Chapter 5 You Do Have A Mutual Agreement

Chapter 04: You Do Have A Mutual Agreement

Janice's POV

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The sound of my phone stirred me from sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by the sight of two women cuddled beside me. I smiled to myself-I didn't expect Melinda to match the wildness of my secretary, Darla. The result? Both of them were exhausted after pleasuring each other all night.

I sat up and began picking up my clothes scattered on the floor. Once I had gathered them, I headed to the bathroom to clean myself up. I ignored the ringing phone-whoever it was, they weren't important to me right now.

Under the shower stream, my mind drifted back to what had happened earlier with Matteo. That familiar irritation crept in again. I hated how he cornered me. I wasn't expecting it-I panicked, caught off guard, and I couldn't think clearly for once.

After I showered and dressed, I didn't bother drying my hair. I stepped out of the room and left the two women asleep. What they did wasn't a game-they went all out, and I knew it would take some time for them to recover from the kind of pleasure only I could give.

As I approached my desk, I grabbed my phone and raised an eyebrow at Matteo's barrage of text messages and missed calls. I let out a sarcastic laugh while scrolling through his messages.

Just then, his name flashed on my screen again. I waited a few seconds before answering.

"Hello?" I greeted casually.

"Where are you? I've been calling and texting-"

"Excuse me, do I need to report to you what the hell I'm doing?" I cut him off, lacing my voice with sarcasm.

A short silence passed between us. I said nothing-I had no plans of explaining anything.

"I set a meeting with your family," he said finally.

"What the fck?!" I snapped, caught off guard. My throat was nearly strained from yelling so loudly. "Why the hell would you do that?"

I heard him sigh on the other end. "Janice, I want us to be official. I want our families to know about our relationship."

I let out a bitter laugh. "Relationship? Matteo, you're delusional. There is no relationship. What we have is just physical. You want me because you want to control me."

"That's not true," he said in a calm voice. "Believe it or not, I want you because I love you."

I let out a dry, humorless laugh and leaned back in my chair. Suddenly, I felt overwhelmed. My mind was racing, my pulse ticking in irritation. I wanted to blow off steam-punish someone in bed to get this weight off my chest-or maybe punish him instead.

"You love me?" I scoffed. "Well, that's a fcked-up way of loving someone, Matteo. If you really loved me, you'd show it in a nice fcking way."

"We made a deal," he said seriously. "And you lost the game."

"Love isn't a damn game, for fck's sake!" I snapped.

"I swear to God, Janice-curse at me one more time, and I'll come over and fck you right on your desk," he growled, his voice laced with warning.

"What the f-" I stopped myself, catching my breath as the weight of his words sank in. I bit my lip, trying not to react, but my body betrayed me with the sudden heat that surged through me. "You're crazy," I muttered, shaking my head and exhaling sharply.

"Yes, I am-crazy for you," he said hesitantly. "I tried to pursue you, but you keep pushing me away. And the only reason is your pride."

"It's not just my pride, you dckhead," I spat. "It's my dignity. I'm one of the most respected businesswomen in the country, Matteo!"

He didn't even flinch. "And wouldn't collaborating with my company boost your engagement even more?"

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, fighting the urge to scream. No matter what I threw at him, he always had a damn counter. Maybe I should stop arguing for now and devise a strategy. I needed him to give up on this twisted marriage-and agree to annul it.

"I'll pick you up at five," he said suddenly.

I frowned. "What?"

"Your dad invited me over for dinner at your house, so-"

"I can go home alone, Matteo," I said coldly. "You don't get to mess with my routine."

"I'll pick you up. See you." He ended the call before I could respond.

"Asshole!" I shouted, slamming my phone onto the desk in frustration.

I crossed my arms tightly and brainstormed ways to escape his clutches later tonight. Just then, the door to my private room opened, and Darla and Melinda stepped out together. Both were looking at me, clearly waiting for my next command.

"Darla," I said without looking up, "Make me a coffee. Strong one, please."

Darla nodded and followed my order while Melinda stood frozen before me.

"Do you need something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"H-Huh? Oh, nothing, Ma'am. I-I'll get back to work," she stammered.

I gave her a slight nod and picked up my phone, which had started ringing again.

"T-Thank you, Miss-" she began, probably trying to express her gratitude or awkward feelings over what happened earlier, but I cut her off coldly.

"I have to take this call. And if you're thinking about earlier, forget it. That was just foreplay-between you and Darla," I said, not even bothering to look at her.

"O-Okay," she muttered and quickly left my office.

"Hello, Zey? What's up?" I greeted the caller casually as I answered.

The shriek on the other end made me flinch and yank the phone away from my ear.

"Jesus, why the hell are you shouting?" I snapped with a frown.

Zey laughed. "Sorry! I just got so excited when I heard you got married. Damn, Janice-why didn't you tell us? We wouldn't have found out if your Dad hadn't called!"

I sank into my chair and bit my lower lip. This is a disaster.

"Tell me-how long have you and Matteo been a thing? You're such a sneaky bitch! You didn't even tell us you were seeing that Ma-"

"He framed me," I said sharply, cutting her off.

"What do you mean 'framed'?" she asked, obviously confused.

I exhaled hard. Where do I even start with this mess? "He's not just some fcking model, Zey. He's the CEO of MaCor Underwear Trading."

"No way! Are you serious? How did you not know? Don't you usually do background checks on all your models?"

