Two Year Wife

CHAPTER 2: PAPER WIFE

JOLENE'S POV:

Reid looked at me when I asked him what if I did not want to leave.

His dark eyes did not move, and his jaw was set in a way that told me he had already decided the answer before I finished the question.

“Then you will stay anyway,” he said. “Because contracts do not have feelings.”

I did not have a comeback for that. I turned my face toward the window and watched the buildings get taller as we drove through downtown California.

The County estate was nothing like I had imagined. I had seen pictures of it online before, when Bryson Cars had a product launch. The reporters always called it a modern palace.

Now that I was seeing it in person, I understood why. The gates were black iron, and they opened slowly without a sound. The driveway curved for almost a minute before the house came into view.

The mansion was white, with glass walls that reflected the sky. There were fountains in the front, and the grass was cut so evenly that it looked fake.

The driver parked and opened my door. I stepped out onto stone that was probably more expensive than everything in Ming’s Fresh Clean combined.

I hated that thought the second it entered my head.

Reid walked ahead of me without waiting. His suit jacket was over his arm, and he was already on his phone.

The front doors were tall and made of dark wood. Inside, the air was cold, and it smelled like lemons and something expensive that I could not name.

The foyer went up three floors, and a chandelier hung in the middle of it. The floor was marble and so clean. I kept my shoulders straight because I refused to look small in this place.

A girl came forward from the hallway to the left. She was young, maybe nineteen. Her hair was in two braids, and she wore a black dress with a white collar.

She looked at me and then at Reid.

“Miss,” she said quietly.

Reid glanced up from his phone.

“This is Briah,” he said. “Briah will take you to your room.”

Briah nodded at me, and her eyes were tired. But there was kindness in them.

Before Briah could move, footsteps echoed behind us. They were fast and sharp against the marble.

A woman’s voice cut through the quiet of the house.

“Reid. Reid County, explain to me right now who this is.”

I turned.

Standing at the bottom of the staircase was a tall woman with platinum hair that fell past her shoulders. She wore a red silk robe, and her feet were bare. In her hand was a glass of wine, even though it was only two in the afternoon. Her eyes were pale blue, and they were fixed on me.

She walked down the last three steps slowly and stopped in front of me. We were about the same height.

“Well,” she said. “Well, well. And who exactly is this?”

Reid pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alvira, not now.”

So that was her. Alvira.

Alvira ignored him. She circled me once, and her eyes went over my dress and my flats and my hands.

She stopped directly in front of me and tilted her head.

“You brought her here,” Alvira said to Reid. “You actually brought a rat into my house.”

Her voice was loud, and it bounced off the walls.

Reid did not answer.

Alvira laughed, and the sound was sharp. “I told you I was sorry about the other day. I told you we could fix this. And this is what you do? You pick someone from the gutters to make me jealous?”

She reached out like she was going to touch my hair and then pulled her hand back.

Now I understood why Reid did not want to marry her. I had never heard about her before. I never knew that Reid County had someone like her.

“Look at your hands,” Alvira said. “They’re rough. Did you think no one would notice? Babe, do you compare this to me?”

Reid finally looked at her. “Alvira, go to your room.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Alvira snapped. “You’re marrying her instead of me. I am the one you love. You don’t even like her. So why is she standing in my foyer?”

Reid’s expression did not change. “Because I said so. Now go upstairs.”

Alvira stared at him for a long second, and then she turned on her heel and walked away. Her footsteps were loud on the steps until she disappeared upstairs.

The house went quiet again.

Reid looked at me for the first time since we got inside.

“Three rules,” he said. “One: You attend all required public events. Two: You do not speak to the press. Three: You do not go to the basement. The basement is off-limits.”

“Why is the basement off-limits?” I asked.

“Because I said it is,” Reid said. “Just follow instructions, Jolene.”

He turned and walked down the hall toward his office without waiting for me to respond.

Briah was still standing there.

“Miss Jolene,” she said softly. “Let me show you to your room.”

I nodded and followed her up the wide staircase. The gold railing was cold under my hand. The hallway upstairs was long, and every door was white and closed.

Briah stopped at the last door on the right and pushed it open.

“This is you,” she said.

The room was bigger than my entire apartment. There was a bed in the middle with white sheets and a lot of pillows. There was a sitting area by the window with two chairs and a small table. The closet doors were mirrored, and when I opened one, I saw that it was empty except for hangers.

There were no pictures on the walls. No books on the shelves. It looked like a hotel room that no one had ever lived in.

“You can make yourself comfortable,” Briah said. “Dinner is at seven. If you need anything, you can call the house phone.”

“Thank you, Briah,” I said.

She gave me a small smile and left, closing the door behind her.

I stood in the middle of the room for a long time.

Everything was quiet except for the sound of the air conditioning.

I walked to the window and looked out. I could see the garden and part of the driveway. I could not see the shop from here. I could not see anything that belonged to me.

There was no clock in the room, so I did not know what time it was.

I stood up and walked to the bathroom. It was as big as the kitchen at the shop. The towels were white and thick.

I washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was messy, and my eyes looked tired.

I didn’t have any clothes here yet. Aunt Lin was going to bring them, along with all of my belongings.

When I came back out, the room was still quiet.

I sat on the edge of the bed, and the mattress sank under my weight. It was too soft.

I thought about Aunt Lin and the shop and the contract I signed. I thought about Alvira’s face when she looked at me.

My shoulders were tense, and I realized I had been holding them up the entire time. I let them drop, and it hurt.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew the room was darker, and my body felt heavy.

I woke up to a loud knock on the door.