9. Decision

GENESIS

It was a dream, it just had to be a dream.

She was looking at Dante with gaped lips and eyes wide like saucers. Did he realize what he had just said? She would have assumed that he was just joking, but she knew too well that Dante was not one to throw jokes around like that; at least, not with her.

"Look, I know it sounds strange." Dante started.

'Very strange.' She would have added if she was able to find her voice, but she was still dumbfounded.

"But, right now, that is the only way I can think to keep you here." He sighed, his face spelling frustration. "I'll compensate you, I promise. You get to decide the amount."

"I... I— marry you? That's—"

"Take tonight to think of it properly." He intercepted her speech. "For Elon's sake."

She could still not make up a proper sentence as he walked out of the kitchen, leaving her to her thoughts. She stood there for a while, weighing her options. Marrying this man meant that her life was going to take a drastic turn, but leaving mean