The Proposal
652 Words
Aria slowly pulled out the chair and sat down.
A housekeeper immediately stepped forward to pour water into her glass.
“Thank you,” Aria said softly.
The woman smiled before quietly leaving the room.
The silence that followed was almost unbearable.
Kael picked up his cutlery.
“You should eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You skipped lunch.”
Aria’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
“I know a lot about the people I do business with.”
“I’m not doing business with you.”
“Not yet.”
His calmness irritated her.
He spoke as though everything had already been decided.
A waiter placed dinner before them.
Grilled salmon.
Roasted vegetables.
Freshly baked bread.
It looked nothing like the instant noodles waiting in Aria’s apartment cupboard.
She refused to touch it.
Kael noticed.
“You think accepting dinner means accepting my proposal.”
“It feels that way.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to make your own decision.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Aria looked up “Who are you?”
Kael leaned back.
“The newspapers would tell you I’m the CEO of Blackwood Group.”
“I didn’t ask what you do.”
His expression shifted, just slightly.
“I asked who you are.”
No one had ever asked him that before.
Not investors.
Not reporters.
Not women.
They all cared about the empire.
No one cared about the man.
He studied her for a long moment.
“My name is Kael Blackwood.”
“I know that.”
“I’m thirty-two.”
She waited.
“I built my company after my father’s death.”
Again, she waited.
“I work too much.”
Another pause “And I don’t enjoy talking about myself.”
For the first time that evening, Aria smiled.
It was small.
Almost unnoticeable.
“But you’re trying.” Kael found himself smiling back.
“Apparently.”
The atmosphere softened only slightly.
But enough.
Aria finally picked up her fork.
“I still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Why me?” Kael’s smile disappeared.
He had expected that question.
“I’ve met actresses.”
He folded his hands on the table.
“Models.”
“Lawyers.”
“Women from powerful families.”
“They all wanted the same thing.”
“My money.”
“And you think I don’t?”
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
Too confidently.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
Aria laughed quietly.
“You’re either very confident…”
“…or very foolish.”
Kael held her gaze.
“I’ve never been accused of the second.”
She looked down at her plate before asking the question she’d been holding back all night.
“What happens if I say no?”
Kael didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and placed a photograph on the table.
Aria frowned.
It was an old newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
BLACKWOOD HEIR SURVIVES FATAL CAR CRASH. PARENTS KILLED.
Her eyes moved to the picture beneath it.
A teenage boy stood beside two smiling adults.
His face looked painfully familiar.
She slowly looked up.
“…That’s you.”
Kael nodded once.
“My father left one condition in his will.”
He slid another document across the table.
“I have thirty days to marry.”
“If I don’t…” He stopped.
For the first time all evening, the confident billionaire looked… tired.
“I lose everything.”
Aria stared at him.
The empire.
The mansion.
The fortune.
Everything.
For the first time since she’d walked through the gates of Blackwood Manor…
She realized Kael Blackwood wasn’t inviting her into a fairy tale.
He was asking her to save his life.
- Writer
