THREE-YEARS CONTRACT MARRIAGE WITH THE HOT BILLIONAIRE

e

r, my escape bag hidden in the garden suddenly feeling

make me com

ther sat behind his massive desk, Bridget standing

r said. "We need to

e words came out steadier than I

and cruel. "Leaving?

" I lifted my chin, years of submission cracking under the

hing in this house belongs to me. Any money you've

s not

his chair. "Oh wait, you can

d known. They had always known about my escape plan, my savings, e

father continued, his tone businesslike. "It's the only way to sav

to offer Cassie,

ridget moved closer, predatory. "The Blackwoods have never met Cassie in

g against the floor. "I'm twenty-four year

But I can make your life

lready

ened. "Lena,

it all erupted at once. "You want me to marry a stranger to save a company you've never let me be part of. You

tone," Bri

fear. "Mom left me a trust fund. It's mine legally. I'm acce

't change. "That trus

tilted.

pany started failing, I had to liquidate it to cover debts." He said i

I could see in his

had left me something, some small piece of independence. An

ay is cancelled," he continued. "

ng champagne at Cassie's party, h

if you agree to this marriage, I'll give you something bette

ung in the a

's wife, attend the necessary events, maintain appearances. After three years, you can divorce him and walk

eal freedom, not the scraping, desperate kind I had been planning. With that money

efuse?" I a

no references, no family support. Your father will tell everyone you're m

ll your mother's garden. Tear it up and pave it

her. The roses she had planted with her own hands, the bench where we ha

ctly which bu

the contra

e desk. I read through the

~

tion: minimum

,000 USD upon comple

s: as required by

gements: sha

reach of contract, infidelity, f

tion by Lena Carter: forf

divorces me before t

ther said. "The penalty only app

magazines claimed, he might end this marriage the moment he discovered the decep

think about

her replied. "Sign the contract,

my small room, my mind churning. I pulled o

s flooded

"30 Und

der's: "Most

profile titled "The

a picture of the man I was supposed to marry. Br

that destroyed her reputation. His father had taught him t

had said in one interview. "

to him. Another business

ange me or own me beyond the contract terms. And if I played by his rules for t

he $3,400 I had saved over three years. It wou

d stolen. The mother I had lost. The twelve

compensation for every humiliation, ever

ad, I took only my mother's locket, which I had hidden in a gap behind my dresser where Bridget wo

ength, Mom,"

He was already there, drinking coffee. Bri

decided?

t on his desk. "I

"You're not in a po

ie destroyed her own reputation last night. I'm your only op

us. Finally, my father g

my mother's garden. Ever

in

. Before the wedding. In a bank

not," Bridge

r bride." I turne

stopped me. "Fifty thous

nty-f

pen and amended the co

Bridget hadn't managed to steal. "If anything happens to me... if I die

ered with something that mig

p, my hand surprisingly steady, and signed my

"Bridget will take you shopping for appropriate cloth

" My voice cracked

Bridget said, her victory complete. "

my father's voice sto

your mother would understand

ffer for twelve years, who had stolen my inherit

ed of you," I said quietl

s and fake ID from my escape bag to my purse. I had paid for them with c

I had tried to s

t time, I wo