Chapter3
890 Words
Lauren’s POV
I do not want to do that, I said to myself, looking at the cold silver pen on the table.
You must, said Mason and he did not look at me. Simply sign it and get this over with.
We were at this little government office in London - no flowers, no music, no family. White boring walls, an uninterested registrar, and a load of papers that would bind us together forever. It was not like a wedding; it was a cold business deal.
Mason signed first. His hand didn’t even shake. He didn’t pause or hesitate. He merely bent forward and wrote his name in a clean and sharp line and stood back.
Like it mattered at all.
My fingers were shivering so much that on my turn, I could not control the pen, but it fell out of my hand and hit the table with a bang.
The registrar looked at me wearily. “Miss Aaron, please.”
Mason sighed. “Lauren, just sign it.”
I am trying, I said, cracking my voice.
For a moment, my vision dimmed. I had to gasp, I had to make my fingers take the pen back in their grip. I wrote my name in slow agony. Not neatly. Not confidently. But enough.
That is it then, stamping the papers, the registrar said. “You are legally married.”
Married. The name rang in me, and it was thick and unnatural.
Mason didn’t look at me. Not once.
His penthouse was like a glass and stone world. Huge windows, smooth floor, all sharp and flawless- none of my little bookshop.
I was standing close to the door with my bag. “This is your home?”
It is our home now, he said flatly. At least up until you prove yourself.
He passed by me and unbuttoned his tie. He didn’t look tired. He looked annoyed.
I know you do not want this, I said to myself. Yet you continue to play that I selected it.
He turned around, eyes cold. I do it like I am supposed to clean up a mess.
A sting shot through my chest. “I’m not a mess.”
“You’re unprepared,” he said. “You’re fragile. You panic at everything. What are you expected to do to people such as Celia and Victor?
My eyes burned. Why do you reckon I am doing this easily? Do you think I want any of it? You are not the only one, trapped, Mason!
His jaw tightened. We did not say anything at first. It was too still in the room, too sharp.
We need not like each other, finally, he said. But we must both work together.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The fact that something warm and confusing was at my chest caused me to say we.
I never wished to have any feeling for him.
And that was something that frightened me.
The following day, I trailed Mason to the boardroom, where I had my first official meeting. My hands were cold. My stomach twisted.
Celia grinned at me as a cat does at a mouse. “Good morning, Mrs Oscar. I wish you had your brain today.
Victor chuckled. And how soon will she disintegrate?
My throat tightened.
The meeting broke and they attacked me directly.
A stack of papers was slid towards me by Celia. “These figures are wrong. Did you even read them?”
I--I did not prepare that, I stuttered.
“Oh? But look.” She held up a document. My signature was on it.
Except... it wasn’t.
“I didn’t sign that,” I whispered.
Victor smirked. “Of course you did. Stop lying.”
My head spun. Sweat gathered on my palms. Each query they put to me was a blow.
“What’s the profit margin in Q4?”
What do you intend to do about international expansion?
What do you mean by missing pages in these files?
I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything.
At the conclusion of the meeting, I could hardly stand on my legs. Before they could catch me weeping, I dashed out.
It was in the passage where I was trying to breathe when I caught the voice of Mason.
You think I am not onto your games?
Celia scoffed. “We’re only showing her limits.”
She does not require you to demonstrate something to her, Mason said rudely. “She’s new. And you play with papers instead of assisting her?
Victor growled, “She’s weak. She’ll ruin this company.”
With a great bang, Mason tossed the files that he had modified on the table.
You touch my wife one more time, any of you--you attempt to humiliate her, to cripple her work--then you will be answerable to me.
My breath caught.
My wife.
He pronounced it as it had a meaning.
I withdrew promptly before he noticed that I was eavesdropping. I caught the elevator, and this time my heart was still racing, but it was not fear; it was my bewilderment. Is Mason protecting me? Mason yelling for me? None of it made sense.
The doors started closing down, and as they did so, a person, who was next to the elevator, said; She will not make it through the week.
My blood turned cold.
- Writer
