What Vanny Wants

CHAPTER 4

Vanessa could imagine being married to Ethan quite clearly. It would be like the stuff she read about in her romance books - stupidly rich guy needs a wife, broke girl agrees to marry him then after the marriage, the guy disappears for years and even forgets she exits. If he disappeared, Vanessa was fairly certain Sasha would defend him.

She groaned inwardly, rolling her eyes upward as she listened to the two go back and forth on whether the wedding should be a big one or done at the courthouse. Ethan really just wanted her to sign a prenup. Her head started to ache and Vanessa decided she could pick what she wanted for her own wedding.

“Can the both of you just give it a rest already?! You’re making my head ache”

Sasha turned to look at her in surprise and Ethan just narrowed his eyes at her even further, she hadn’t thought they could get any narrower but the man was just something else. Oh Vanessa knew what his look meant, shut up woman, but she’d be damned if she acknowledged it.

“Look, I’m the bride here aren’t I?” she continued, “Do I not get a say in all of this?”

Ethan growled at her for ignoring him. Jesus, Vanessa thought to herself, he’s a caveman.

“Hmm,” Sasha started, “I suppose you do have a point. Tell us then, which option would you prefer?” she placed her chin in one freshly manicured hand and crossed her legs.

Vanessa sat up in her chair and cleared her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ethan rolling his eyes. She didn’t care; he could shove his irritation up his ass.

“I actually agree with Ethan,” she could see shock etched on their faces but continued on anyway. “Not the prenup part of course, but I could settle for a contract. The courthouse is a more suitable option because if we had a real wedding, it could go very wrong. We don’t know each other so acting like we’re actually in love would be an issue. Also, people are nosy. They’d have so many questions we don’t have answers to. I mean, if someone asked where we met, I could easily lie but I doubt Mr. Grumpy here would follow my lead.” She ended, pointing at Ethan.

Hahahaha, Ethan laughed. “And she thinks. This is a wonderful discovery,” he said in a matter-of-fact way as he caressed his jaw softly. “Thank you mother, for not having me marry a complete airhead, though I suppose we could work on her blatant disrespect.”

“You-” Vanessa shot out of her chair angrily but one raised eyebrow from Sasha sent her back to her seat. Ethan smirked and Vanessa knew the jab was payback for ignoring him earlier. She smiled right back, deciding two could play the game.

*********************

Sasha acted as their witness at the courthouse and although they were supposed to have two, Ethan handed the clerk a thick wad of cash and the man proceeded with the ceremony. Vanessa had a feeling the clerk didn’t care either way but nobody says no to free cash.

Stepping out of the courthouse, Vanessa was handed papers to sign by Ethan’s lawyers. She couldn’t believe the man had gotten the contract drawn so fast. Much to the annoyance of Ethan, Vanessa took her time reading through the contract. Kept glaring at her and she pretended not to feel his anger coming off him in waves. Watching Suits with Mary hadn’t been a waste of time after all because she was happy with her decision to carefully read the contract as one sentence stood out to her. She had to read it twice to be sure wasn’t seeing things.

“Uh … Ethan, why does it say here that I’m never to leave the house without a bodyguard after my trial period?”

Turning from his conversation with one of the lawyers present, Ethan replied in a bored but slightly pissed tone, “Because I said it should,” and then he continued his conversation.

Sasha had long since returned to the retirement home so Vanessa was no longer feeling accommodating towards the irritating man. Placing her hands on her hips, she walked over to where Ethan and the lawyer stood. One side-look from her sent the other man scurrying away.

“Explain.” She said as she folded her arms. “Bodyguard? Trial period?”

Ethan moved closer to her, so close that she could feel his body heat. “Listen to me, wife,” he spat with a lot of venom. “In my line of work, women especially can’t just be trusted. I need to be sure you weren’t sent to be a spy by any of my enemies. And I hope for your own sake that you’re not.” He turned and started walking to the GLE 450 waiting for them.

Needing an extra minute to process what Ethan just said, Vanessa had to jog to catch up to him. “What do you mean by for my own sake?” He ignored her so she called out to him again, “Hey!”

Stopping at the car, Ethan turned to her and raised one eyebrow, “That’s your question? You’re not curious about my line of work?”

Shit, Vanessa thought to herself. Gathering herself, she quickly corrected her mistake,“Well, I assumed you’re a business man. You know those rich men who are into a little of everything.”

“Hmm,” Ethan replied skeptically. He opened the door of the backseat for her and frowned when she hesitated. “What now?”

Looking at him suspiciously, she asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“To the zoo.” He sarcastically replied.

At her unimpressed look, he sighed in frustration he and said, “I’m taking you home. My home, your new home.” Then he pushed her in and got in at the other side. Settling into the car and unbuttoning his suit jacket, he spoke to the driver, “We’re good to go Reggie.”

Giving a sharp nod, Reggie pulled the car out of the courthouse driveway.

During the entire ride, Ethan ignored her and kept making phone calls or typing on his phone; it infuriated her but she decided to keep her cool till they got to his evil lair.