-Leia-
My boss is thrilled to hear my answer, of course. He will pay the ten million to me quarterly, with the first payment after I sign the papers. I doubt I’ll even need any more after the first payment, but if I’m going to be married to that ass, then I think I deserve it.
“Thank you for this, Leia. I’m sure Christian will come around under your care,” he says with a soft smile.
Oh, shoot. I forgot about that little part of the agreement; I have to literally tame his unruly son! Crap, how am I going to do that? I don’t know the first thing about getting an arrogant jerk to heel.
What the hell have you let yourself in for, Leia!
“I’m sure he will,” I say with a withering smile and immediately regret saying yes to this. I don’t like Christian one bit and he doesn’t exactly have a soft spot for me since I literally threw scalding water on his crotch.
Maybe Delilah will have some tips for me.
“Oh, I forgot to mention. Join us for dinner tonight at the estate so we can go over the agreement with Christian and what it entails. Olivia and I will be delighted to have you over,” he says and my heart literally drops into my stomach.
Dinner with the Moores. What a great way to spend a Monday night.
“S-sure!” I answer way too happily and wishing the ground would swallow me whole. This day just gets better and better.
“Perfect! I’ll send a car over to collect you at 7 pm. Thank you again, Leia.”
The sincere smile on his face makes me feel a little guilty about all of this. He only wants to help his son get on the right track and is counting on me to help him out. What did he see in me that made him think I’m the right candidate for this?
I wish I could see it too.
My stomach is in tight knots the rest of the day and by the time 7 pm rolls around, I’m dressed up and ready to vomit. I’m so not prepared for this, so not prepared to face these wealthy people to sign on the dotted line and give my life away for ten million.
But I have to do it. I have to do it for her.
“Well, what do you think, Klaus?” I ask my black cat while staring at him in the mirror. “Does this scream ‘wife’ to you?”
Klaus lifts his head, licks his paw, and proceeds to look at me with his tongue still out. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I say and roll my eyes before giving his head a scritch and heading downstairs.
A fancy as heck car picks me up at my apartment soon after and we make our way to the Moore Estate.
It’s beautiful, of course. A stately villa situated in the middle of sprawling gardens, an actual stone angel fountain, a cobblestone driveway, and twin staircases leading to the villa doorstep. It’s not too over the top, even the interior design is stately, but modest. The epitome of Alexander Moore.
“There she is,” comes the voice of my boss just as I shrug off my coat to reveal a figure-hugging black above-the-knee dress.
I didn’t want to overdress tonight, so I chose my best dress, a pair of platform heels and light makeup with my hair done in an elegant braid over my left shoulder. The dress itself shows no cleavage, but it doesn’t need to.
Alexander walks out to greet me with his beautiful wife, Olivia. She’s his second wife, his first one passed away a long time ago, but he dotes on her. She’s the sweetest, most kind woman too, and owns a bespoke interior decorating firm.
“Good evening, Mr. Moore, Mrs. Moore,” I greet them with a light embrace and kiss their cheeks. “You have a lovely home.”
“Why thank you, Leia, all Olivia’s work, of course,” he compliments her, and she gushes, a little blush forming on the balls of her cheeks.
“Oh, Alex,” she chuckles and waves her hand about, then gestures to the dining room area. “Please, Christian shouldn’t be too long now.”
What? He’s not here yet?
I nod and give an uncomfortable smile while she leads us to the dining room. Alexander takes the seat at the head, while his wife sits to the left of him, they set a place for Christian to sit next to him and me next to Christian.
But an hour into the dinner and he hasn’t even arrived yet.
Alexander pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “I apologize for my son’s tardiness, Leia-”
The whirlwind that is Christian Moore saunters in, looking devastatingly gorgeous in his signature Tom Ford suit. Dark blonde hair, blue eyes, day-old stubble, the obviously gorgeous body underneath everything, and when he sits down next to me, he smells as good as he looks. Woodsy, with a mix of spice and dark leather; no doubt a Tom Ford fragrance.
“Apologies, I had a conference call that ran late,” he says to his father and nods towards him. Then he turns to me, regards me with a dismissive gaze, and looks away.
Wow. What an ass.
