TWO

JOLENE’s POV

“My last minute discussions with Jolene before I finally decided to pull off the life support made me understand how much this family needs her, how much you need her Jake. Even though we were rich, you’ve had a rough childhood with I and your mother never really being there. It’s led to you being commitment shy, drifting through life and women like the wind.”

I swallowed. Where the heck was this going? Jake had removed his hand that was on my knee, now he’d fisted it. I could tell from the clench in his jaw that he was angry.

I could only hope his anger was directed at his father.

“Jake, you only get everything if you get married to Jolene tomorrow, a contract marriage. Give it a year, if after one year, you’re sure you want to leave, then you can get a divorce. It’s impromptu, I know, but I can’t give you time to talk yourself out of it, now can I?”

I shook my head, swallowing as Jake shot to his feet. “I don’t want it! I don’t freaking want any fortune that’ll dictate how I live my freaking life!” He snapped.

“Watch your language!” Rebecca snapped, and Hailey just sat there looking aghast. “My husband was… sick. His stroke affected his brain, he wasn’t thinking clearly,” Rebecca told the attorney in that fake, silky voice of hers. “There must be something we can do, Jolene is just our maid…”

The old man merely shook his head. “Been practicing for thirty years now. I can tell you that this will is as valid as can be. Of course, you may want to protest it but, I’ll advice against it.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair, and his troubled expression finally met mine. The whole Henderson family had turned to look at me.

“After some last minute discussions with Jolene huh?” He said so softly, I almost missed the steel that had crept into his voice. “You’ve been having late night discussions with my father, putting foolish thoughts in his head. Lord I thought you were different! And all this while you were nothing but a heartless gold digger waiting for the right moment to strike.”

His lips were curled up in disgust, and for the first time, those intense green eyes of his didn’t light up with pleasure when they landed on me. He walked over to where I sat, bending till we were eye level.

“So what? You used the opportunity you had caring for my father in his most vulnerable state to convince him to force me to marry you” he’d said ‘marry you’ like it was the most horrible thing he could do on earth. “And what? Did you also convince him it was time to go off the life support? Should we be investigating you for murder?”

I shook my head, unable to stop the tears streaming down my face. “Jake no, I didn’t do this. I promise, I didn’t know Logan would write this in his will –”

One brow shot up in bitter amusement. “Logan? You were on first name basis with my Dad?”

I swallowed. “I only told him to –”

“Well whatever you told him, this is the result,” Jake snapped, getting to his feet. “The wedding would hold tomorrow, and God save anyone that would expect me to treat my new bride anything even remotely close to decent,” Jake announced, storming off.

I shot to my feet immediately. My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces as I hurried after him. “Jake wait, let me explain,” I started, but he was already out of the door, slamming it in my face.

No one knew I had a sister that had been so in and out of the hospital, she practically lived there now. Maybe if I explained to Jake, that all I wanted was money for her surgery, I never wanted to manipulate him into a marriage he did not want…

It hurt that Jake had such a harsh reaction to getting married to me. Even though I always believed we could never be together, he was a Henderson, and I was a maid, I just hoped… now, I didn’t even get the money, I got a marriage that would turn the entire family against me.

“What the heck Logan?” I whispered hoping he would freaking here. Way to go to breaking promises he made on his death bed. 

“Jolene, don’t be in a hurry to leave,” The attorney echoed Jake’s previous words. “The hearing is over for everyone, except for you.”

Hailey burst out into bitter, sarcastic laughter. She walked up to me, eyes very similar to Jake’s shooting daggers at me. “I should give it to you, you’re good. When I watched you sinking your claws into my brother, I thought he was only fascinated with how d those grey eyes darken when you moan, but then, you took it a notch up, played my father on his death bed. And people say it’s we rich who are heartless.”

Before I could say a word, she turned and left, Rebecca following her, but not before she gave me a withering glare, I just knew she was waiting till the attorney left before she would address me.

“Jolene – Miss Cullen,” the attorney started. “The rest of the will in Logan’s own words; Dear Jolene, of course, I did not forget your request, and you should know me enough to know I’ll be giving you way more. The sum of five million dollars for your exceptional service. A down payment has been made for the most urgent of your sister’s surgery as we speak, taken out of a loan from that five million. You would be given the five million after one year, if you stay married to Jake for a year.

Now, your clause is deeper than his. You have to get Jake to fall in love with you within that year. The proof would be that he would request that your marriage continue. If you do not agree to this, you would not be given any money, and you would be in debt to this family to the tune of fifty thousand dollars.”

I drew in a sharp breath. He’d paid for her kidney transplant, the most urgent surgery, not the bone marrow transplant she needed, or the physiotherapy she had to get if she would walk again.

“Once you sign the marriage contract to Jake, a hundred thousand dollars would be deposited into your account to complete your sister’s medical bills. The last clause is you can’t tell anything of what had been said here to anyone, least of all to Jake. He has to believe you’re getting married to him because you’ve fallen for him. I see the glances you both shoot each other when you think no one is watching, Jo, you’ll be fine.”

The attorney finished, shut his file and got up. How the freaking heck was I going to be fine? He’d succeed in not only turning me into a target for the rest of his family to attack, my best friend now thought I was a gold digger.

And now, he hated me.