A CONTRACT BRIDE

CHAPTER FIVE

Mr heights stood there, holding my dad's hands and a disgusted look on his face. "How dare you treat a woman like that?" I could feel the anger in those words.

My Stepdad tried to pull his hands free but he wasn't strong enough. "Get away from here and let me go. This is family business."

Mr Heights looked at me as if to confirm if what he said was true but I was tired of letting him claim to be a part of our family when he clearly wasn't. I shook my head and the next thing I know, Mr Heights pulled my Stepdad with so much force, he landed a few feet away from me.

The crowds gathered let out a sound but they wouldn't interfere. I heard the sound of my father's cries for help but he didn't have good friends to help him. All just watched as he was trashed.

I suddenly saw my mother run into view, surprise on her face.

" Please leave him, he is my husband. He was just angry." She cried out as she crawled on her knees towards where Mr heights stood and held unto his legs.

The look in his eyes was nothing short of angry.

"He was about to beat you and your daughter to death" he said.

"He would have stopped eventually" she said and I almost face palmed. How blind could my mother get?

Mr Heights gave my Stepdad a last look before he left him squirming on the ground and walked up to me.

He stretched forth his hand and I held on to it, pulling myself from the ground.

"My car's over there, let's go get you cleaned up." I was so stubbed to object. I could only follow him without saying a word.

I got in the car and the plush leather almost made me melt into the chair as I breathed in the artificial air that somehow did beautiful things to my insides.The entire interior was a dark red, perhaps wine, every single chair coated in a velvety gold one stripe coat. I managed to form words from my mouth.

"Mr heights, I'm sorry but what are you doing here?" I asked.

My words were incoherent and I found it hard to place my sentences. It was not everyday that the boss of my company showed up to help me stop getting beaten.

"What were you doing in my house?" I asked him slowly.

He didn't answer, just kept on driving till we got to the front of a clinic. Mr Heights turned off the ignition and unbuckled his seat belt.

"Come with me." He said.

I did what he asked with a blank mind. What have I suddenly gotten myself into.

The interior of the clinic wasn't big at all. Like a room with just a bed and a wardrobe that seemed to have drugs and tools rather than clothes. A woman was sitting on a chair when we got in and she immediately stood up when she saw Mr Heights.

"What are you doing here." She asked, surprise on her face and I raised my brows a little high at the lack of formalities.

"Nice to see you too, Bianca. I need you to help me clean her up while I go get something for her to eat." Mr Heights said as the woman finally turned to me, acknowledging my presence.

She looked at me from head to toe then back at Mr Heights with a scrutinized gaze. He only smiled at her before he turned and left the room.

Bianca gently moved me to the bed, telling me to sit while she opened the wardrobe and pulled out a few things from it.

No one said a word as she cleaned up my wounds. Only a few muttered sorrys whenever I winced in pain.

The moment she placed the last plaster on my face, Mr Heights walked in with a pack in his hands.

Bianca gave him another look, causing me to be curious at to what exactly was going on between them, before she walked out. Leaving me alone with my boss.

He pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat. He held out the pack in his hand, giving it to me. "Eat." He said.

Maybe it was because of the drugs of maybe I was just too famished to say no, I opened the pack to see a burger and fries in it. I growned internally as I took a bite.

"Explain what happened." Mr Heights' voice snapped me out of my daze.

He had just helped me, taken care of me and gotten me food. I couldn't possibly lie at the whole situation so I told him everything.

About my mom, my sister, why my mom had to marry my Stepdad just because he promised he'd help us, my works. Everything.

When I finally finished, he was still staring at me with a blank look.

Did he ever smile?

"Am I fired?" I asked him, the one question that bothered me since I left his office that morning.

"That should be the least it your worries. And it all depends on how you look at it. I want to propose an offer." he said.

I sat up straight now, my interest already piqued as I looked at him. "What do I have to do?" I asked him.

He sighed, as though he was trying to contemplate how to put his words.

"The girl you met today is being forced on me. Her parents wants her to be my bride. I told them that I already have a woman that I love and will be getting married to in the next two days" he said.

I could still not piece his words together. I failed to see how any of these concerned me.

"And what am I supposed to do? Do you need me to help clean up after her?" I asked.

"No, I'm asking that you pretend to be my bride." He said.

I paused, thoughts frozen as I tried to see if he would burst out laughing. If this was some sort of prank that I had not quite pieced together yet.

"How is that even possible?" I asked him.

"I'm proposing a contract marriage. I get married to you and you get married to me, for the duration of two years, enough to get her parents off of my back. And then, you can go where you want.

I will pay you 10 million dollars" he said.

Everything he said, every single thing seemed to fly right out of my head as I heard the amount he was mentioning.

It was almost fishy, almost as though he had other plans that I did not know about.

"Just that? I don't have to do anything?" I asked him .

He shook his head.

"I am going to draft a contract for you, all you have to do is sign the contract. You can state what you want and what you don't want and that will be fully followed for the duration of the two years you will spend with me. And we will get married in two days.

So what do you say?" He asked.

My sister. My ratty house that needed to be changed. My mother's business that was suffering. I clenched my teeth in between my tongue, heart racing at my answer.

"Yes. I will marry you.”