THE BILLIONAIRE'S UNEXPECTED BRIDE

CHAPTER 2- THE BILLIONAIRE'S PROPOSAL

By the time Amelia was home, her father was parked with an unopened letter on the dining table as she and Sophie stood at the window. Something was up. "Dad?" She asked as Daniel finally looked at her. "I'm sorry." He pushed a piece of paper towards her. "The bank has given us thirty days." Daniel sighed. "There's something I should have told you. Your mother used to work for the Blackwood family. She was actually their accountant." Amelia looked at him. "The Blackwoods?" Daniel nodded. "She found something out that she shouldn't have." He reached for an envelope. "I found this in her things." She took it from his hand before she could make sense of it; headlights flashed past the windows.

A black luxury car had pulled up outside, and a familiar Blackwood emblem caught Amelia's eye. Someone knocked on the door, and Sophie opened it to reveal a well-dressed man in a suit with an unreadable expression. Daniel went pale at the sight of him as Adrian Blackwood stepped inside. He placed a folder down on the table as he walked in. "Your father knows why I am here." Amelia turned to look at Daniel, but he said nothing at all. Adrian's gaze flickered to the envelope in her hand. "Ask him what went on twenty years ago." "What happened?" She frowned at him, but his expression remained as cold as ever. "Something that your mother should have told you."

"Why are you here?" Amelia demanded as she turned back to Adrian. He looked at her. "Because I need a wife." She blinked at him. "For one year." Amelia stared at him. "You come all this way to ask me to marry you?" "Yes." "Why me?" Adrian replied as though answering her was an inconvenience. "You're suitable. You aren't interested in my money, and you have no ties to my social circle, and you won't cause me any trouble." Amelia crossed her arms. "So I'm convenient." "Exactly." "And after one year?" "We divorce." He said it as though he was talking of business. "You're unbelievable."

Adrian pushed the folder in her direction. "Your father's debt is more than he's told you. If it's not paid back, then the bank will take this house." Amelia looked at Daniel, who lowered his head. "I'll pay back the debt," Adrian replied as he met Amelia's gaze. "Your father keeps the house, and you marry me for twelve months." She opened the folder. "What are the conditions?" "You both keep to separate bedrooms, and you don't interfere with each other's business. There will be no arguments in public or anywhere else, and most importantly, there will be no romance involved. It will last for twelve months, and then you will be divorced." She closed the folder again. "No." Daniel looked at her. "Amelia, don't do it because of me." She looked around their home. She turned to look at Adrian. "Why are you interested in my family?"

Adrian's expression darkened. "Because there are things you don't know about your mother." "What does that have to do with anything?" Daniel stood up. "Enough!" Amelia turned back to him. "You know something." "Amelia--" "You knew there was something?" Daniel turned away from her, and now it was Adrian who pointed at the envelope. "Open it." She did as she was told and found a photograph and a handwritten letter inside. She recognised her mother's handwriting instantly, and the one name that leapt out at her made her look up at Adrian. "Why is your father's name written here?" His jaw was tight.

"Where did you find that?" Adrian asked. "My dad found it." Amelia held the letter tightly. "You know what it says." "You have no idea what you're holding." "Then tell me." Adrian hesitated. "If that letter says what I think it does, then your mother's death was no accident." She went rigid, and Daniel sank back down onto his chair. Now Adrian was contradicting that, and Daniel definitely knew more than he was letting on.

"You knew?" Amelia turned to Daniel. "I was protecting you," he whispered. "By keeping secrets from me? My eyes were burning angry holes as Adrian looked at her. "The truth is dangerous." She looked at him. "Then why tell me?" "Because you're already involved." If her mother had hidden something about the Blackwood family, then refusing Adrian's offer might not be the safest thing for her. She turned back to the repossession notice. Their home was going to be taken away in thirty days, and she hated the idea of marrying a stranger, but she hated the thought of losing her home even more.

"I'll marry you," Amelia said. Adrian looked carefully at her. "Think about it." "I have. You save my family's home, and I become your wife for a year." He nodded. "Then we have a deal." As Adrian stood to leave, he paused. "There is something else." Amelia looked up at him. "The people who wanted your mother silenced may still be watching. If they find out you have that letter, then you could be in danger." He walked off and left Amelia alone with the letter in her hand. "I have no choice." Daniel remained silent, his expression terrified.

Amelia turned the letter over in her hands. Her mother's handwriting was on the back of it, stating a name. She looked up at Daniel. His face had gone deathly pale. "Dad?" She whispered. He said nothing, and Sophie looked between them. "What is it?" Amelia looked at her mother's letter in her hands, her fingers shaking. "Why did Mum write your name on the back of this letter?" Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. In the silence, Amelia knew he was guarding something from her, and whatever it was could change everything she knew about her mother and the family she was so sure had betrayed her.