The Billionaire's Contracted Wife

Chapter Five.

Lily.

From the bit of information I had about Blake, I felt intimidated to even sit in front of him. Why in the world would he want to get married to a person like me? We were like water and oil, extremely different, and resisting each other. Like two similar poles from two different magnets. I was going close to being dirt poor, and he was making million-dollar reservations.

While I was still counting the differences between us, the elevator made a dinging sound and we stepped out. The waiter guy led me to the table where Blake sat, dressed a little less causal than he was, yesterday.

His black shirt which clung to his muscular arms had two buttons loosened, his hair wasn’t gelled back but it still had it’s natural strength to sit back. His eyes found mine as the waiter bowed a little and helped me pull my sit out. I muttered words of appreciation as I sat down, paying attention to the mysterious man seated in front of me.

“Would you like to place an order right now, or should I return in ten minutes?” the waiter asked.

“A bottle of white wine, iced. Would you like anything?” Blake asked, staring at me.

“Not right now, thanks.” I shook my head. I was there to feed my curiosity more than I was there to feed my stomach.

The waiter nodded once and left. I looked around and found that only one table on the other end of the room was occupied. Three ladies sat there with an array of seafood displayed on their table. I started to wonder how much their foods cost if a table was half a million dollars.

“Do you come here often?” I questioned him, stirring a conversation.

“Not very often. I’ve only been here twice before. This is my third time. Their calamari is one of the best you’ll ever find around.”

Three times. One million and a half.

“Is it true that a table here costs…you know…” I didn’t complete the question. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Maybe I had been broke for too long, but I believed no sane person was paying that amount for restaurant experience.

“A couple hundred thousand? It’s not as expensive as it should be. If I had to take a guess, I would say it’s the neighborhood. If it were in a more stable, classy environment, I’m sure it would amount to a million.” He had an air of normalcy about him, saying those words.

“A million!? I have a hard time believing that people come here with this price alone, and you’re saying it has potential to be a million per table in here?” I raised a brow.

“It all depends on the room. It ranges from standard, to premium platinum. The higher the rooms, the less the tables are and the more expensive a table is,” he explained with such expertise.

“I don’t see a problem with having a reservation in the standard—”

“I didn’t pay for this, Lily. You don’t have to worry about how much I spent on this. It’s my restaurant.”

Oh.

Oh…

I almost couldn’t lock my jaw. It was his restaurant.

This place…

“That’s…nice.” I nodded, not knowing what to do with that information.

He was definitely wealthy. I have confirmed that now.

“And let me guess, you have other restaurants around the country?” I raised a brow.

“Around the world, actually,” he corrected.

My head was spinning but still in place.

“So, this contract.” I steered the conversation to the direction I wanted it to go. “Why exactly did you draft it up? Why are you handing it to me? How do you even know me?”

So I listened.

He talked about his parents’ real estate property in the south, which cost more than a fortune. The only thing between him and the property was his being single, but he didn’t want to get married to just anyone. He had people going around, doing his work for him, reporting who would make a perfect partner and who wouldn’t.

In the end, it all boiled down to me.

It didn’t sound plausible to me.

How could I have lived for weeks with someone or some people on my tail, and I didn’t even know? That didn’t make the slightest bit of sense. If it was true, it was unsettling how easy it was for me to be followed.

“You’re telling me you stalked—”

“Not stalked, Lily. Just some follow-up.” He smiled.

“You did some follow-up on me and, say, six other women. There was a process of elimination when someone didn’t meet your standards and it all came down to me. I’m the only one left, so that’s it.” I almost laughed at what I was saying, even.

“Precisely.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I shook my head.

“Believe it or not, it’s what happened.” He crossed his arms and shrugged just as the waiter returned with a bottle of white wine in an ice bucket. He set up the wine glasses for me and Blake, then he left.

“I just can’t seem to believe this.” I didn’t know what to call it. Too good to be true? A horror story waiting to happen?

“I know you’re going through some struggles financially,” he said, making me want to sink into the chair. I wanted the ground to open and swallow me up. “You need a place to stay and you need money, I need a wife. What could possibly go wrong?”

“I have a boyfriend,” I foolishly blurted. I had a boyfriend. Not anymore.

“I don’t know if you know this yet, but he’s not loyal. You might call me a liar, but you’ll come to find that out soon.” He took a pen out of his pocket and handed it to me. “What do you say, Lily?”

I took the contract from my bag and stared at it. I had nothing to lose. Literally. I had no home, no family, no boyfriend, and just a peanut-paying job.

The pen I held clashed with the paper as I signed it, giving myself away.

Little did I know that right there, in that moment, I was signing myself off to hell.