Contract of Deception

Chapter 4

The next morning, Scarlett was dressed and ready to go. She had spent all night thinking and weighing all her options, and decided that the pros weighed more than the cons. Sure, there was that nagging voice at the back of her head telling her she would regret her decision, but she had no choice in the matter. She hated to admit it, but she was helpless, and Wade was in charge now.

By morning, she had convinced herself there was no way it was all just coincidence, she told herself that Wade had almost run into her for a reason, and that the odds of a billionaire asking her to fake a marriage with him were not very high and so, this was the universe’s way of blessing her after all she’d been through.

So she set out for his office. She had decided to just go in there instead of calling him, and she suspected he would just ask her to meet anyways.

Wade’s office building was huge! She had seen the building on the news a few times but nothing could prepare her for the level of grandeur she was witnessing. And it was even better when she stepped inside. The reception area had sleek marble floors and elegant furnishings, there was an array of artwork on the walls and she was immediately intrigued.

The woman at the desk was dressed professionally in all black and was super nice to her. She asked to see Wade and after placing a call, the receptionist showed her to go in the elevator.

The office was on the top floor and she spent the little bit of time she had trying to calm her nerves. The elevator dinged and a moment later, she was knocking at his door.

“Come in.” He called from inside, his voice was rich and deep and made a shudder run down her spine.

Gently, she pushed the door open, and took a step inside.

A gasp caught in her throat when she saw the office, her first thought was how clean it was, not a pin out of place. And the view, the view was incredible, Wade was standing at one of the floor to ceiling windows, his back turned to her. She couldn’t help but notice how snug his black suit was on him.

“I knew you’d come around,” he said with his back still facing her.

“It took a lot of thinking, I’m not doing this just because you want me to.” She replied somewhat weakly.

“Of course.”

He turned and walked towards her, taking a seat and offering her one too.

“I want to know what the terms of your proposal are.” She said, in a bid to sound professional. She had given herself quite the pep talk on her way to the office and she couldn’t let him see just how nervous she was, being in this man’s presence seemed to do that to her.

Wade cleared his throat, and gave her a once over before he answered.

“Like I said last night, it’ll all be a ruse, the truth only known to both of us.”

She nodded her head to show she was following.

“I like to think of it as a marriage of convenience for both of us. I’ll be able to clear my name and save my company, and asides from paying your father’s debt, you’d get whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t involve children or love or anything like that along the way.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes at this, as if she’d ever want to have a child with someone like him. Wade went on, blissfully unaware of her inner turmoil.

“We’d be married for a year, minus the period of time we spend dating.”

“What?” Her head whipped up at his last comment.

“Well, you didn’t think we’d just jump right into marriage, did you? Nobody would believe it.”

“Right, of course not.” She hadn’t really thought about them going out on dates in public together. But she supposed it made sense, they would have to build up public interest before they got married.

“And obviously you’d be expected to remain faithful to me for the duration of our relationship. Whatever needs you have, you’ll just have to find a way to satisfy them without cheating on me.”

Scarlett thought for a minute and then sat up straight. Her cheeks were as red as a tomato.

“Deal, as long as the same goes for you. I can’t be known as the woman who got cheated on. You are not allowed to mess around with other women either.”

“Mess around?”

She looked everywhere but at him, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

“Yes”

“So what you’re trying to say is: I can’t f**k anyone?”

She felt her cheeks heat up more, if that was even possible.

“Yes”

“Yes, I can f**k around?”

She rolled her eyes. He was clearly having way too much fun making her uncomfortable.

“No!”

“You expect me to remain celibate the whole time??”

“You proposed the idea, if I’m doing it, why shouldn’t you have to?!” She bit back.

He gave her a once over and c****d his head. “I mean, I don’t think that would be an issue for you.”

She felt like she could strangle him in that moment, and she silently cursed her father for putting her in that situation in the first place. Wade smirked at her expression and continued.

“But I guess I can agree to that. Whatever you want, Red.”

She stopped herself from rolling her eyes at the nickname. He clearly thought it was funny that he could call her ‘Red’ because her name was Scarlett. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, so she swallowed and replied.

“Thank you.”

Wade made a sound at the back of his throat. He stood up and took a few steps closer to her, sat at the edge of the table and slightly tilted her chin upwards with his hands. She kept her gaze downwards, afraid to look in his eyes.

“And lastly Scarlett…”

She took a deep breath, hating that she liked the way her name sounded when he said it.

“… absolutely no sex.”

His fingers lightly grazed her chin and she shivered.

“Definitely no sex.” She agreed, her voice barely above a whisper.

His fingers lingered and she looked up, her eyes met dark ones and a breath caught in her throat. She saw it again, the face that haunted her every night.

Damien…

But then he spoke.

“Good. We have a deal.”

And just like that, the spell was broken. She looked at him again and it was just Wade.

Just Wade. The man that would most likely ruin the rest of her life.