BUSINESS TRILOGY

Chapter 8

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I say, after a second of silence.

"I need you to marry me," he says, irritably.

"Your joking?" I chuckle humorlessly

"Do I look like I'm joking?" he deadpanned, a serious look plastered on his face.

"Well if you're seriously being serious then I decline your proposal sir." I smile, trying to change the tense mood.

"It's only for a year, and my lawyers will have it annulled so it'll be like it was never there," He urges.

"It'll always be here." I say, pointing at my head.

"I need you to understand, if you agree Mr Russo will give me control of his business in America." he looked desperate.

"Is there no other way to get control of this business?" I ask, he shakes his head. We sit there in tense silence whilst I thought.

"So we would be in a 'relationship'?" I question, holding up my fingers to put speech marks around 'relationship'.

"It's not relationship it's a business deal." He spat coldly. Shivers run down my spine at how quickly his mood changed. My eyes unintentionally widened.

"What would I get?" I ask after a long pause.

"If you agree, you will receive a penthouse, a car of your choice straight away and 20 million dollars at the end of the marriage." he said monotonously "Which is more than enough for you to start that business of yours." he smirked slyly.

20 million dollars would be more than enough to start a business. It could boost me into the top businesses. I examined him, he was definitely gorgeous and he was the ideal husband on paper. Except the fact that he has zero personality.

"It's only for a year?" I double check.

"After 365 days you can continue with your life." he responds.

"But what if I was romantically involved with somebody," I ask.

"Then you've got to decide which is more important, your boyfriend or your dream." he guilt trips me.

"He's not really my boyfriend, we've been on like one date." I accidentally blurt out.

"You've got your answer then." he shrugs.

"Can I give you an answer tomorrow?" I ask, still really unsure. He nods and I quickly exit and return to my office.

After a few hours of work I go to lunch with Jodie. I sit opposite her and just drink some water, since my hunger was gone now.

"What's happening? I haven't spoken to you since you went to that party as Mr King's date."

"Can I tell you something, promise you won't tell anyone?" I urge, desperate to tell someone.

"Girl...spill the tea." she says, her eyes sparkle with excitement about the gossip.

"When Xavier took me to the party, I had to pretend to be his fiance," Jodie raises her eyebrow but she lets me continue. "And now in order to secure a really really big deal, he wants me to marry him."

Her jaw drops. "What is wrong with you?"

"But if I say yes I get a house, a car and 20 million dollars," I say.

"Say yes," Jodie replies immediately. I roll my eyes but smile at her response.

"20 million dollars is a lot of money, you can make some serious investments, buy a house. Actually you don't even need to buy a house because he's going to give you one." She spoke logically.

I thought about what she said, I could make some serious investments.

When lunch was over I went back to my office to see an email from Xavier, saying that he had left for work on the other side of the city so I could leave and go home.

I took a cab home and decided to calm down until Jasmine got home. I took a warm bath and had a nap.

When Jasmine arrives home I pull her down onto the couch. She trips backwards and grunts before straightening herself.

"What is so important that you almost pulled my arm off." She says, facing me.

"Okay so I'm going to tell you, but you have to promise not to freak out," I said.

"No promises," she said, sipping on some water.

I took a deep breath and told her everything that happened. Next thing I know I'm covered in the water that she spits out on my face.

"What??" She exclaimed, "And your seriously considering this?"

"Imagine, I could finally start Eva Enterprises," I say softly. Eva was my mum's name, and I always knew I would name my company after her.

She paused for a minute, knowing that this was extremely important to me, "Alright sister do what you want, I will fully support you only if I get to be the maid of honour." She smiled.

I don't know why, but the idea of me marrying Xavier wasn't bothering me as much as I thought it would. Even though he was a complete d**k.

I was about to go to sleep when I received a text from Jayden.

Hey, wanna meet up in the weekend?

I groan at the text, knowing I'm going to have to break the news to him. I reply before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Yeah I have to tell you something

The next morning I quickly get ready, not really caring how I look. I threw my hair into a messy bun and just wore an all black outfit.

I get Jasmine to drive me to work knowing that, because of all the stress in my head right now, I'd probably walk into the road if I decided to walk.

I wanted to be quick and tell Xavier before I changed my mind, I needed this opportunity and was lucky enough that it was coming to me.

I made him his coffee and went straight to his office, determined. I knocked the door and waited for him to open it.

He gestured for me to sit down before asking, "Have you made up your mind yet, Miss Davis?"

"I have sir," I say "I have decided to agree to your deal."

