Married To Bury His Secrets: Caught Between Two CEOs

Chapter Four

The words flew right past me.

"Come live at the Coleman mansion and I'll tell you everything you need to know." I replayed the words in my mind.

"What?"

"Think about it, Miss Williams," Mr. Coleman said, a hopeful smile on his face, before walking away. He slipped a card with his contact details into my hand just before he left.

Not long after, the priest gave the signal to lower the body into the pit, allowing me one last look at my father's cold corpse.

It was strangers, women I barely knew, who held me when I felt like falling into the pit with him because Lily, my best friend, was nowhere to be found.

Just before the last set of people left the burial grounds, I heard my cell phone ring. Hoping it was Lily calling with a reasonable excuse for why she could not be there, I hurried to pick up my phone.

"Are you okay? I've been worried about you," I started, but to my dismay, the voice that returned my concern was not Lily White's.

"Miss Williams?" an unfamiliar voice blared through the phone's speaker.

Shocked at the strange voice, it took me a while to recover before I could speak. "Who… who is this?"

"My name is Joshua Newman, I am the attorney representing the Coleman family. I have some things I need to go over with you. Things that concern your father."

"My father is dead." My chest flooded and my stomach sank as I spoke the words.

"Yes, yes. I am very sorry for your loss, Miss Williams. I'm terribly sorry that I could not make it to the funeral too."

A pause. I did not say anything to that.

The man's voice came alive again. "There's something you need to see, Miss Williams, or more precisely, something you should read. An agreement left by your father for you."

There was a pause, some shuffling of paper, Joshua clearing his throat.

"I hope this isn't a bad time."

"I buried my father today, Mr. Newman. Now is the worst time." I was going to hang up too before he spoke again.

"This was your father's idea. He asked that I reach out to you right after the funeral. I understand it's a lot to process but it's about the marriage agreement. Your marriage agreement."

Now I was angry. I had barely been done burying my father and now this resurfaces.

"I am not marrying Dominic Coleman!"

"You may want to hear this before you conclude that."

Was that a threat? I wondered.

"The core agreement is pretty straightforward." He assured. "You must marry Dominic Coleman within six weeks of your father's passing, that is, within the next six weeks."

He went on, "the exact date will be decided by the Colemans. The marriage must remain intact for a minimum of three years within which time both parties must remain faithful."

"Ha," I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh.

"And if I don't agree to this?"

"There is a breach clause…" He answered almost immediately, as if he were waiting for me to ask.

"In the event that the terms listed within this contract are breached, by either party, conditions attached to your father's settlement with the Coleman Group become void."

"What are you talking about? Speak English."

Mr. Newman laughed. "Sorry about that. It's basically saying that both you and Dominic Coleman have to get married within the agreed time and stay together for at least three years or the settlement between your father and the Colemans will be nullified."

"What settlement?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of this case with you, Miss Williams. All I can tell you is that your father's case from twenty years ago, the one that led to him losing his job, was settled under a sealed agreement. Certain evidence was never entered into public record."

He took a moment to catch his breath. "If you breach this contract, the case against your father reopens and the evidence will be entered. It will be for the court to decide what to do with this new evidence."

My heart dropped. I felt defeated. Why would dad even agree to this? Maybe he did not have a choice. Daniel Coleman must have forced him into agreeing to this. Those damn Colemans!

"So you're saying that you will drag my father's name to the dirt even now that he is dead."

There was no reply.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I am not doing anything Miss Williams. Your father agreed to this…"

"That's because your evil boss forced him to!"

"I understand your concern…"

"Tell me, what exactly is this all about? Why me? What does Daniel Coleman want with me."

"I am afraid I don't have the answers you want. I suggest talking to Mr. Coleman about this."

His tone changed from sympathetic to completely serious almost immediately. "Miss Williams, I'm going to need your answer on the marriage terms within the week."

My mind wandered to my father's last request that I marry a stranger, I thought about my life with him. He had never done anything to harm me. Why now?

I looked around and suddenly, it stung like a fresh wound, I was all alone. My father was gone, Lily was nowhere to be found. I had nobody.

"Send me the paperwork," I finally said.

"I'll have it to you within the hour." The line clicked, he hung up.

And just like that, I had traded my future for a reason I did not even understand. One I may never get to fully understand.

Everybody had left by now. The funeral was over. My father was gone forever. It was just me, standing alone in the graveyard — or so I thought.

"You must be freezing out here all alone." It was Dominic Coleman, the man I had just sold my future to.

He put his jacket around my shoulders. "Let me take you home, Miss Williams."