chapter 4

Danielle pushed him slightly as she glared at him. “Mr. Carter, where are your manners?”

“Typical feisty Danielle.” He smirked and stepped back a little, and Danielle immediately relaxed.

“Look, I don't think you are reasoning straight right now. Why would you want to get married to a girl like me?” She questioned, relaxing her hand on her hip.

“Nothing in life comes without a price, bubbles. Think about it: if you agree to become mine, I will protect you from Davis Anderson. You have my words.”

Danielle bit the corner of her lips, pondering what decision to make. “Are you doing this for the sake of sex?” She demanded. She couldn't keep ignoring the way he had been holding her body hostage with his eyes.

“You can also add that to the equation. There's no time, bubbles; it's either now or never.”

“If that's the case, you don't need to go through the stress of getting married to me before we have sex. If that's what you want, then we can as well do it now." Danielle blurted it out shamelessly.

“You are not just any woman, Danielle. I want to do it with you legally.”

She closed her eyes briefly as she let out a deep sigh. She couldn't wait to turn the tables on Davis Anderson and save her family, but saying 'yes' to Jake means her life will never remain the same.

At the moment, she was too desperate to think about the consequences of her decision, so she nodded her head in response. “I accept. I will be yours as long as you lend me the money and keep to your promises.” She replied.

“I bet you won't regret it!”

“Don't you think we should draft out an agreement?”

“I'll call my lawyer tomorrow to do that, but you should know there's no going back once the papers are signed.”

…

After classes, Jake sent her an address to meet up at. She took a taxi to the location. Arriving at the café, she found him already waiting for her, and beside him was a middle-aged man dressed neatly in a black suit.

“I'm sorry I'm a little late.” She sincerely apologized and settled down in the seat opposite him. Jake pushed the documents and a pen in front of her. “I got my lawyer to draft out an agreement for us, like we agreed last night.”

She looked up at Jake before lowering her gaze to the papers on the table to go through the clauses. As she read further, the more the frown on her face deepened. “This is so ridiculous. I can't even ask you for a divorce unless you are the one willing to divorce me.” She asked with her eyes widening in surprise.

Jake nodded in response. “Bubbles, if you are done reading, you can proceed to sign the papers, and then we will quickly get married.”

“Can we make some adjustments to this agreement? I feel this is too much. How am I benefiting from all of this?” A scoff left her mouth.

The lawyer cleared his throat, straightened up, and said, “Ms. Young, to think about it, you are also benefiting from this agreement. Mr. Carter has a net worth of over 40 billion dollars, and with his influence, power, and presence around, no one can bully you. Mr. Carter will take care of your every need as your husband.”

“I can't make any changes, Danielle. We can't always get what we want in life,” Jake added, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned in his seat.

The word 'husband' made all the hair on her body stand erect. It was a casual word, but it sounded foreign to her ears. Picking up the pen on the desk, Danielle exhaled loudly and put her signatures on the documents before passing them back to the lawyer. “Deal.”

“Great, I think we can still make it to the courthouse today to get our marriage registered.”

“Why so soon? I already signed the papers; you should know I can't go back on my words. By the way, I still have to head back to school.” She quickly turned down his idea.

“I'm sure skipping a day won't hurt.” He rose to his feet and led the way out of the cafe, ignoring the stunned look on her face.

An hour later, they emerged from the courthouse with Danielle's cheeks flushed; she couldn't believe Jake had kissed her on the lips when the lawyer said everything had been concluded.

He opened the door to the back seat for her, like a gentleman, before getting in. “I will come pick you up after school.” Jake finally breaks the odd silence in the car.

“You don't have to worry; I still have to go visit my father at the hospital after school today.” 

“Then I guess I should come with you to see him; after all, he's my father-in-law now.” 

Danielle's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets as she listened to Jake. “You can't come with me now,“ she hurriedly said. “Look, Mr. Carter, my parents must not find out I got married for the time being, so please, I want you to keep our marriage a secret,” she pleaded.

"Mhm,” he simply replied.

After classes, Danielle parted ways with her best friend and roommate, Scarlett, and headed to the hospital to check up on her father's condition.

“Nurse Taylor, I'm just coming from my dad's ward, but I couldn't find him. Are they perhaps running a test on him?”

“Oh, Mr. Young was actually transferred to the VIP ward this morning.”

“VIP ward?” Danielle repeated. “On who's request?” As far as she was concerned, she had been too busy searching for means to raise money to even have the thought of transferring him to a VIP ward.

“On the chief medical officer's orders. Would you like me to show you Mr. Young's ward, ma'am?”

Danielle ignored the nurse's question as she pondered why the chief medical officer himself gave the orders; she wasn't familiar with him, and there was no one else she could think of except for Jake. “Did he dig up all of my information?” She asked herself inwardly.