. “But you’re predictable.”

“I told you to leave me alone.”

“You didn’t,” he corrected. “You told me you don’t belong to anyone.”

I clenched my jaw. “It means the same thing.”

There was a pause.

“Iris,” he said, his voice lower now. “You were about to lose your apartment.”

I froze.

“You don’t get to say my name like that.”

“You had seventy-two hours before the court order went through,” he continued. “Your landlord had already filed.”

My throat tightened. “Stop.”

“Your mother’s condition worsened tonight,” he added quietly. “They were adjusting her medication. Insurance won’t cover it.”

I closed my eyes, my chest aching. “How did you know all this?”

“Because I told you,” he replied. “You’re being watched.”

My voice cracked. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I am doing this to you,” he said. “Im offering you a way out.”

The next day we met, not because I wanted to but because my landlord left a voicemail informing me the locks would be changed by the weekend.

I met because the hospital billing department called twice and because desperation was louder than fear.

Nathaniel chose the location, a private dining room in a restaurant so expensive that I felt out of place the moment I stepped inside.

He was already there when I arrived, seated calmly, his eyes lifting the instant he sensed me.

“You came,” he said.

“I didn’t have a choice,” I replied as I slid into the chair across from him.

Something flashed across his expression. Satisfaction, maybe. Or relief.

“Would you like anything?” he asked.

“No.”

He nodded once. “Then I’ll be direct.”

“Good.”

He placed a slim folder on the table between us.

“What is that?”

“A contract.”

“For what?”

“For a marriage.”

The word slammed into me.

I laughed despite myself. “You must be joking.”

“I don’t joke,” he replied evenly.

“You barely know me.”

“I know enough.”

I shoved the folder back toward him. “This is insane.”

“It’s temporary,” he said calmly.

“That doesn't make it better.”

“You would live with me,” he continued. 

“You would be protected. Your debts would be cleared. Your mother would receive the best care money could buy.”

My chest ached. “And in return?”

He met my gaze. “You would be mine.”

Instantly, I got angry. “I am not property, Mr crowe.”

“No,” he agreed. “You are an anchor.”

I blinked. “An anchor?”

“Something I need to survive,” he said simply.

A chill ran through me. “You are not telling me everything.”

“No,” he admitted. “ Definitely I'm not.”

I stood up abruptly. “This was a mistake.”

“Iris,” he said sharply. “Sit down.”

The command sent a shiver through me and I hated the fact that my body responded before my mind did.

I sat.

He exhaled slowly. “I wouldn’t force you,” he said. “But you should understand the alternative.”

“What alternative?” I demanded.

He slid his phone across the table.

On the screen was a photo of my apartment building. Then my mother’s hospital room. Then me, leaving work, walking home.

My stomach dropped.

“You said you weren’t watching me,” I whispered.

“I said I wasn’t watching you last night,” he replied. “There was a difference.”

“This is blackmail.”

“This is reality,” he countered. “And it is closing in on you.”

I pushed the phone away. “I don't want your money.”

“You need it.”

“I don't want your protection.”

“You wouldn’t survive without it.”

His words weren’t cruel and that terrified me more than anger ever could.

"I'm done with you." and just like that, I left without signing anything.

I told myself I was strong.

That I would figure it out.

That I didn’t need him but the universe had to disagree.

That night, my power was shut off.

The next morning, the hospital called again.

By evening, a notice was slipped under my door.

VACATE IMMEDIATELY.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor, my hands shaking. And just like fate, my phone buzzed.

Nathaniel Crowe.

I answered without thinking.

“I am not agreeing,” I said hoarsely. “But I needed help.”

There was a pause.

“I know.” he answered softly.

When I saw him again, it was at his penthouse. Everything was glass and steel, the opposite of my life. He stood near the window, hands clasped behind his back.

“I’ll agree,” I said before he could speak. “But I have conditions.”

He turned slowly. “Go on, doll face.”

“No touching unless I said so.”

His jaw tightened.

“No lies,” I added. “And if I want quit, I can leave.”

Silence followed until he finally nodded.

“Agreed.”

I stared at him. “Just like that?”

“For now.”

My hands curled into fists

. “Then, yes, I’ll do it.”

Immediately I accepted the contract, I could hear Nathaniel’s hitched breath and saw his eyes locked onto mine.

And then I realized I never really had a choice.