The Marriage Deal

Darcy

Seven months later 

"... The wife of one of the acting COOs of Madigan enterprises has released a a statement defending her husband, Vincent Madigan, and saying that he had nothing to do with the_" 

"Turn it off," I barked. 

The car was plunged into silence as the cab driver immediately turned off the radio. I let out a sigh of relief and pulled out my compact mirror to check my reflection for the umpteenth time, reassuring myself that my face hadn't gone back to being twisted up and scarred while I hadn't been paying attention. 

I raised a hand and touched my new face, still doubting the miracle that Doctor Peters had worked on my face. 

"We're here ma'am," the driver's voice cut through my musings and I jerked my head up to stare at the intimidating high rise building before me. 

"Thanks," I handed him some dollar notes and stepped out of the car, bracing myself for the stares and whispers and gasps, but just like it had been for the past few weeks, none of them came. Instead, there were admiring stares and long, second glances. 

Smiling, I walked into the building, my four inch heels clicking against the tiles. 

"Excuse me, ma'am," a waiter stepped in front of me as I tried to walk past, "You can't get seated without an appointment." 

I smiled at him, and felt smug at the flash of red that rose up his cheeks, "I have a lunch appointment with Mr. Madigan." 

His eyes widened, "You should have said so ma'am. I'm sorry for keeping you. Please, he's waiting for you."

I walked past him and crossed the smooth floors of the upscale restaurant, ignoring the admiring eyes that landed on me as I made my way to where the dark haired man was seated with his back to me. 

Wordlessly, I slid into the seat in front of him and crossed my legs, "Good afternoon, Mr. Madigan." 

He raised his head slowly, cerulean blue orbs fixing on my intently, "You have ten seconds to state what you want, and then get the fuck out before I have you thrown out." 

My jaw clenched. Rhys Madigan wasn't a good man, that much I knew. But as they said, the enemy of my enemy was my friend, and that was why I had bribed one of Rhys' employees to tell me his whereabouts today. 

"Ten," he counted, biting into his lunch leisurely. 

"My name is_" 

"I didn't ask," his cold voice cut me off, "You have seven seconds left." 

"I know that you're trying to take over from your grandfather as the CEO of Madigan enterprises_" 

"Six." 

"And you need to take Vincent down to do that," even saying my ex husband's name felt like a sharp knife lancing through my chest. He and his so called business associate had taken everything from me, and it was time to return the favor. 

"I can help you." 

"Three." 

"I know things about your brother_" 

"Step brother," he corrected sharply, "Two. Time's almost up." 

"I know something about him that can help you destroy him." 

He leaned back in his chair, looking large and intimidating, "I don't believe you. And I don't need your help either." 

"If that were true, you wouldn't be waiting to meet up with one of his associates right now to dig up dirt on him," I shrugged, "I know things about Vincent that you would want to know." 

"And how did you come by this information?" His eyes narrowed in my direction, eyes exploring every contour of my face. For a second, I held my breath, thinking he would surely recognize me, but his face remained blank. 

I steeled my shoulders, "I was his business associate for a while." It wasn't quite true, but it wasn't a lie either. 

"You're lying," he smirked cruelly, "Vincent is attached to Cora by the balls, there's no way he kept a business associate like you around."

Sweat started to gather at the base of my spine, "like me?" 

"You're a beautiful woman, and I know Cora is a possessive one." 

The compliment warmed me and gave me a little more confidence, "Then how do I know that the woman who carried Vincent's child wasn't Cora?" 

He froze, eyes turning cold as ice. I had only recently discovered that my ex husband hadn't kept me at home when I was pregnant because he was worried something would happen to me. He had done so to hide me from the world while his real wife had worn a fake baby bump and received the congratulations. 

I had been told about Rhys, but Cora had warned me to never show myself when he came to the house because he was so deadly that he could try to harm the baby. 

Now, I felt like a fool for not having realized that they had been hiding me like a dirty little secret. 

"Start talking," he growled. 

"Not until we have a written agreement." 

He raised one brow, "And what agreement is that?" 

"I will help you destroy them, and you won't turn against me at the end." 

"what do you get in return, because I don't believe you're so selfless to want to help me. What did they do to you?" 

I squeezed my hands into fists under the table, trying to control the fury burning through me, "In exchange, the child goes back to his mother. Do we have a deal?" 

Rhys' eyed me carefully, "What's your deal with the mother?" 

"Do we have a deal or not?" 

"Who are you?" He asked instead of responding. 

"My name is Tessa Jarvais, that's all you need to know for now," I told him, my voice hard. 

"I have a counter offer, Tessa," he smiled darkly, "I don't trust you. Not one bit. You're hiding something, a lot of things in fact, and I don't trust that you won't stab me in the back later. So here's my deal, if I go down, you go down with me."

"And how are you going to ensure that?" 

He rose to his feet and began to button his suit jacket, "We are going to get married."