I see the annoyed tick underneath Alexander’s eye and know that he’s not too happy with his son, but he decides to bite the bullet and leave him be. This dinner is supposed to be about our marriage and the terms and conditions attached to it. Showing up late just proves he doesn’t want this any more than I do.
The dinner passes in uncomfortable silence, and after the four-course meal, Olivia guides us to another room for a few drinks.
Alexander hands me a glass of wine and takes a seat opposite me. “Now, we’ve spoken to both of you and you’ve agreed to this-”
“Not by choice - you’re literally dangling my inheritance in front of my face,” Christian quips, pouring himself an amber-colored liquid. “And as you know, my company is in its infantile stages and cannot afford the expenses without your help.”
Wait, what? Alexander is threatening to cut him off? It doesn’t look like this will be a happy marriage after all, not that I was counting on it, anyway. But threatening to cut off his inheritence? Man, that’s rough.
Alexander sighs and shakes his head. “This is for your own good, Christian. You’re reckless and running our name into the ground. Leia, who you’ve ignored the entire evening, has offered to help get your life on track!”
Oh, gosh. I feel a family fight coming on, especially when Christian scoffs and downs the glass of alcohol.
“I’m sure her help comes with a price. Am I right, Red?” he says, finally acknowledging me with a scowl. “How much did he offer you, hm?”
I blink at the venom behind his tone and choke out, “Ten million,” to which he chuckles darkly and shakes his head.
“Wow, that wasn’t cheap at all. Ten million to sort your son out over the course of two years, father?” he says, downing another glass. “Fine, you get what you want. After two years, I want nothing else to do with this.”
When he says ‘this’ he gestures towards me, then turns on his heel and storms out of the room. The front door slams and for some reason, I swallow my pride and follow him out.
-Christian-Ten million to sort me out as if I’m the goddamn problem; what the hell is wrong with my father? Why does he think marrying me off would change me? That’s the last damn thing I want and to THAT woman?!Leia Prescott has always hated me, I know this. She thinks she’s better than everyone else, with her multiple college degrees, smug smile, and clipped tones when she speaks to me. Her minor accident of scalding my dick clean off with coffee wasn’t an accident, not with the slight smirk she tried to hide after I screamed. I tolerated her before that, but now I can’t stand the woman.Her attitude reminds me of someone else, and even if I might have had respect for her before, now I see her as nothing but a woman whoring herself out for money. How do I manage to end up with the gold diggers?Out of everyone he could have chosen, it had to be his PA. His fucking PA.I growl under my breath and walk out to my Rolls-Royce Phantom, where my driver is waiting. This evening was a fuc
-Leia-It’s been a month since I had that argument with Christian and in a few hours, I’ll be his wife. His gold-digging wife with zero respect for herself.When I told my mother what was happening and that it would help with her treatment, she wouldn’t talk to me for a week. Not because she felt disappointed in me, but because she blamed herself for it. She thinks her cancer pushed me to do this, truth be told I am doing this for her but I would do it again and again if it would help.I’m paying for her first round of treatments and my debt in full tonight. There’s an upside to my wedding day!Currently getting preened and pampered in my wedding suite, I allow myself to be transformed into a woman I do not recognize. This is who the Moores need, this is what I’m being paid to be so I can’t complain.After I’m done being dolled up and the dress slipped on, I take a look at myself in the mirror and groan. I’ve always dreamt of having a huge wedding one day, now I’m getting it just with
-Leia-I never would have thought I’d be miserable on my wedding day and yet here I am, miserable as heck. Everything was perfect; the church, the reception, the cake, even the dress. The only thing not perfect was the groom. I know I have no right to be pissed off about it especially since I chose this, but damn, could Christian at least pretend to like me in front of others? It feels like I’m playing a one-sided game here.Thank God the mess is over at eleven pm; I’m just about ready to strangle someone.The drive to Christian’s penthouse is spent in an awkward silence when I realize that we haven’t really spoken about anything regarding this arrangement. Like at all. Damn it, I didn’t want to be the first one to break the silence, but here goes.“Uhm, Christian,” he visibly stiffens at the mention of his name and turns his head to face me with a questioning raise of his eyebrow. “Yes, Red?” ugh, that nickname.Swallowing my pride, I take a deep breath and try not to let his ridic
