Chapter 4 Signing the devil's deal

Charlotte was sitting across from Oliver in the office which had a dim light on, one could easily notice the fear in her as her hands seemed to be trembling.The heavy oak table between them felt more like a barrier between the both of them, a wall she would never climb again.

She was holding a pen in her hand, with documents spreading out in front of her. She stared at the pen and everything in the office, as if she had some doubts in her.

"You'll pay for my mother's surgery?" she asked, her voice sounding like a whisper, she had lost every form of confidence in her especially knowing that Oliver's eyes were all over her.

Oliver leaned forward, the corner of his mouth curling into a devilish smirk. His eyes gleamed in a way as if there's this kind of pain, darkness and anger in them. "Yes," he said calmly. "The best surgeons, the best hospital, and at a very costly amount so you have nothing to fear."

Charlotte's heart thundered against her ribs. It was everything she had prayed for - her mother's life spared. But at what cost?

"There's only one simple thing you have to do for me in return." He paused for a few seconds and looked her straight in the eyes, his looks were so scary, combined with his harsh tone and straight face that makes him fit into Satan's description.

"You will be my wife for just two years and in this period, no emotions, no feelings attached, no relationship outside the contract marriage, no appearances in public events without his permission." He stopped for a moment to see if Charlie would say a word in objection to all he had said.

And then he continued "At the expiration of the two years contract, I'll pay you all that we agreed upon and that will be all." "No blackmails, no playing smart because that would be a dangerous route for you."

Charlotte just looked on as he played God in the whole scenario, she couldn't even Utter a word, she felt trapped and handicapped. At least she had to do this for her mother.

His words echoed in her mind like a death sentence. Marriage had always been a dream for her, something sacred. This was a transaction. A business deal sealed with lies and chains.

She lowered her gaze to the contract lying before her. The ink was crisp, the terms painfully clear. She would have to spend the next two years of her life bound to a man she barely knew but instinctively feared.

Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back fiercely. She couldn't afford to be weak, not now. Not when her mother's life was hanging by a thread. Slowly, she picked up the pen, her fingers stiff and cold.

"You're sure there's no other way?" she whispered, half-hoping he would retract the offer, half-praying he wouldn't.

Oliver's expression didn't soften. If anything, he looked almost amused. "There's always another way, Charlotte. But none that end with your mother alive."

It was cruel. It was calculated. And it was effective.

Her vision blurred as she pressed the pen to the line bearing her name. Charlotte Renee Miller. Her hand moved almost mechanically, forming the letters of her own doom. As she finished the final stroke, an eerie silence fell over the room. It was done. No turning back now.

Oliver reached out for the papers and slid them towards him with a kind of calmness that made Charlotte furious. He tapped them into a neat file and locked them away in a black folder made of leather. He stood up and said "congratulations Mrs Charlotte, you're officially mine."

The way Oliver sounded so possessive and mean at the same time made Charlie want to run away from his presence and from his life if only it was possible for her to just terminate the contract and save her mom at the same time.

She pulled away from the table and her chair made an annoying scraping sound against the well polished floor. But Oliver just looked at her and said nothing, so she got angrier. "When do we... when does it start?" she managed to ask.

"Tonight," Oliver replied, reaching for his coat. "Your old life ends the moment you walk out that door with me."

Charlotte flinched. She hadn't packed a bag. She hadn't said goodbye to her friends. She hadn't even told her mother what she was about to do. She didn't even prepare for any of these, they all just happened in a couple of hours and now it feels like she had lost her entire life.

Oliver was already at the door, glancing back at her expectantly. "Coming, Mrs. Blackwood?"

She swallowed hard. The name felt foreign, a mask she would have to wear for the next two years.

Charlotte, whose legs were feeling heavy on the ground, forced herself to move. She walked across the room over to where he was standing and he grabbed her hands so tight that Charlie became frightened.

He didn't smile all through the time they spent in the office, now he's pulling her along like she's his maid or something. Together, they stepped into the hallway.

The terrifying realization that she's walking into a prison not a marriage hit her. She imagined what the next two years would be like, the feeling was so strange.

As they approached the waiting black limousine, a figure standing in the distance caught her attention. She slowed down a little bit and tried to identify the person standing in the shadow.

It was a man. He was tall, and looked familiar. He took a step forward, his face hidden in darkness, but his voice carried clearly through the night air. "Charlotte, don't do this," he said urgently. "You have no idea who he really is."

Oliver's hand tightened around hers like a vice. "Get in the car," he commanded, his voice low and dangerous.

Charlotte stood frozen between them, between the devil she knew and the mystery she didn't. It looked like she had just signed her soul away.