"He wasn't hired through my company directly, remember? He was with another agency, and I just brought him in as a part-time model. I didn't get to vet him properly because he was Jeydon's friend-ugh, that bastard! He didn't even tell me who Matteo was!" I snapped, my voice rising.

I clenched my fists, just imagining choking the life out of Jeydon. "When we meet, remind me to kick him in the balls," I added darkly.

Zey just laughed. "But back to the topic-did he propose to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not exactly. Remember I told you last night that I had a meeting with a VVIP investor? It was with MaCor. I had no info on the CEO because the guy's ridiculously private and mysterious. I had to pull strings to find out who he was. The guy barely talks to anyone, and when he does, it's on his terms-and guess what? Surprise, surprise-it was him."

"Seriously? Why do you sound so annoyed telling me this? Shouldn't you be excited that you found out who your business partner is?" Zey asked.

I groaned, running a hand through my hair. "I can't be excited, Zey. He tricked me. And I hate that I let him manipulate me like that."

"What did he do?" she asked, already giggling.

"Right after he signed the contract, he handed me a damn Marriage Contract-like, no warning-and told me to sign it. And me, being a complete idiot in the heat of the moment, I signed the fcking thing!"

"That's it?" she asked innocently.

"Yeah, that's it!" I snapped, my voice rising. "He didn't even ask properly! He just shoved a piece of paper in my face, handed me a pen, and that was it!"

Zey burst out laughing again. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, fighting the urge to throw something. She sounded more amused than concerned that her best friend had just been ambushed into a marriage.

"Damn, Janice. What happened to you is even crazier than what happened to me and Iji," she said between laughs. "But honestly... don't you think it's kinda romantic?"

"Romantic? Romantic?" I repeated, horrified. "Girl, he blackmailed me with a legal document! That's not romance-that's a fcking lawsuit waiting to happen! I might be a woman who enjoys sex, but for fck's sake, I still want a decent proposal!"

She cackled like a hyena. I had to shout her name twice to get her to calm down.

"Did you even ask him why he wanted to marry you?" she asked once she finally composed herself.

"Because of a damn deal," I said, bitterness seeping into every word.

"A deal?" she echoed. "You mean... a fcking deal?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I saw him at XHaven a month ago-and he had a red card."

The memory hit me like a wave-hot, intense, reckless. That night... it was wild. It was my first time crossing that line with a client. And in the arena, no less. God.

"Oh my God. It was literally a fcking deal!" Zey shrieked. "W-Was he that good?"

"Wifey!" I heard her husband, Iji, yell from the background.

"What? I want to know! As far as I know, Janice doesn't even sleep with-"

Her words were cut off mid-sentence, and I could only imagine Iji snatching the phone from her.

"Can you stop?" Iji barked into the phone. "Jan, seriously. Keep that sht to yourself."

I burst out laughing. Just picturing his grumpy, overprotective face was enough to lift some of the tension off my shoulders.

"Relax. She asked. I answered," I said, still chuckling.

"Iji, our conversation wasn't inappropriate! Give me back my phone!" Chelsey argued in the background. "You're the only one here with a dirty mind!"

"Wifey, I'm your husband. It's an insult to hear you asking that fcking question," he shot back.

I wanted to end the call, but I knew Chelsey would scold me. Worse, she wouldn't let it go later when we met at my Dad's house.

"Iji, I'm not even the topic here. It's about Matteo and Janice. I just wanted to know what happened and how things ended up with them doing the deed-"

"Enough!" my brother cut in.

"You're yelling at me?!" Chelsey shot back. "Hey, assface, I'm not doing anything wrong! Save your rage for later when I'm the one telling you about our sex thing!"

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at Chelsey's bluntness. I could already hear my brother letting out a deep, defeated sigh on the other end. The phone went quiet, and I could tell he had given up trying to argue with his wife.

"Hello, Janice? Are you still there?" Chelsey asked.

"Yeah," I said, still laughing.

"Sorry about that, your Hitler of a brother is acting up again," Chelsey apologized, and I could picture them throwing sharp looks at each other, even though I wasn't there.

"It's okay. I think our topic's a bit off-track anyway," I said, still smiling.

Chelsey sighed. "Yeah, I just wanted to know because didn't you once say that was one of your Big No's on your bucket list?"

"Well, I guess... he's some expert and a pro. He got me," I admitted, my cheeks flushing a little. I couldn't deny it-no one had ever done that to me. And for the record? I had an orgasm in under two minutes. Fastest. Ever.

"There you go-you gave in," Chelsey teased. "No wonder he asked you to marry him."

I couldn't reply. Deep inside, I knew Chelsey was right. Her words echoed in my mind, and I couldn't deny them.

"There's nothing you can do about it now," she continued. "You already have a mutual agreement, so-"

"Mutual agreement? Excuse me, I never said yes to him!" I snapped, my brows knitting together in frustration.

Chelsey laughed on the other end. "Darling, whether you like it or not, you do have a mutual agreement-he trapped you, and you let yourself be trapped. In the end, it's always a choice. You chose it and accepted it willingly, even if you claim you were blackmailed. Jeez, when has Janice Ortega ever backed down or surrendered?"

Her words hit me like a slap. I was stunned. Only now did I realize what I had done. Chelsey was right-I had opened my arms and accepted it.

Oh, fcking gosh. Does this mean I intentionally submitted myself to him?

What the fck have you done, Janice Ortega?!