-Leia-“There she is! Mrs. Christian Moore!” Lucas exclaims when he sees me walking into the restaurant for brunch and I nearly hurled. He wraps his arms around me in a warm embrace and does a little squeal of excitement. “Please, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I said yes to this dumpster fire,” I say while kissing his cheek and plopping down opposite him then immediately ordering a glass of wine.Lucas whistles when the server walks away. “Not even a Mrs for 24 hours and you’re knocking back the brunch wine. Tell me everything,” he says, leaning forward for some hot gossip when there’s none.Lucas McBride is nearly six feet tall and looks like a surfer; green eyes, sandy blonde hair, and ripped to perfection. He’s just your typical gorgeous guy who loves fashion, gossip, brunch time mimosas, and looking at eye candy, not of the opposite sex. Yep, you guessed it - besides, every woman deserves a colorful bestie, yes?“You’re salivating,” I comment with a scoff
-Christian-“Check your emails, mate, you might just see somethin’ interesting.” Jasper had said just before the shit hit the fan. I had been having a good morning up until then, a productive morning with CEOs from three major companies inviting me to a luncheon this weekend to discuss an important merger.Since then, it has wrapped me in nothing but a veil of anger the entire day. From the minute Jasper sent me that article, to the moment Leia arrived back at the penthouse as if nothing happened. Yeah, I get that I have a reputation for being a bit of a man whore, but I promised to push it aside when I married Leia. Not because I felt something for her, but because I know how sacred those vows are, even if they were fake. I wasn’t about to sleep around when I promised not to, but that went out the window when I realized Leia wouldn’t do the same. Was I foolish to think she’d think this is sacred, too? Of course, I fucking was.Once upon a time, I would have given everything to a wo
-Leia-I get up from the floor after getting off the phone with my mother. They started the new treatments with her almost immediately after I paid them and for the first time in years, there’s hope in her voice again.That alone makes it worth it; that alone tells me I need to push forward and do this.I haven’t heard that light in her tone in a very long time, not before her diagnosis and everyone bailing on her. It pains me not to be there for her right now, but she also refuses me at times. She hates pity and I understand that.When Christian barged in here a few minutes ago, it confused the hell out of me. I thought he would have apologized to me for getting it wrong, but it was simply to tell me about a stupid luncheon. Ah, I guess I’ll be paraded around this weekend then. ***I haven’t been able to visit my mother since our last phone call and it’s leaving me anxious. Her doctor has informed me that she’s taking well to the new treatments, but they’re leaving her drained. The
-Leia-The luncheon passes slowly and every time I turn my back, I see Christian chatting up some beautiful woman. This happened more times than I can count, and after he sees me looking, he merely winks.What the hell is going on with him right now? I thought we had some kind of breakthrough earlier, but clearly, I was wrong. The man cannot be broken as easily as I suspected. I’ll need to figure out what type of person he really is if I’m going to win.Before we are about to leave, I need the lady's room and excuse myself. Christian doesn’t look as annoyed with me as he did before, and I think my silence throughout the day has something to do with it.When I’m done doing my business, I walk out of the stall to wash my hands… and who should saunter in while I’m doing this, all while looking smug?“Hello, Amber,” I greet her while looking at her in the mirror. She crosses her arms and chuckles, shaking her head.“I knew you were dumb, but I didn’t think you were this dumb,” she says, s
-Leia-I won! I am back at work again, and everything is right with the world. Well, if you want to call co-workers staring at me and having continuous sex dreams about Mr. Grumpy Face winning; ugh, what the hell!After what happened in my bedroom, Christian has made himself even more scarce. There’s no hair or nail of him at the penthouse, and I’m starting to suspect he barely comes back. I mean, yeah, that kiss had all kinds of steam levels, but there’s no reason for him to stay away from his own home.Perhaps I should call him to clear the air. Aaaah, no, why should I be the one to clear the air when he was the one who kissed me?! But then again, I didn’t exactly stop him, did I?“No, you pushed into him and moaned like a hussy,” I grumble while drinking my cup of super-sweet coffee. “He probably thinks even worse of you now; you’ll go from Red to The Scarlet Woman.”“Is that so?” Christian’s voice behind me makes me nearly drop my coffee cup when I jump to my feet. He smirks when