A Proposal
1090 Words
Aria’s POV
I stared right into my phone, I was still in shock, probably he remembered me.
My fingers started shaking and my chest was quite heavy. The message was still there, it was plain and sharp.
Mr. Hawk would like to meet you today. In private.
Why?
Why now?
Yesterday, he looked at me like a stranger. Like I was dust on the floor. But now this?
I almost deleted the message.
But Noah’s cough echoed from the other room. He was burning up and his tiny hand held mine all night, he didn’t sleep and I didn't either.
I didn't have time to wonder why Killian Hawk wanted to see me.
I just needed help.
I immediately started dressing and I tied my hair back into a low bun. It’s messy, but neat enough. I pressed some powder to my cheeks to hide how tired I looked.
But my eyes still hollowed.
The bus was late again, I clutched my bag tightly to my body.
When I finally got to the tall building with all the glass and gold, I already felt like I didn't belong.
The woman at the front desk saw me.
Her face was stiff this time. There was no smile, there was no curiosity.
“This way,” she said flatly and she walked fast. I followed her past the marble floors, to the shiny elevators.
She pressed the button, but didn’t come inside with me.
“He is waiting,” she said, and then turned around like I was invisible.
The elevator doors closed and I was alone.
My reflection stared back at me from the mirrored walls. I looked pale, small and nervous and I breathed in and out.
When the doors opened, I stepped into silence.
I walked slowly and my shoes barely made a sound.
I lifted my hand to knock, but the door creaked open before I touched it.
He was there.
Killian Hawk.
Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows like some kind of king. The whole city was behind him, glittering like it’s bowing to him.
He wore a black suit. It fitted him perfectly, there was no tie. His sleeves rolled up just enough to show the expensive watch on his wrist.
He didn't look at me right away and I stood there, I didn't know if I should speak.
“Sit,” he said and his voice low, without turning around.
I walked over and sat across from him at a glass table. Same as yesterday. But this time there was no assistant. There was no coffee. It was just silence and heaviness in the air.
He finally turned and looked at me.
His eyes were colder than the wind outside.
Then he says it. Like it was nothing.
“I need a wife.”
I blinked. “What?”
He didn’t pause.
“Marry me,” he said. “For one year. No physical contact. No love. No strings. I will give you ten million dollars when the year is over.”
The words hit me like cold water and I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“Is this… some kind of joke?” I whispered.
He leaned back in his chair. He was calm, he was too calm.
“I don’t joke,” he said.
I shook my head. “Why? Why me?”
“You are quiet,” he said. “You need money. And you don’t ask too many questions. You are the type I need.”
I felt heat rise to my cheeks.
“That is disgusting,” I say. “You are treating me like… like I was just…”
“A deal,” he finished for me. “Yes. That’s what this is.
A contract. One year. You play your part, I will play mine. You get ten million dollars. You disappear. End of story.”
I stood up fast, my heart rang. “I’m not a thing you can buy, Mr. Hawk.”
He didn’t flinch. “Then walk out.”
My throat tightened and my fingers gripped the strap of my bag and I left.
I took the elevator back down and I walked fast, my eyes were burning. People passed me on the sidewalk, and I just kept going.
But that night, Noah didn’t wake up for dinner.
He was hot and his lips were dried and cracked. His chest moved fast when he breathed.
I screamed his name and shook him.
“Mommy,” he said weakly, his eyes barely open.
I called for a taxi and this time, the hospital let us in.
They ran a test, they put him in a small bed and machines beeped around him.
A doctor came in with a serious face.
“He needs surgery,” he said. “Soon. He doesn’t have much time.”
My voice was small. “How much will it cost?”
He told me.
It was more than I have ever seen. More than I have ever had.
My legs felt weak. I sat outside the hospital room, my hands were cold again. My phone was in my lap.
I stared at the screen.
The number was still there.
I didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice, I had no one else and I dialed it.
A man answers. “Yes?”
I closed my eyes.
“I will do it,” I whispered.
__
That night, a black car came for me.
It was sleek, and the kind that costs more than my entire life.
The driver didn't speak, he just opened the door and waited.
There was a dress in the back seat. Cream-colored silk. It was soft, elegant. I changed in silence, and I felt like I was wearing someone else’s life.
The car took me to a tall glass tower. It shune under the moonlight like a secret.
We rode the private elevator to the top.
The penthouse was quiet.
It has big windows, marble floors. There was no warmth, there was no clutter and everything was cold and perfect.
He was waiting again, by the window.
He turned slowly when I stepped in and his eyes landed on me like a blade.
Then he says, in a voice like ice…
“No lies, Aria. If you lie to me, this contract ends, and so does your life as you know it.”
My breath caught in my throat.
He was not just cold.
He was dangerous and I just signed my soul away.
- Writer
