Contract of Deception

Chapter 1

There is a thin line between love and hate, and as Scarlett stood staring down at her father, the lines blurred and she couldn’t make sense of anything.

“I’m not a child or some commodity you think you can just sign off on!” She yelled angrily at him, still reeling from shock and anger.

Her father looked up, wide-eyed at her. She knew her anger surprised everyone, after all they had never seen her like this. She was always known for her levelheaded nature, even in stressful situations, she never let it out on anyone. She had been like that since she was a child, always one to avoid confrontation. So right now, as her family sat round with bated breath, she knew they just hadn’t expected her to react that way.

“What would you have me do Scarlett? You know who the man is, you know what influence he has.”

Her father’s desperate tone was just proof that this man, Wade Simon, was exactly the kind of person she hated. Someone who thought he could have everything his way just because he had money.

Her father had lost his job last year and despite her constant reassurance that she would be able to take care of them without his income, he had insisted on finding another job. And so he started working as a driver for one of the most feared men in the country, Billionaire Wade Simon. Apparently one of his old friends had hooked him up with the opportunity, she had never met the man but her father claimed he was a good enough boss, well, until recent events.

Her father had taken one of the cars and driven while clearly under the influence, resulting in him crashing into the company building, there had been no casualties, and while she knew her father had made a stupid mistake on his part, she was grateful nothing serious had happened to him. He sustained a few injuries but asides that, he was okay.

But his boss had come seeking retribution. He wanted her hand in exchange for not pressing charges. She knew her family would never win against Wade Simon, that was just how the world worked. But still, she couldn’t stop the feeling of betrayal from eating her whole.

“So you thought it was a good idea to basically sell your daughter off to save your ass?”

Her father winced as if her words had cut him. “I did it for us, for our entire family. You think we would ever be able to win a case over someone like him?”

“But isn’t there something else we can do? We can pay for the damages or something.” She knew it was hopeless at this point, but she could at least try.

“Not with the way things are for us right now, we can’t. It would cost thousands of dollars that we do not have.”

She suddenly felt tired. Her family’s financial situation was no secret to her, she felt a deep sense of shame for not being able to take care of everything. She only had a handful of clients willing to pay for her work, people barely even knew who she was or what she did.

“There are worse fates than being the wife of a well known billionaire, you’re marrying him and that is final.”

She left the room in silence, not knowing what else to say. She could always decline, run away or something, but that would only put her family at risk. There was simply no way out of this and she knew it.

With a deep breath, she yanked her jacket off the hook near the front door and walked out in the direction of the city.

She needed to clear her head.

………

Wade Simon was in a tricky situation. The media was having a field day with this narrative they had came up with, and he was sure his competitors were eating it all up.

His face reflected a mixture of determination and rage as he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and zipped through traffic, propelling the car forward with ferocious speed. Horns blared, head lights flashed in protest and the other drivers yelled at him as he weaved in and out of traffic and maneuvered through lanes with lightning-fast reflexes. But the world outside had become a blur at this point. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew that he needed to let out this rage he was feeling.

His secretary had sent him links to several articles just an hour ago, all saying the same thing but quite impressively twisting it in ways that were definitely intended to satisfy their gossip hungry audience. A group of women had posted a video that started the nasty gossip about him viewing women as nothing more than objects. And this was all because they had thrown themselves at him when they bumped into him at a party and he had turned them down and walked away.

He had no time for power hungry whores who just wanted to have a story to sell to magazines the next morning.

But they’d gone ahead and done just that anyways, a good part of the comments believed this fake news the blogs were selling, some people opined he might have a secret affair somewhere or a love child he was trying to hide or that he was simply just a misogynist. He had no idea where these different opinions came from and he couldn’t care less, he just needed the story dead by the morning. It wasn’t the first time his name popped up on the blogs, he had a lot of enemies and he was used to them cooking up conspiracies about him but he couldn’t ignore it this time.

The board and all his investors had been calling nonstop, threatening to pull out of the company if he didn’t offer them an explanation or a solution.

They urged him to start a family of his, claiming that some stability in his life would put an end to the rumors. Wade didn’t believe in marriage, he didn’t believe that someone would choose to be with him for the rest of their lives without wanting something in return and he certainly didn’t want children, he believed that in the end, children were just collateral damage, left to bear the burden of their parent’s mistakes for the rest of their lives. But the investors were pushing and he would have to find a way to satisfy them.

As for the media, he was on top of the situation and the whole story would be gone by the morning, like it never happened. He would be sure to teach those women a lesson, nobody messed with Wade Simon. He had worked hard and built his company from the ground up. Dynasty Group was one of the biggest conglomerates in and beyond the country, and it was basically a household name now ; his influence was apparent in every sector of society, he had industries, restaurants, real estates and technological industries under his company, and he wasn’t about to let those attention seeking whores ruin that for him.

And it was just his luck that his driver had choose this moment to make a stupid decision. He felt bad that he had to put the poor man in such a situation, he had been loyal to him the whole time he had worked for him and he had admittedly grown quite fond of the man, but the clock was ticking and he needed a solution. He knew his driver had daughters, one of them done with college and working as an artist, he was always so proud to talk about his daughters and Wade hated that he was about to use that to his benefit, but he had no choice.

He waved a lawsuit over the already mortified man’s head, knowing there was no way he would be able to handle it. And when Mr Thompson begged for leniency, he asked for his daughter in exchange. It was a split second decision, but he knew Mr Thompson to be a decent man, his daughter couldn’t be that bad, right? That and the fact that none of the women he’d ever been with were suitable, they’d want something in the end, they always did, they’d expect commitment, love and assurance from him, and he wasn’t interested in offering them any of that.

Based on her father’s stories, Wade knew Scarlett was strongheaded and determined, also focused and had no time for the kind of life other women wanted. So he knew she would be perfect.

The wind whipped through the open windows, tousling Wade’s dark hair as if celebrating his audacity. His eyes gleamed with dangerous euphoria, he pushed the car even faster, testing its limit and his own. His phone rang just as he took a sharp left turn, he was just about to pick up his phone when he heard a loud wail. His eyes darted back up just in time to pound his foot on the brakes and bring the tires to a halt.

There was a girl sprawled out on the floor in front of his car and he rushed out to meet her.

“Miss? Are you okay?” She still had her hands in front of her face from trying to block the impact. It was obvious that she was in shock.

“Miss?” He gently shook her.

“Are you hurt?”

She slowly dropped her hands and took in her environment, hyperventilating. She had beautiful golden hair that shone with the glare of his headlights, her skin was as pale as a ghost but he suspected that was his fault, afterall, he had almost just run her over with his car.

She must have finally realized she wasn’t alone because she whipped up her head to meet his gaze. Deep wide set eyes looked back at him and she looked like she had seen a ghost.

He noticed the rise and fall of her chest accelerate as she breathed “Damien?”

And then, she crumpled to the floor, fainting.