The Terms
Josephine Brooks
“Arthur, tell me I’m not about to lose a hundred and two kids because I’m single. Isn’t there a loophole or something we can do?”
Arthur Pendergast, my mother’s lawyer, adjusted his glasses. “I wish there was, Josephine. I’ve read this document every day for two weeks. If there was a loophole, I would’ve seen it by now.”
Fifty million dollars.
The difference between those kids having a future and being back on the street. And it was sitting behind a glass wall that could only be broken by a wedding ring.
“The only way to get the funds allocated to you in your late mother’s will is to get married,” Arthur said with finality, taking off his glasses
I exhaled, standing up and smoothing my suit jacket. My hands were trembling, so I tucked them into my pockets.
“Thank you for at least hearing me out, Arthur.”
If I didn’t find a husband this month, the orphaned kids at the foundation would be evicted within sixty days. I would never forgive myself.
I had to find a husband.
The answer obvious: Mark. We loved each other and have been together for close to a year now. There would be no reason for him to say no.
Of all the sentences I thought I'd say before thirty, asking a man to marry me had never made the list.
Fuck. What do I buy? Flowers? A ring? Do I kneel? God.
My pulse was pounded against my ribs as I got in my car. Pulling the visor down, I gripped the steering wheel and stared at my reflection through the visor mirror.
“You’ve got this.”
I breathed in deeply, forcing the panic down. I didn’t bother texting him. He was home on annual leave and a surprise proposal felt right.
I stopped at a jeweler down the street and purchased a simple band, grabbed a single red rose and within, I was pulling into his driveway.
Using the spare key he’d given me, I let myself in, dropping my bag onto the living room sofa.
Muffled, bass-heavy music vibrated through the floorboards, coming from upstairs. But as I reached the bottom of the staircase, another sound cut through the melody
A sharp breathless moan
My heart thudded and my nervousness faded, replaced with building anger.
As I stormed up the stairs, the moans became sharper and louder and so did the slapping of flesh
It better be one of his friends using his apartment to f**k
I entered the corridor and my pulse roared in my ears . It wasn’t any of his friends
My boyfriend, no, soon to be ex-boyfriend was on the floor naked, legs spread wide and a blonde haired girl I recognised from his firm was straddling him, sitting on his d**k, bouncing on it and moaning performatively almost at the top of her lungs with mindless abandonment.
I stood in the hallway frozen, my fingers tightening around the stem of the rose.The universe truly had a sick sense of humor.
They didn’t even notice me. Mark’s eyes were closed and his head thrown back as he started screaming like a wounded animal and I knew he was about to come.
I was not about to stand there and watch him finish.
Stepping forward, I rammed my hand against the clay flowerpot his mother had made for him. It tumbled off the console table, shattering across the hardwood floor in a loud explosion of dirt and ceramic.
“f**k! Jo?” Mark stammered, his eyes flying open as he frantically tried to push the girl off his lap.
“f**k you,” I screamed, hurling the red rose directly at his face. I reached into my pocket for the ring box, intending to throw that too, but stopped myself. It cost forty-five dollars, and I wasn’t losing a single dime over this bastard.
Turning on my heel, I stormed down the stairs.
Mark scrambled behind me, completely naked, his skin flushed. “Jose, wait! She seduced me! I swear, it was a total mistake!”
“A mistake? Really?” I scoffed, throwing the front door open. “That’s what you’re going with? You couldn’t even wait to get her into the bedroom. It was such a mistake that you had you had to f**k her right in the corridor.”
He opened his mouth to offer another excuse, but I slammed my hand up. “Save it. We’re over.”
“Jose! Jo! Jo, baby just hear me out! Pleasee!”
I didn’t stop for even a second. I went straight for my car and drove three blocks away before I parked as my eyes became clouded with tears
I finally gave in and dropped my head on the steering wheel, letting my tears flow
At this rate, I’d never find someone who would love me for me and love the kids at the foundation.
My plan was gone. And the foundation was still dying.
I pulled out my phone and called one of my friends, Tess.
She picked up on the second ring
“Tess. I’m parked on the corner of Sixth and Terrace.” My voice cracked. “Come get me.”
In less than ten minutes, Tess, Chloe, and Richard pulled up in a cab
I hadn’t even finished explaining the scene when Tess slammed her hand against the dashboard. “He’s a pig! I’ve said it since the day he forgot your birthday!”
“I get it now,” I sniffed, wiping my nose with a tissue. “Clearly, I have catastrophic taste in men.”
“That’s not true, Jose,” Richard said gently from the driver’s seat. “Your person is out there. You just haven’t crossed paths yet.”
“Well, I better cross paths with him by midnight,” I sobbed. “If I don't get married, the foundation loses its legal protection, and my kids will be out on the street. I’ll lose everything my mother worked for. Everything I am.”
Richard went quiet, his reflection in the rearview mirror showing him biting his lower lip, his signature thinking face. I straightened up, focusing on him. “What is it, Rich? Do you have an idea?”
“Do you actually need to be in love with him, Josephine?”
“What?”
“The will,” he continued, turning around in his seat to lock eyes with me.
“Does it explicitly stipulate that you have to be head-over-heels for the guy?”
“No,” I said slowly, trying to follow his train of thought.
A devious smirk spread across his face. He scrambled over the console, dropping onto both knees on the driver’s seat, and pulled a heavy silver gothic band off his middle finger. “Josephine Fred Brooks, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
Tess and Chloe gasped in unison.
“What about your girlfriend, Richard?” I blinked in shock.
“Hey, as long as I can still see her and you help me explain that this is strictly business to save the kids, I’m game. You get your money, and we save Hope Haven.” He grinned.
“Wait… that could actually work.” My heart leaped.
I grabbed my phone to dial Arthur immediately.
“Arthur, I’m getting married. The one-year countdown starts this month.”
“That’s excellent news, Josephine,” Arthur’s voice came through the speaker, though his tone was layered with caution. “We will just need to run a routine background check on the groom to ensure he qualifies.”
My brows knitted together. ‘..qualifies? What do you mean qualifies?”
“Your mother added a protective clause to prevent fortune hunters,” Arthur explained smoothly. “The groom must be independently wealthy. If there is any indication he stands to benefit financially from your trust, the executors will flag and freeze the assets immediately.”
My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit.
“How wealthy, Arthur?”
“Seventy million. Minimum.”
Oh, f**k my life.