A victory smirk appears on Xavier's face, as if he knew that I was going to say yes anyway. Confirming my doubt, he pulls out a marriage contract from his desk drawer.

"Read through this and returned it signed by lunch." He orders, I nod and leave his office.

When I get to my office I go through the contract, reading the terms.

1. Amelia Davis will be known as Amelia King from after the wedding takes place.

2. She will no longer work at Kings Corp.

3. She will live with Xavier King

And more bullshit like that.

I take the contract to his office and after going inside decide to negotiate the terms.

"I have a couple of my own terms Mr. King." I say.

"Go on." He nods

"Even after we are married, I would like to remain Amelia Davis." I say.

"No can do, you are to be my wife, you will take my name."

"If I don't get to keep my name, I'm not marrying you." I say,

"What if you were Amelia Davis-King," he suggests.

"That sounds like the ugliest name ever, I'll just use King then." I say, annoyed. Once again Xavier had that stupid victory smirk on his face.

"Amelia King," the name flowed out his mouth and never has my name ever sounded so sexy before.

"And I want to continue working here." I say.

His face turns cold, and I instantly knew this was something that I couldn't argue about. "No." He says.

"But-"

"No, I am not having my wife work, real or not." He says. I roll my eyes at his stupid mind-set.

"But-"

"No."

"Fine," I shrug, I would just chill at home planning my business, benefits me more.

"So are we done here?" He says, quite rudely.

"Yeah I guess." I say as we both sign the contract.

"I will come talk to you later about this, and it goes without saying, don't tell anyone that it's fake." He says as I leave.

"Of course."

"And from tomorrow, wear your ring to work." He says and I nod.

Let's get married...

Chapter 11

AMELIA POV

After I left Xavier's office, I walked back to mine and sat down to finally do some work. After about a couple hours, it was lunch and I was going to walk to the canteen when Xavier walked to my office.

"Are you hungry Lia?" he asked softly.

"I was actually about to go to the canteen," I say, turning off my laptop.

"Join me for lunch, I have a few colleges I need to introduce you to," he says.

"Umm..okay I guess?" I reply.I throw a piece of paper into the bin and feel Xavier's eyes linger on me.

"Where's your ring?" he asks.

"Shit.." I mumble to myself "I was in such a rush this morning that I forgot to put it on."

"It's okay," Xavier says quietly "We'll stop by your house on the way." I nod and put my burgundy teddy bear coat on.

As we reach the ground floor, where most of my colleagues are, I feel Xavier grab my hand into his. I try to wriggle them out but his grip on them is strong. He finally lets go when we're both seated in his car.

"What was the need to hold my hand?" I whipser/shout.

"People need to know we're 'together' " he says.

"Don't they know we're engaged?"

"Yeah cuz they can see the ring on your finger right?" he says sarcastically. A small smile appears on my face, I couldn't help but find that comment funny.

The ride was short to my house, mostly because Xavier was riding so fast. I go inside and slip on my ring. It was just sitting on the table next to my bed. I was about to walk out when I saw something peek out of Jasmine's closet.

It was the royal blue dress she wore the other day. It was much classier than the pants and top I was wearing so I quickly changed.

It was figure hugging but not tight and I paired it with a sliver choker and kept on my studs. I didn't wear heels because I looked atrocious walking in them. I slipped on white flats and ran out the house.

Xavier sat there bored in the car until the sound of me opening the door pulled him out of his trance.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, I was just making myself look more presentable," I say smoothing down my dress.

"I noticed." He says monotonously. I roll my eyes at how boring he was.

When we arrived Xavier parked the car and sat there for a moment.

"Are we not going?" I ask.

"Lia, I need you to act professionally infront of my colleagues. No sarcasm," He says, as if he's my mom.

"I can be professional," I say, I was a little offended but didn't want to piss him off.

He nods as he gets out the car and opens the door for me. Before I was even fully stood up he wraps his arm around my waist as we walk into a a quaint restaurant.

We both sat down and settled into a corner table. We had arrived there before these colleagues and so I decided to just peer through the menu.

"Oh my god!" I said, a little louder than expected.

"What's wrong?" Xavier asked with a slight worry.

"This restaurant is so small and cosy but the dishes are like 100 dollars each." I whispered.

A mocking smile appeared on Xavier's face, but before he could say anything the people we were to meet with walked into the restaurant.

We both stood up and greeted them. They were a young couple, both had icy blonde hair but the girl had electric blue eyes.

They sat down in front of us and we made small talk until a waitress came to take our order.