Contracted to my Ex-husband’s Enemy

Chapter 7

Zoe bit her tongue the moment the words came out of her mouth.

She didn’t intend to say it, but Nathaniel’s reaction had been so infuriating, she felt compelled to reply.

First, it was the teasing, then the agreement, then disbelief and then warnings.

Would this man just choose something and figure out his emotions?!

There would be no way that she would show her emotions to him right now, because she was in a crazy mental state at the moment but ……

“Really?” Nathaniel’s voice cut into her thinking.

Zoe sighed inwardly.

He was back to disbelief.

Oh, Nathaniel Quest…. Was he the right ally for revenge?

Zoe shook her head.

Nathaniel was the only one who’d gone head to head with Emery in her last life and come out victorious each time.

If not that she joined the wrong faction ….

Hmmph!

There was no need to overthink it.

What is done is not done in her case!

The heavens gave her another chance to redeem herself.

Or maybe she was a nuisance in heaven in the few seconds she spent there, that they chose to send her back to earth.

Zoe chuckled inwardly at her thinking.

Nathaniel studied Zoe for longer than a minute, his eyes lingering on the way her lashes fluttered gently while she held her laughter.

Something shifted in his expression, subtle enough that Zoe almost missed it.

Yet, she could not explain it.

He picked up the folder.

He opened it.

She watched him read it.

He went through it slowly, methodically, in the way that made her veins threaten to burst out o her body and start crawling on her skin.

Zoe’s jaw tightened.

She had done due justice to this folder, everything on there was real and nothing exaggerated to make Nathaniel suspicious of her.

But, now, she regretted it seeing his eyebrows furrow as he tapped the second page, furtively.

Nathaniel might be suspicious of the exact locations, timestamps and projects, her highly detailed proposal is showing.

Was this what was called, ‘Shooting yourself in the foot?’

Her eyes gravitated towards his bushy eyebrows willing to heaven or whoever gave her this second chance to make Nathaniel gloss over this fact.

Page by page, nothing rushed.

His face gave nothing away.

Twice he stopped and went back to re-read something.

Once he set a page aside separately from the rest and placed it on the table between them.

When he finished, he closed the folder and set it down.

He was quiet for a moment.

Zoe forced herself to remain seated straight. She would not squirm.

That was for people below her position and with less experience than she did.

Nathaniel broke the uncomfortable silence.

"The Meridian board member," he began, a curious look settling on his sharp features.

"You have his name but not the account the payments went into?."

"I do not. But I know the payments were made the third week of every month for the past eight months. I know because Emery's schedule changed during those months. He took calls on evenings that he always dodged. I can tell you that it’s Thursdays. Your people can find the account from there."

Nathaniel looked at her.

"The shell company in Indonesia" he began

"You have the registration documents here but they're not from this year. Do you know if it's still active?"

Zoe nodded, clasping her hands together, "As of four months ago, yes. He made a comment at dinner about a transfer that thankfully skipped the authorities. I don’t think he knew that I was paying attention.”

Another silence.

"The Indonesia situation," Nathaniel said. "The name you mentioned. You're certain?"

"I heard the phone call, I was on the other side of a door he thought was closed. I have a very good memory." Zoe lied through her teeth.

She could not possible say she had the most harrowing experience of her life and was here with a different path to pay it forward.

Nathaniel leaned back in his chair.

He looked at her with an expression she could not fully read, something between calculation and something else she did not want to name yet.

"What are your specific terms?" he asked.

Zoe felt something in her chest settle. He was not agreeing, but he was negotiating, and negotiation meant the door was open.

“I meant what I said, earlier, Mr. Quest. I want you to marry me. My groom changes but my wedding does not.”

Nathaniel tease disappeared replaced by a serious look. He mirrored her clasping of hands on the knee, moving forward towards her.

“You are serious?.”

He gave a short and cold snort, “ Emery Landon’s fiancee is serious.”

Zoe ignored the barb in his words.

"A contract marriage that is public enough that it creates distance between me and Emery and gives me protection while the operation runs.

You do not touch me. We maintain appearances in public and live separately in private if you prefer. When it is over, we dissolve it quietly and go our separate ways. No claims on either side."

"And your definition of over?"

"When Emery has nothing left. Not the company, not the reputation, not even his name."

Her voice was steady and her eyes unflinching

"I want him to lose everything he valued more than his own family. When that is done, we are done."

Nathaniel was quiet for a moment.

"You've thought about this carefully," he said.

"I have had time to think."

"And if I say no?"

“You already agreed and I believe that your word holds your bond. Especially for someone who didn’t care about signing a written contract.”

"However, if you decide to go back on your word, then I leave and find another way." She picked up her bag and set it in her lap, unhurried.

Her eyes twitched knowing she’d just pulled one of the biggest ways to convince a businessman.

Flatter his ego, brush him with compliments, then go back to the original statement.

She’d seen Emery do it for so many people when he didn’t want to grovel and it worked eighty percent of the time.

"But you won't say no. You have been trying to do this for three years and what is in that folder gets you further than anything your people have found. You have gone too far to walk away from that because the source makes you uncomfortable."

Something moved across his face again.

This time Zoe was almost certain it was amusement, even though it did not reach his mouth like the other times.

Nathaniel chuckled, his eyes gravitating downward to the now opened folder in front of him.

“I’m pretty sure all I did was ask you if you wanted water.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t call every lady, darling, Mr. Quest” Zoe retorted sharply.

Her heart hammered against her chest.

If she wanted to crush Emery and make him lick from the ground every bite of pain he made her suffer through, then she needed this man sitting opposite her with amusement in his eyes.

She inhaled deeply, pinching her thigh to remind herself one thing.

Desperation must not show on her face.

Zoe imitated her father’s scowl whenever he was disappointed at one of the directors at the office and directed it at Nathaniel.

“Now that you know I’m not joking around Mr. Quest. Will you marry me?”