Contract
1663 Words
Ariella
I was done for!
Leroy really meant it when he said I’ll be leaving with nothing. Barely two hours since he left Grandma Susan’s house and he has already frozen my major accounts where he deposited money. Before that, he took away my car keys, my bank cards, grabbed the Birkin bag, and left with it.
If he could strip me of the cloth I was wearing, he would.
I pushed my hands into my hair, frustration needling at me as I stared into my wallet. I had only $500 and a handful of coins, and a few scattered cents that wouldn't get me anywhere. How was I supposed to survive on this?
I was dumb. I should have fought for Alimony. Stood my ground and did not leer at him like a fool as he carted away with my things.
Now I was stranded. No house. No friend’s apartment to even crash into.
“You’re pathetic and—”
The rest of the words sank in my throat, panic flaring in my chest when I heard the rev of a car’s engine. A sound I will never mistake from afar. A black Lamborghini Huracán. Ryker’s car.
With the whip of my head, I covered my face with my hand as he sped past me, the Lamborghini roaring through the bus stop
Relieved that he didn't notice me, I heaved a sigh only for my joy to be short-lived.
Matcha sloshed in my stomach as the Lamborghini reversed, stopping beside me.
There was no escaping him.
The glasses rolled down, revealing Ryker whose jet black hair seemed glossier in the sun, face cut out of perfection as his penetrating gaze singed into me.
“Get in the car, Ariella,” he called my name again with that deep voice made from steel.
I forced a smile onto my face, the shame from me kissing him heating my cheeks. “Thank you for the offer but I’m waiting for a friend,” I lied.
His lips curled into that slow smile. That smile that always made it look like he could actually read through me.
“Is that so?”
With that cheeky smile still plastered on my face, I nodded. “Yes. Run along. We’ll meet again another time,”
I hoped not. I truly hoped not. With how I planned to vanish without a trace, there wouldn't be ‘another time.’
Ryker returned my smile, stared at me for a second, and smirked with his hand resting casually on the rolled-down window frame. “Ariella…” he called me like a silent warning. “If you don't get in the car, I will put a call to Leroy right now and tell him you’re pregnant,”
My heart slowed to a grinding halt, eyes popping wide in shock. “How do you know I’m pregnant?”
Ryker shook his head, reached for something beside him and when he raised it, a scream almost escaped me.
It was the envelope containing the pregnancy test results I intended to show Leroy until he flipped my whole life and showed me his true self.
Ryker’s gaze narrowed on me. “I won't repeat myself. Get in the car,”
I glanced back and forth at the phone he twirled between his fingers and the envelope he gripped, almost bouncing on the balls of my feet. If Leroy knew I was pregnant, he would definitely lock me up and the pack house would become my prison.
“f**k!” I cussed under my breath.
Ryker drove to a Cafe and while I sipped my coffee, an influx of thoughts coursed through my mind. Why would he ask me to get in the car? Was he about to grill me or threaten to sue me for kissing him?
The nerves in my stomach tightened as I glanced up at him, only to find him—jaw in his palm—watching me with that familiar dark interest.
I cleared my throat, my voice slicing through the silence between us. “Ummm, thank you for the food. Since I’m done here, I will take my leave,”
“Sit your ass back on the chair, Ariella,”
His voice carried a raw and chilling authority that glued me back to my seat.
The expression on his face had now shifted into something impassive as he slanted his head, studying my face. “What’s going on between you and Leroy?”
I didn't think twice. Answered him straight away like he’d cast a spell on me. He was intimidating.
“We are getting divorced. He cheated on me with King…”
Before I could finish, he said. “—With Zaden. The Lycan King,”
My eyes fluttered. “How do you know”
Ryker shrugged. “Because they are exes and even though Leroy and I aren't close, he’s still my brother,”
My jaw almost dropped to the floor. Zaden and Leroy were exes? What the actual f**k?
“So y'all knew he was gay?”
“BI-s****l,” Ryker corrected.
“You know so much for someone who claims he isn't close with his brother,”
A strange light sparked in Ryker’s eyes accompanied by something dark. “Maybe I do,” he took a sip of his coffee, eyes locked on me over the rim.
Ryker Ashford—Half-brother to my soon-to-be ex-husband.
Same mother. Different fathers. His mum had him when she was eighteen and had abandoned him with Grandma Susan.
He was raised by his dad and his grandmum, and his relationship with his mum was sour so it was no wonder that he never got along with Leroy. Their mum made sure of that.
“Enough talk about Leroy and his sexuality. I brought you here to discuss something important,”
I tilted my head—momentarily stunned that he had something important to say to me. All the time I have known him, if he wasn’t flirting with me, he was teasing me and using me to annoy his brother.
“Do you even have a place to stay,”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t have a place to stay but I would look for a shelter around and apply for jobs and…”
Ryker interrupted, tone clipped. “There wouldn’t be a need for that. Let’s strike a deal,”
My brows furrowed. “Deal?”
“What deal?”
“A marriage deal. Marry me, Ariella,”
I almost choked on the coffee I was sipping. “What!”
What the actual f**k.
“Are you doing this because I kissed you and you are looking for a way to get back at me,”
That glow of mischief returned to his eyes. “Partially,”
Before I could suck in a gasp, he said. “Before you get into your head. It is a contract marriage. You get something out of this and I get something out of it,”
I squirmed in my seat, leaning in. “By something. You mean s*x?”
Ryker leaned forward too, taking the full weight of my gaze. “Do you want us to have s*x?”
My heart slammed against my ribcage—hard enough to bruise my ribs. “No. Why would anyone want to have s*x with his brother’s pregnant wife?” My cheeks had already turned red.
That smile again!
“Not when she has become my wife,”
This time I choked on my coffee while he laughed. “Jokes apart. The contract marriage comes with a lot of benefits. You get to get back at that douchebag, Leroy. He would lose his mind seeing us together,”
Fresh anger coursed through me when I remembered what had happened last night and all the horrible things he said to me. I really wanted to get back at him.
“I will also take care of the baby you are carrying. However note—” something in his tone shifted. “—the moment you sign that contract, the baby becomes mine. Meaning that I’m the father. The marriage contract should last for a year or two,”
My pupils dilated. Why did I have this feeling that he was teasing me like always?
“You’re playing with me?” I squinted my eyes at him suspiciously.
“Does it look like I am? Perhaps I should show you how serious this is,”
He removed the phone from his pocket, swiped, and in barely one minute, my phone pinged with a notification. “Check it,”
I raised a brow, nearly dropping my phone from the five-figure credit alert that stared back at me. “$60,000!”
I didn’t even care to ask how he got my account details.
“Is that good for a start?”
I wiped off that doubt that lingered on my face. “More than. I’m up for whatever this is,”
“Good girl,”
I was still in a daze. It was almost as if I was dreaming.
“So, what’s in it for you? Because I know you are not helping me out of your good heart,”
Ryker dipped his fries into the ranch, eyes cutting to mine. “You are one smart woman. I need to get someone off my back,”
“She is the daughter of my father’s friend and I’m being forced to marry her. If I don’t settle down with her, I would be at risk of losing a lot of things. So, when I saw the pregnancy test result and figured out you were running from Leroy, I knew you were perfect for this,”
“If they find out that I’ve impregnated a woman outside. Perhaps they'll finally let me be,”
They? I thought he said it was just his dad pressuring him.
“So, do we have a deal, Ariella?”
“Deal.”
- Writer
