SIX MONTHS
871 Words
Amara read the contract three times.
Each time, she hoped the words would somehow change.
They didn't.
Six months.
One hundred and eighty days.
A marriage to the one man she had spent five years hating.
She dropped the papers onto the table.
“This is insane.”
Damian remained seated across from her, his expression calm.
“You've said that twice.”
“Because it is.”
Her father stood near the window, saying nothing.
Amara turned toward him.
“You really expect me to do this?”
“I expect you to think about your family.”
“My family?”
Her voice cracked.
“You're asking me to sacrifice my entire life.”
“I'm asking you to save what we've spent years building.”
She looked away.
The Vale Group wasn't just a company.
It was her father's life's work.
It had paid for her education. It had employed hundreds of people. It had been the reason her family had survived difficult years.
She couldn't simply watch it disappear.
Still, there was one thing she couldn't understand.
“Why me?”
Damian answered before her father could.
“Because the agreement requires a Vale.”
Amara looked at him.
“And why does it have to be you?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because it requires a Cross.”
Their eyes locked.
Neither of them liked the answer.
Amara picked up the contract again.
“Let's say I agree. What exactly do you expect from me?”
“Nothing complicated.”
“I don't believe you.”
“You don't have to trust me.”
“Good, because I don't.”
Something almost like amusement crossed his face.
“I know.”
She turned the pages.
“Separate bedrooms?”
“Yes.”
“No interference in each other's personal lives?”
“Yes.”
“No intimacy?”
“Yes.”
“No falling in love?”
Damian paused.
Then he looked directly into her eyes.
“Especially that.”
Amara almost laughed.
“Don't worry. That's the easiest clause.”
His expression remained serious.
“Good.”
She continued reading.
Then she stopped.
“What is this?”
Damian's eyes moved to the page.
“Which part?”
“This clause.”
She pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
“Neither party shall investigate, expose, or interfere with matters concerning the events surrounding the Vale-Cross dispute of five years ago.”
Her heart began beating faster.
“Why is this here?”
Damian said nothing.
Amara looked at her father.
“Dad?”
Her father looked away.
“It's part of the agreement.”
“That's not an answer.”
“Amara, leave the past alone.”
She stared at him.
“Why?”
No one answered.
That was when she knew.
There was a secret.
A very big one.
She looked back at Damian.
“You know something.”
He didn't deny it.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Her hands tightened around the contract.
“And you're expecting me to marry you while agreeing never to investigate what happened to my family?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Damian's eyes narrowed.
“Then we have a problem.”
“We do.”
She pushed the contract across the table.
“I won't sign this.”
Her father closed his eyes.
“Amara.”
“No.”
She stood.
“I can help rebuild the company. I can find investors. I can sell my own property if I have to. But I will not marry the man whose family destroyed mine.”
Damian stood slowly.
“You're wrong about that.”
She froze.
“What?”
“My family didn't destroy yours.”
Amara's eyes filled with anger.
“Don't.”
“I wasn't finished.”
He stepped closer.
“The person who destroyed your family wasn't a Cross.”
Silence.
Amara stared at him.
“Then who was it?”
Damian's expression changed.
For the first time since she had seen him tonight, he looked almost afraid.
“That,” he whispered, “is exactly what you're not supposed to find out.”
Amara stared at him.
Then she picked up the contract.
“Give me forty-eight hours.”
Damian nodded.
“Forty-eight hours.”
She walked toward the door.
“Amara.”
She stopped.
“If you sign this, there is no going back.”
She looked over her shoulder.
“There wasn't much of a way forward anyway.”
Then she walked out.
Behind her, Damian remained still.
He watched the door close.
Only when Amara was gone did his calm expression disappear.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out an old photograph.
Two families stood together in front of a large house.
Five years ago.
Before everything fell apart.
Damian stared at one person in the photograph.
A man Amara had never suspected.
Then he whispered to himself,
“If she discovers the truth before I can protect her, she'll never forgive me.”
And somewhere outside the room, Amara was already making a decision.
She would sign the contract.
But she would also uncover the truth.
Even if it destroyed her marriage before it began.
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