Chapter 7

Stones Industry. The perfectly sculptured name stared at me from the top of the building while my heart pounded in my chest.

I held on tightly to my purse chain, my feet glued to the floor for almost 10 mins now. I can't even lie that I wasn't scared, but I really didn't have a choice.….

Let's get this over and done with.

~°~

“You do know she might be here soon, right?”

“You do know you're pissing me off, right?”

The baker, really?

From the moment he got back from that bakery, Michael had been on about the baker, and everything about her got on Duncan's last nerve.

He has never been one who knew how to control his temper and Michael seemed to be pushing his luck with him.

“Duncan, just listen to her”

“You seem to really want this marriage more than My Father. Is there a problem?”

Michael let out a defeated sigh and almost immediately, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in” the harsh reply echoed round the room.

The door was slowly pushed open by the company's secretary who came into view with Tori trailing behind her.

“Good morning, Mr Stones, Miss Hills is here. I was instructed to let her in by Mr Gail”

“Do you work for him?”

The secretary looked like she could melt at any minute under Duncan's cold gaze and sharp tone.

“I'm…I'm sorry, Sir”

“Get out” was all he said before turning back to his computer and like a mouse running away from a cat, the secretary was out of the office.

“This is exactly what your father was talking about”

Duncan turned his gaze to Michael who held the same poker expression he had on his face.

With nothing else to say to his friend, he turned his attention to Tori who stood like a mannequin displaying an outfit—a terribly cheap outfit, Duncan thought to himself.

“Miss Hills, please, come seat” Michael tapped on the seat beside him. It was obvious his friend wasn't ready to offer the lady a seat.

“Thank you” she faked a smile, hesitantly taking a seat “Good morning, Mr Stones”

Duncan slowly took his hands away from his keyboard, turning his seat so he was facing the young lady who intended to sign the contract with him.

He leaned his back towards his chair, his elbow resting on his arm rest while he slowly examined the baker.

From the way her pale blonde hair sat in a bun to the way her emerald green eyes refused to meet his. The clearly uncomfortable way she shifted in her chair and the way she held on to her bag like he would have any need for it if he actually stole it.

The lady was nothing like the usual women he goes for, but, there was a part of him that pushed him towards accepting her, it pushed him a lot…..the part of himself he hated the most.

“Give me one good reason I should consider you for this contract?”

Tori finally locked eyes with him, straightening herself on her seat “it’s….it’s a contract marriage where both parties are meant to gain one thing from the other. I'm not getting in the way of anything you're doing. I won't interfere with your daily activities nor your way of living, I just need the money. I really really need the money.”

“What for?” He suddenly asked “if I'm signing a contract with you, I should at least know your intentions towards signing it”

She took in a deep breath, her shoulders dropping slightly “My father's dying. He has a stage 2 heart failure and he needs transplant so it doesn't get worse. I can barely keep up with his treatments and that alone is enough to worsen the situation. I need to help him”

The room was quite for what felt like hours. She looked up at her possibly husband-to-be, but there wasn't a single readable expression on his face. His grey eyes searched her face slightly while he was positioned on his chair, looking like a Greek god on his throne.

“Duncan” his friend called out to him, in a way trying to get through to him.

Duncan turned his gaze to his desk drawer, pulling it open and taking out the contract. He tossed it on the table, the document landing in front of Tori.

“I'm not doing this because I pity you, I'm doing this because you promised not to get in my way and I love my peace.”

She shook her head vigorously “I won't”

“Good. You've read it so you should know it's a 5 million dollars contract for a marriage that spans up to 6 months. My father wants me to get a wife before he can hand over the company to me, that's why this whole thing is on. Right after the fake marriage license is acquired, I'll finalize things with him and I'll give you 50% of your money. In order not to make things seem weird, we'll keep this up for 6 months and right after, I'll give you what's left and we'll end all of this. Understood?”

She nodded “understood”

He picked up a pen from his desk, pushing it over to her and without hesitation, she signed on the last page of the contract, handing it over to him and he as well placed his signature before closing the document shut.

“We're getting the fake marriage license tomorrow and you're moving in with me by weekend, get yourself ready.”

If only she knew he didn't just mean getting ready by packing up.