Chapter 3 The Rules

"Yes. I do," I recalled saying earlier to a total stranger. I wanted to say no and leave right then and there, but my hands were tied. These people are not only wealthy. They are influential. If I had tried anything funny like Julian said earlier, my world would have stopped by now.

I couldn't sleep, even in the plush guest suite of Julian Cross's mansion with its silk sheets and floor-to-ceiling windows, I lay awake, staring at the ceiling and feeling the weight of a thousand regrets on my chest.

Even though everywhere was silent, I could still hear the echoes of his words from earlier and the thousands of paparazzi talking at the same time, just to get words out of the newly wedded fake couple we posed.

"Smile, Aria. It's done."

No matter how I turned the words over in my head, they didn't make sense. None of this did. I had signed a contract thinking I was doing some kind of luxury modelling gig, but I had never imagined it would turn into marrying a billionaire with a steel heart and a lawyer in his pocket.

I was trapped.

A knock at the door startled me.

"Yes?" I answered, sitting up on the bed.

The door opened and Julian came in. He was dressed in a black T-shirt and slacks, barefoot, but still managing to look like he owned the world.

He glanced around the room, then met my eyes.

"Get dressed. We're going over the rules." Julian's unkind voice sounded.

"It's two in the morning. Have you checked your time?"

"I don't care. You live in my house now and you'll follow my rules."

I climbed out of bed slowly with my heart thumping. "You can't just barge in here and order me around," I murmured.

"We're legally married, and you had signed away your privacy," he reminded.

"That contract was misleading at best."

"The least you could have done was to read it," he snapped. "before you took the money."

"I did it for my brother"

"And I did it for control of my company, and more so, I wasn't expecting to sign a deal with your broke ass. But since fate has brought you, then you abide by the rules." His voice cut like glass."

"Were you brought up this way? To speak to your wife like this is a business transaction?" I asked.

"Only the fake ones." He smirked.

"Come downstairs," he added. "Now."

We ended up in one of his many living rooms this one was decorated in whites and pale blues with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a roaring fireplace. He handed me a document as thick as a small novel and gestured for me to sit.

"These are the expectations," he said.

I skimmed the first page. "Weekly appearances, Public handholding and A curated Instagram account"

Julian didn't blink. "We need to sell this marriage to the public because the board needs to believe it's real."

"Do you think I can do this? What if I messed it up?"

"You wouldn't want to."

"This is insane." I looked up at him.

"No," he said quietly. "It's necessary."

"For whom"

He leaned against the fireplace with his arms folded, and this made him look more like a statue than a man.

"For both of us," he replied. "The media is already watching and my company is under pressure. If you play your part well, you'll walk away with more money than you had ever dreamed of. But if you make me look like a fool..." he paused

I swallowed hard after reading the rules further. "I don't get to leave the house whenever I want?"

"Only with permission," he answered

"Do I get to own a phone at least ?" I inquired

"You'll get a monitored phone, you'll attend events and smile for the cameras. You have to pretend you're the luckiest woman alive. That's the role you signed up for."

I shot to my feet. "I didn't sign up to be your prisoner." I snapped

"You're not a prisoner. You're an actress and this is a performance."

"For how long will it be" I questioned.

"It's just for a year, after that we'll file for a divorce quietly, and you'll get your money while I get my company."

I crossed my arms as my body began to shake. "You could've picked anyone else, Why me?" I asked.

He stared at me for a long moment. "You looked innocent enough and not too polished with just the right amount of desperation."

I felt my stomach twist. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you lied."

My breath caught. "What! Excuse me?"

"Your résumé was fake and the name you gave to the agency wasn't even your real name. Your social media was wiped clean before the contract. You were hiding something."

I shook my head as I tried to defend myself and said in a low voice. "I was protecting my brother."

"I don't care," he said flatly. "All I know is that I paid for honesty yet I didn't get it."

"You paid for control." I snapped as I stepped closer.

Now, his expression hardened. "And now I have it."

I turned away as I choked back the heat in my throat. I couldn't cry in front of him. He would only see it as weakness.

"You may leave to attend to your issues," he said behind me. "But you will not leave it without permission. You will not speak to the press unless I approve the statement. And you will not lie again."

I turned around. "What happens if I break one of your rules"

His eyes narrowed as he answered nonchalantly. "Try it and see what happens."

We stared at each other like two strangers tied by gold rings.

"Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Cross," he whispered before leaving me there.

I spent the rest of the night staring out the window of the guest suite. The mansion was on a cliffside with the Pacific Ocean stretching into darkness beyond the balcony. The stars sparkled which was too beautiful for what I was living through.

I didn't know what was worse: the fact that I'd married a cold-hearted billionaire... or the fact that he now owned my life like it was part of his portfolio.

Eventually, I fell into a restless sleep.

Morning sunlight hit my face like a spotlight.

I rolled over, feeling groggy, as I grabbed the remote on the nightstand. The giant TV on the opposite wall flickered to life as it had

already been tuned to a morning news station.

"...and in shocking news, Julian Cross, CEO of Cross Enterprises, tied the knot in a secret ceremony last night. Sources say the bride is a mystery woman with no confirmed background..."

I sat up with my heart racing and then the screen changed to me.

A slow-motion clip of me walking down the aisle and a still of Julian placing the ring on my finger with "A tabloid headline:

"Julian's Cinderella: Who Is Aria Lane?"

My face is now shown on every screen.

I scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom and I turned on the faucet just to drown out the noise. My reflection in the mirror looked like someone else. It looked like someone trapped in silk.

The door burst open behind me and I turned.