Married To His Enemy

Who did I just marry?

ARIA

'Who are you really?' I wondered the whole drive, watching his cold profile.

Damien didn't say another word. Neither did I.

At ten past noon, the car stopped at a side entrance of City Hall, away from the busy front steps.

Damien got out first, came around, and opened my door. Then he held out his hand.

I climbed out without taking it. But my heel caught on the curb, and I stumbled.

His hand was immediately at my elbow before I could fall.

He spoke coldly. "Watch your feet. I'm not carrying you up the stairs as much as you want to.”

I pulled my arm back. "I don’t want to."

He didn't answer. He only walked beside me into the building, and he was close enough to catch me again.

At the end of the empty hallway, a man leaned against a door frame with a paper coffee cup.

He has messy brown hair, round glasses, a good navy suit worn badly, and bright yellow socks with tiny blue ducks on them.

He looked at my wedding dress, then at Damien, and lifted his coffee like a toast. "Well. This is the strangest Saturday of my life."

Damien didn't slow down. "Aria, this is Ethan Cole. My lawyer."

The man pushed his glasses up and held out his hand. "Also his best friend. Also his only friend, but he hates when I say that."

I shook it. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Cole."

He grinned. "Ethan, please. Anyone who can make Damien Cross say yes in front of three hundred people can call me Ethan."

My eyes narrowed. "How do you know how many people were there?"

Ethan held up his phone. "Because the whole internet watched it. You're number one on every news site in the city. Above a celebrity divorce and a cat that plays piano."

Damien gave him a long look. "Ethan."

Ethan raised both hands. "It's a compliment. The cat is very talented."

I almost smiled, but I caught myself just in time.

Ethan pulled a small box from his pocket and held it out. "Also, the news says your phone is at the bottom of a river. This one has your old number. Damien texted me from the car."

I took the box and looked at Damien. "You did that… in the car? While you were calling me a spy?"

His face didn't change. "I can do two things at once."

I turned to him fully and kept my voice light and polite. "You must have had a busy night, Mr. Cross. Your hand. Then your lawyer. And ready on a Saturday."

Damien met my eyes. "I always have a busy night."

I held his gaze. "Where were you last night then?"

The hallway went quiet. Ethan's coffee cup stopped halfway to his mouth.

Damien didn't blink. "Working."

I pressed on, still smiling. "Until when?"

He answered with one cold word. "Late."

'He isn't lying,' I thought, my stomach twisting. 'He just isn't telling me anything at all.'

Ethan cleared his throat loudly and opened the door. "Judge Moreno doesn't like to wait. Shall we?"

---

It was noon time at the City Hall and we were at Judge Moreno's Office.

The room was small and plain. There was only a wooden desk, two chairs and a flag in the corner.

An older woman in a black robe, with a tiny gold cross pinned to the collar, looked up over her reading glasses.

She took in my white gown, the torn hem, and the stitches under the smudged makeup. "So this is the bride."

I stood very straight. "Yes, ma'am."

She turned to Damien. "And you're sure about this, Mr. Cross?"

His answer came at once. "Yes."

The judge sighed and picked up her pen. When she looked back at me, her voice softened a little. "Young lady, I owe this man a favor. But I still need to hear it from you. Is anyone forcing you to do this?"

I thought of the black water. Bianca's voice in the dark. Julian's soft "Babe. Come here."

I lifted my chin. "No one is forcing me. I'm choosing this."

She studied me for a long moment. Then she nodded and slid two documents across the desk.

Ethan opened a thin folder beside them. "Your marriage contract. One year. His name and protection. Your voting power goes to him for the year, but your shares stay yours. Either side can leave after twelve months. No fight, no fees."

I read it fast. It was fair.

More than fair.

'That makes it worse,' I thought uneasily. 'Nothing in my life has been fair since last night.'

I tapped the contract with one finger and looked up at Damien. "If you break this, I'll take everything you own."

His eyes moved over me, slow and unimpressed. "You can try."

Ethan pulled out a pen of his own. "I'm writing that down. Both of you. For the record."

Damien signed first, sharp and clean, and turned the page toward me.

I picked up the pen. My fingers shook so badly that the tip wobbled above the line.

'Sign it,' I ordered myself. 'Just sign it.'

A warm hand covered mine. I went stiff.

I hissed it under my breath. "Don't touch me."

He didn't let go.

Instead, he leaned close, and his voice dropped so only I could hear. "The judge is watching your hand. A shaking bride looks like a forced bride. Do you want her to stop this?"

'He's right,' I thought, hating him for it.

I signed. He let go at once, as if my skin had burned him.

The judge stamped every page with a loud, final thud. Then she took off her glasses and stood. "Please stand, both of you."

She turned to him. "Do you take this woman to be your wife?"

He didn't hesitate. "I do."

She turned to me. "Do you take this man to be your husband?"

My throat closed.

Last night, I was ready to say these words to Julian.

I had meant them.

But they had almost killed me.

'This is different,' I told myself firmly. 'This is a deal. Only a deal.'

My voice came out steady. "I do."

The judge closed her book and smiled for the first time. "Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

I froze.

I had thought about the will, the shares, Julian's face. I had not thought about this.

Damien turned toward me.

Close.

'It's just a kiss,' I told myself quickly as I closed my eyes. 'It means nothing.'

But my hands were shaking again and my heart was pounding.

David lifted one hand slowly, giving me time to step away, but I didn't move. I wouldn't give him the pleasure.

His fingers touched my chin and tilted my face up. His thumb rested just below my lower lip, warm and a little rough, and my skin burned under it.

'Why won't my heart slow down?' I thought, almost angry.

I shut my eyes tightly and waited for his mouth. But I felt his lips touch my forehead instead.

They were soft and warm. Gone almost as soon as it came.

My eyes flew open, and the words slipped out before I could stop them. "That's it?"

Ethan made a choking sound behind his coffee.

Damien leaned close again, so only I could hear. His voice was low and rough. "When I kiss you, it will be because you want it."

'Because I want it?' I thought, shaken.

I found my voice again, cold and sharp. "Then you'll wait forever."

The corner of his mouth curved, just on one side. "I'm a patient man."

'Arrogant,' I thought, my face burning. 'Arrogant, impossible man.'

Outside, the afternoon wind was sharp and cold. It cut through the thin silk of my dress, and I shivered inside his jacket.

Damien stepped in front of me without a word, so his body blocked the wind.

I looked up at him. "Why do you keep doing that?"

Something moved in his eyes. Then it was gone. "Don't flatter yourself. You're an investment now."

Before I could answer, a camera flashed. Two photographers had found the side door.

Damien's arm slid around my waist and pulled me against his side.

I smiled up at him like a woman in love. Through my smile, I whispered, "Move your hand, or lose it."

He smiled back down at me, slow and easy, as if I had said something sweet. "Smile, wife. Julian will see this by dinner."

So I smiled. I even rested my head on his shoulder for the cameras.

The moment the cameras turned away, I stepped out of his arm.

My hands were freezing, so I slid them into the pockets of his jacket. My fingers touched something small and hard in the right pocket.

It was round and smooth with a tiny gold hook.

'What is this?' I wondered.

I drew it out slowly and opened my palm. A single pearl earring lay in my hand.

My blood went cold.

'No…' I thought. 'No, it can't be.'

'It's mine!' I thought, my heart slamming. 'It’s the one that sank with me in the river!’

I looked up at my new husband. ‘Who did I just marry?’