Chapter Seven: Tangled Promises
1067 Words
Maria’s POV
“Marry me.”
The words echoed in my ears like a cruel joke tossed into the wind.
I stared at Andrew, his face carved in its usual mask of arrogance, but this time there was something else there—urgency. Desperation, maybe. I didn’t know what stunned me more: the proposal or the fact that I was actually considering it.
“I—what?” My voice cracked, too weak to carry the weight of his words.
“You heard me,” he said, his tone flat, but his eyes locked on mine. “Six months. Just six. We get married, look the part, and then we go our separate ways.”
I blinked at him, stunned.
A laugh bubbled from my throat, dry and bitter. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“Possibly,” he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. Then he fixed me with that steely gaze again. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about survival. Yours and mine.”
He pulled out a chair and sank into it. “I need this deal, Maria. And you… you need a lifeline.”
“You’re not a lifeline,” I snapped.
“No,” he said calmly. “But ten million dollars is.”
I stiffened. “Ten… what?”
“You’ll get ten million when the six months are up.” He paused. “Tax-free. No strings. You walk away with a clean slate.”
I took a shaky breath, my mind spinning. Ten million. I could pay off my debts. Go back to school. Start over.
But at what cost?
I looked at him again. Andrew Walker. The man I hated. The man whose parents caused the accident that killed mine. The man who mocked me. Fired me. Had me practically on my knees.
And now… he wanted to marry me?
“I need time,” I said quietly.
He stood. “You have 48 hours.”
Later That Night – Maria’s POV
Susan opened the door in her oversized pink hoodie, holding a half-eaten tub of ice cream.
“You look like a walking disaster,” she said, stepping aside.
I dropped my bag and collapsed onto her couch.
“Something happened,” she said, sensing the weight in my silence.
I nodded slowly. “Andrew Walker asked me to marry him.”
The spoon fell from her hand, clinking on the hardwood floor.
“What?”
“Fake marriage. Six months. Ten million dollars.”
Susan’s mouth fell open—and then she burst into laughter. “This sounds like the plot of one of those trashy romance novels you used to read.”
“It’s real, Susan,” I said, rubbing my temples. “He needs it to save some massive deal. I’m just a pawn.”
Her humor vanished. “You’re not actually considering it, are you?”
I didn’t answer.
“Maria—no. Come on. This is the same guy who humiliated you. Fired you. Who—who’s literally the son of the people who ruined your life!”
I closed my eyes, the memories washing over me. The bridge. The blood. The lies. The media blackout. My parents blamed.
“But it wasn’t him,” I whispered. “He was just a kid.”
“That doesn’t make this okay.”
“I know,” I said, my voice cracking. “But I have nothing. I’ve been rejected ten times this month. I’ve got one week to pay rent or get kicked out. No job. No safety net. And then he shows up offering me everything I ever needed—”
“Except love. Or respect,” Susan cut in.
“I’m not doing it for love,” I murmured. “I’m doing it to survive.”
Susan didn’t argue anymore. She just leaned back and let out a heavy sigh.
Maria’s POV
The night after Andrew’s proposal, I started my new bartending job. It wasn’t much, but it was something—my first step to rebuilding my life after everything had fallen apart.
The first night went smoothly, as expected. I didn’t want to think too much about what it would’ve been like had I accepted Andrew’s offer. But I couldn’t help it. His words kept repeating in my mind:
“Marry me. Six months. Ten million dollars.”
But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. The idea of living a lie, being someone I wasn’t, for the sake of survival… It wasn’t me.
Or at least, I used to think it wasn’t.
The next day, however, everything came crashing down.
The call came just as I was finishing my shift. The greasy manager’s voice on the other end was curt and dismissive.
“We’ve reviewed the tapes,” he said. “And there’s something off about you. You’ve got sticky fingers or a bad reputation. Either way, you’re fired.”
Two days. That’s how long I lasted in this job. I didn’t argue. What was the point anymore?
I hung up the phone, the weight of failure pressing down on my shoulders. Slowly, I made my way back to my apartment, the rain pouring in thick sheets. I didn’t care about getting soaked. I didn’t care about anything anymore.
The rain didn’t stop as I walked home, soaking me to the bone. The world around me seemed as gray and heavy as my heart, weighed down by disappointment. Losing the bartending job after only two days felt like the final blow.
Everything I tried to do, every effort to rebuild my life, just seemed to crumble.
I reached my apartment building, drenched and exhausted. As I trudged up the stairs, I saw it—a piece of paper taped to my door.
A restraining order.
From my landlord.
I hadn’t even done anything wrong, but it didn’t matter. Life had its own rules, and it seemed like I was losing every time.
I froze, staring at the paper, the finality of it sinking in. And then, like a shadow in the storm, I saw him.
Andrew Walker.
He was across the street, holding a black umbrella, his tailored gray suit sharp against the rain. His expression was unreadable, like he had been waiting for this moment. For me.
He didn’t say anything. Neither did I.
But in that moment, drenched and broken, I knew.
He had won.
- Writer
