Chapter 6: Paper and Vows

Elliot POV

I did not sleep. This is not unusual when you are dealing with a loss. Lying awake and thinking about Sebastian Wolfe is unusual for me.

I kept thinking about his voice. He sounded so sure of himself when he said marry me. It was like he was just waiting for me to agree.

The problem is that I did agree.

At six fifty-eight, there was a knock at my door. I was already sitting on my bed wearing the shirt from yesterday, and I had a headache. The knock was quiet. I knew I had to answer it.

I knew it was Sebastian before I even touched the handle.

Sebastian was standing in my hallway at seven in the morning. He was wearing a coat and a black shirt. He had two coffees with him. He also had a leather folder. Behind him was a man I did not recognize. The man was slim middle-aged. He had a briefcase. He looked like someone who gets paid to stay calm.

Sebastian looked at me the way he always does. Like he already knows what he is going to find.

"You look terrible," he said.

"You knocked on my door before seven, " I replied.

He held out a coffee. I looked at him then at the stranger. I stepped aside because it was cold. I did not want to have this conversation in the doorway.

They came in. My apartment felt smaller. This is not because my apartment is small. It is because Sebastian has a way of making rooms feel smaller.

The stranger, Marcus, went to my kitchen table. Started laying out papers. The papers were clean and white. They felt heavy.

This was real. I knew it was last night when I said yes.. Seeing it on paper makes it feel more real.

I sat down. Sebastian sat across from me. He opened the leather folder. Waited.

I started reading the contract.

***

The contract was detailed. Someone had written it carefully. It said how we would present ourselves, what would stay private, and what would happen with money. It also said what we owed each other and what we did not. At the bottom of page three it said that I would be safe. That nothing would be required of me that I had not agreed to.

I read it twice, then I read the rest again. It was all clear. I hated that it was.

By the time I finished, my coffee was cold. Sebastian had not. Spoken. He just sat there waiting.

"Page six " I said.

He looked at the folder. "The money," he said.

"I do not want it, " I said.

"It is part of the contract," he replied.

"I know, " I said. "I am doing this for protection, not for money. If I take it, it changes what this is."

He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "It stays in an account. You do not have to touch it. But it has to be in the contract in case something goes wrong, I want you to have something."

I did not like how that made me feel. I looked back at the page then I picked up the pen.

***

I read each part of the contract again as I signed. Every time I wrote my name it felt like a door closing. This was happening.

I reached the line and signed it. My hand stopped on the page.

The word husband was already in my head before I could stop it.

Marcus collected the papers, checked the signatures, and said he would file them before noon. Then he left.

The door. The apartment went quiet. It was not quiet. It was the kind of quiet where everything that just happened is still in the air.

Sebastian reached into his coat. Set two rings on the table between us. They were simple and dark, not flashy.

I looked at them at him. He did not say anything. He just waited.

I picked up the one for me. It was heavier than I expected.

I held it for a moment, then I put it on. The papers were. This was the rest of it.

Sebastian picked up the ring and put it on without ceremony. Like it was already decided.

Neither of us said anything about it.

He reached for his coffee. I looked at my hand. The ring sat there like a fact.

I was still holding the pen. Sebastian reached for the leather folder and our fingers touched for half a second.

Neither of us said anything. His hand felt warm.

The ink on our marriage contract was still fresh. I pulled my pen back. He took the folder. That moment was over.

We sat there with the signed papers between us, cold coffee, and the city still going outside like nothing had changed.

It had not changed out there. In here, everything had.

I looked at the papers. He looked at me.

"You are already annoying me as my husband," I said.

He smiled a little. "We have been married six minutes."

"That is six minutes too many, " I said.

"You called me your husband first " he said quietly. "Before I said anything."

My face went hot. I hated it. "I told you to forget that, " I said.

"I know," he said. "I remember everything you tell me to forget. That one especially."

I looked away because I felt like I would lose something if I kept meeting his eyes.

"Well," I said, just to break the silence.

"Well," he said back.

That was it. We just sat there.

***

My phone buzzed on the counter. I did not move because I was sitting across from Sebastian Wolfe with a brand marriage contract between us.

The phone buzzed again. I. It was an unknown number.

The message said, "Congratulations. We saw the filing. You have 48 hours before we make what we know public. Enjoy the honeymoon."

The coffee turned cold in my stomach. I looked back at Sebastian. He could already tell something was wrong.

He held out his hand without a word. I gave him the phone. He read it set it down and picked up his phone. He started making calls, calm but angry.

The papers were still between us and the ink was dry.

Somewhere there someone had just told us that our legal protection had an expiration date.

***

His phone rang again. It was not his lawyer. He got up. Took it into the hallway.

I looked down at the ring on my finger. It had been there for four hours. He had not asked for it back.

He came back. Sat down. "The filing went through, " he said.

I exhaled.

"What was the other call?" I asked.

He looked at me for a moment. "Nothing you need to worry about yet " he said.

I stared at him. He held my gaze without blinking.

That word sat between us like a thing in the room.

Yet.