Chapter 5 I Accepted, Shit!

I was fuming...What does he take me for?

"It's quite simple. It means that we'll be married for two years and after..."

"Oh, please, save your explanation. I can read," I spat, halting him before he could continue. I'm not sure what annoyed me most, whether it was the fact that he thought so lowly of me, or his stupid confidence. Maybe arrogance.

"Great, then, saves me a lot of stress."

This nitwit was talking about something as sacred as marriage as though he were simply explaining a work schedule to an employee.

"Why would I even want to marry you?"

"Oh, please, you women pretend so much. A lot of women would give anything to have my surname, Miss Clark. So, we both know this is a rare opportunity. A privilege."

"A privilege?"

"Yes, a privilege!"

I chuckled in amazement. I had never seen a man who thought so highly of himself. This was delusional.

"Well, I'll have you know that I, Darlene Clark, am not 'a lot of women'," I said, looking straight into his eyes. I stood up, pushed his proposal back to him, "You can keep your surname privileges, I'm not interested," and turned to leave.

"Wait, please. I'll explain."

"Don't bother," I kept walking. I had been insulted enough for one day.

"I'm offering thrice your salary..." his voice came from behind me. Not sure if I heard correctly, I paused and turned towards him.

"How dare you try to buy me over with money? You are such a disgusting man," I took the handle, looking back at the door.

"I'll pay for your mother's surgery as well."

"You'd what?" I turned.

"You heard me. Please sit."

Just then, it dawned on me that this man dug deeper than I thought. Now I understood where he got his guts from, he knew I was quite needy. But how dare he?

"Please."

Coldly, I withdrew my hand from the handle and turned around, crossing my arms in a pose right by the door.

"Can you sit? Please?"

I then retraced my steps and went back to have a sit.

I sat back down, tilted my head to the side, and raised my brows, waiting for him to explain.

"You wouldn't have to work two jobs to get a decent salary. I'll pay three times what you earn, and I'd fund your mother's surgery; all you need to do is sign these papers.

"I refuse to believe you are being nice to me. What's in it for you?"

He reflected for a while and then stood up and walked to the back of his seat.

"I'll save you the details," he began, "My grandfathers will demand that I get married soon or I stand the chance of losing my inheritance. And by that, I mean everything I've worked for all my life."

"What!"

"Yeah..."

Was he mentally unstable? I thought to myself, why such a clause? But I wasn't one to speak ill of the dead, so I snapped out of it as quickly as I could. At that point, I could understand where he was coming from, being forced to marry would be devastating for me, if I were in his shoes, but as soon as I lifted my eyes to catch a glimpse of his cold and arrogant face, my pity for him vanished.

He bit his lips and furrowed his brows, waiting for me to respond, as he stared at me intently.

"Where is Ava's mother? Why don't you just marry her?"

"No, not her."

"Why not her?"

She's dead." He responded abruptly. "Shhh..e died of cancer."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"Yeah, now you know. Can you please not bring this up in front of my daughter?"

"Sure."

"Good."

"But why me? You said it already, a lot of women will jump at the chance, and you don't even have to ask twice."

"Look, I have a daughter. I'm careful who I let into my house. And before you ask what makes me so sure you're not a bad person, I've done my background checks."

"A background ch..." I paused before I could complete the sentence. Our earlier conversations came flooding. That's how he got all that information about me.

"What else?"

"What do you mean, 'what else', he responded quite lost. What else did you find out? Since you now go about snooping on other people's lives and affairs." I felt myself getting angry, I would break his nose if I could.

"Hey hey hey...don't get ahead of yourself, miss. I'm a very busy man. I have no time to spare and only look you up because it was necessary. So, I'd get off that high horse if I were you."

I chuckled. I knew he could tell it was sarcasm. I had lost it.

"You should not have invaded my privacy, Mr. Stark. You should have just left me the fuck alone. Fuck you and you stupid contract, you can shove it up your ass." I didn't care if anyone heard me. I stood up to leave, and then he cut in sharply.

"Too bad for the poor woman. I wonder how long she has to leave without that surgery, and here her daughter wants to throw away the keys to her health just because of her ego. Hmm...maybe she isn't worth so much after all."

Those words. I could feel the chill in my bones, that fear that comes on me when I remember I might just have to watch my mom die soon, just because I couldn't raise the money. Maybe this was my chance, I thought, so I sat back, pondering.

"I know you need my help," he said as he sat, pushing the glass of water towards me. His minty breath brushed my nose as he continued, "I'm willing to help you. Sign the contract, save your mother's life, and then we can go our separate ways after two years."

Isn't this what I wanted all along? Why was I hesitating? I thought. Maybe I was really letting my pride get in the way.

"I have a few conditions," I said, swallowing my pride.

He smiled and adjusted in his seat. "Come on, let's hear it.