Chapter 7:The Price of a promise

Chapter 7: The Price of a Promise

The courthouse doors opened. Leo Blackwood stepped out first, his expression as unreadable as it had been all morning.

Clara followed a few steps behind, clutching the certified copy of their marriage certificate. The afternoon breeze lifted loose strands of her hair; she barely noticed. Minutes ago she'd become the legal wife of a man she'd met for the first time that same morning, and the fact of it hadn't caught up to her yet — it sat somewhere just behind her thoughts, too large to look at directly.

Daniel walked beside them, sliding the last of the documents back into his leather folder. For a while none of them spoke. The silence wasn't uncomfortable so much as it was new — the particular quiet of three people who'd just done something none of them had a script for.

They stopped at the foot of the courthouse steps.

"Our agreement isn't complete yet," Leo said.

Clara looked up. "What do you mean?"

"The payment."

Her brow furrowed. "You were serious about that?"

"I don't make promises I don't intend to keep."

Daniel took out his phone. "Miss Clara, may I have your account number?"

She hesitated. "You don't have to pay me today."

Leo's gaze didn't waver. "That wasn't our agreement."

Clara lowered her eyes and recited the number slowly. Daniel entered it with care, then turned the screen for Leo to confirm.

Leo gave a single nod. "Transfer it."

A few seconds passed. Then Clara's phone buzzed in her hand.

Credit Alert

₦2,000,000.00

Her breath caught. The money was already sitting in her account, real and undeniable, and she found herself staring at the number like it might rearrange itself into something she understood better.

Leo noticed her go still. "Is something wrong?"

Her grip tightened around the phone. "It's too much."

"It's the amount we agreed on."

"I agreed because I didn't have a choice." She shook her head, her voice dropping softer. "I'm not selling myself, Mr. Blackwood."

The words sat between them for a moment before he answered.

"No," he said, calm and certain. "You're not. This isn't a price. It's compensation — for helping me fulfill an obligation I couldn't fulfill on my own."

Clara searched his face for the mockery she half-expected to find there and came up empty. No arrogance either. Just the same stillness she was starting to recognize as his. For the first time since the money had landed, she let herself accept it without the shame that had been sitting in her chest a moment before.

Daniel cleared his throat gently. "One last thing." He handed her a copy of the marriage certificate. "Keep this somewhere safe."

"I will."

"You should also exchange numbers," Daniel added.

Leo unlocked his phone and passed it to her. Clara typed her number in and handed it back; a moment later her own phone buzzed with a new contact.

Leo Blackwood.

"I saved yours too," she said.

Leo slid his phone back into his pocket. "If anything comes up related to the arrangement — call me."

Clara managed a faint smile. "I don't think I'll need to."

"I hope you won't."

A taxi pulled up to the curb. Clara adjusted the strap of her backpack and looked at the man who was, by law now, her husband.

"Thank you," she said.

Leo inclined his head, and she climbed into the taxi without another word.

As it pulled away, she looked down at the certificate resting in her lap. A few hours ago she'd been a woman running for her freedom. Now she was carrying proof that her life had changed in a way she hadn't fully begun to understand yet.

"This is only temporary," she whispered to herself, watching the courthouse shrink into the distance behind her.

She didn't yet know how much weight that one word would end up carrying.