Signed In Secrets

Chapter 4

Amelia

I stared at the contract in my hands, my vision blurring at the edges. The words didn’t change, no matter how many times I reread them. The ink didn’t smudge, didn’t twist into something less damning.

Marriage.

I had signed a marriage contract.

My breath caught, and I let the papers fall as if they'd scalded my fingers. My fists clenched in my lap as a searing, sinking sensation settled in my stomach. This wasn't a dream. I wasn't going to wake up in my small apartment with Maya pounding on my door, begging for coffee.

This was real.

Eleanor had believed I was Ethan's wife. She'd looked at me with such warmth, such happiness. I'd hardly said two words to her, and she already loved me.

And Ethan…

I gritted my teeth, pushing my palms into my forehead. His face appeared in front of me—the way he had laid everything out, so detached, like it wasn't my life. He had just changed forever. No guilt. No remorse. Just facts, like this was some unavoidable truth I was supposed to deduce on my own.

My stomach churned.

I had to get out of this room.

I pushed the contract aside and rose, pacing. The walls were too tall, the room too large. Despite its opulence, it was suffocating. I had to have air, something I was familiar with.

Maya.

I grabbed my coat and slipped out of the house quietly, calling a cab to the café where Maya and I always met. The ride was a blur, my heart pounding so hard it seemed to reverberate in my ears.

My brain reeled with each passing second in the Sinclair mansion—the coldness of Ethan's demeanor, the radiance of Eleanor's assurance, the creeping sense that my life had been hijacked without warning.

When I came in, Maya was already waiting, drumming her fingers impatiently on the table. She smiled when she saw me, but quickly dropped it when she saw my face.

"Okay." She sat up straight. "What happened?"

I sat, holding my coffee cup so that my hands wouldn't tremble. The heat from the cup hardly registered when I took a trembling breath. "It isn't work, Maya," I whispered to her. "It's a wedding."

Maya blinked. "What?"

"The contract," I repeated, biting my lips to keep them from trembling. "I wasn't aware. His grandmother thinks we're wed." I forced the words out, laden with the weight that dropped between us. "He lied to me."

She looked at me as if I had just grown a second head. "Wait, what? What are you saying, married?"

I exhaled suddenly, and the words spouted out like a torrent that I could not repress.

"Ethan told me it was a caretaker position," I continued. "He made it seem like he simply took care of his grandmother, Eleanor, and the salary was okay. And then… and then I find out that his grandmother thinks we are wedded. And—" I couldn't manage to get out the final word, my throat constricting. "And I signed it. "I signed a document that I did not read, not knowing what precisely it was saying."

And now I'm stuck.

Maya's eyes widened in shock, her hand reaching out to touch mine as though anchoring me. "You didn't read it? Amelia, you always read things! "How did you?" She stopped, gazing at my face, and the anger seeped from hers. "You were desperate. I know. But this." Her voice trailed off, not knowing what to say.

I nodded, my throat dry. "I needed the job." I needed the money, Maya. When you spoke about the caretaker job, it felt like a blessing. "But this… " I paused, gazing at the table, the truth of it all sinking in. "Now I don't know what to do. He did not even tell me the whole truth. He manipulated me."

Maya drew a stern breath, her face reddening in indignation. "So this wealthy guy, Ethan Sinclair, had you sign a marriage contract—without your knowledge, no less? "And his grandmother believes you're his wife?" She was yelling with each sentence, her outrage evident. "This is crazy. Amelia, you have to do something."

I gulped. "I don't even know what to say to him. What do you do? What do you say to someone who just flipped your whole world like that?"

Maya stared at me for a while, her lips compressed into a thin line. Then she reached for her coffee, her eyes blazing. "You want answers. You tell him what he did was wrong, that he had no right to bring you into this mess."

I bit my lip, my head spinning. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps running wasn't the solution.

Maya wouldn't have missed an expression change on me, since her face softened. She leaned across the table, curling her fingers around mine. "Hey," she said more softly now. "You okay?"

I blinked hard, looking away. Was I?

No.

But what option did I have? I nodded nonetheless.

"I don't have an out, Maya. I signed the contract. And Eleanor…" I shook my head, my voice breaking. Eleanor is so sweet. She's already begun to trust me, to think of me as a member of her family. "I can't—" I halted, my throat constricting. "I can't just leave her. Not like this."

Maya's hand clenched, her fingers warm against mine. "Okay, okay, I get it." But you cannot let this man walk all over you. If you're going to be stuck in this deal, you have to get the truth out of him. If he's going to pretend to be your husband, then he has to understand what that is. You're not some fill-in for his life, Amelia. Not like that."

I breathed deeply, attempting to ground myself. "But what if he's still cold? Distant? What if he just shuts me down again?" My brain couldn't help but return to Ethan's face when he'd told me everything—how serene he'd been, as if my feelings weren't important.

"It's just business," he'd said, as if I had no control over what occurred in my own life.

Maya raised an eyebrow, a spark of determination in her eyes. "Then you push him further. You make him realize you're not going to be his puppet. You're going to make him realize you're worth respecting. And if he can't handle that, then you walk away. But you don't stand for disrespect."

I met her gaze, and for the first time in what felt like days, a flame of resolve burned within me. It wasn't just about me now. It was about Eleanor, too. She deserved more than a fake marriage, a love based on lies. "All right," I said, my voice becoming more determined.

"I'll do it. I'll go back, and I'll talk to him. "I'm not going to allow him to choose my destiny for me".

Maya clasped her fingers firmly around my hand, smiling widely and reassuringly. "Good. And I'll be right there with you, step by step. You're not on your own." I nodded, the impact of her words sinking in.

It didn't make everything right, but it provided me with the strength to push through whatever came next.

Whatever it took, I wouldn't be a bystander to my own life.