The Accidental Wife

"Hey, you home?" said Lucy as Rachel just walked into the apartment with a gloomy face.

Rachel smiled faintly, "Hey, you're not going out with Charles?" she asked, taking off her high heels and placing them in the shoe cabinet.

"Yup! Charles will be picking me up in a minute. Rach, there were three calls today, and all three are from the Bank, they're collecting loans. Is everything all right?" asked Lucy rather anxiously.

Rachel tried to smile, "Yeah, of course everything's fine! Just a little late in payment, that's all! Don't worry! It'll be fine," she said cheerfully.

But Lucy was unfazed, she looked at Rachel with a probing look.

"You're not broke, are you?"

"No! I just forgot to pay the bill, that's it! Do you want some Pannacotta? I bought it on the way home," Rachel mumbled, trying to change the subject. Lucy took the paper bag of Pannacotta from her with a frown. "You're not lying, are you? You know you can always count on me," she said earnestly.

Rachel laughed, "Of course not! I would definitely tell you if I was in trouble, don't worry! Okay? Now, I'm going to clean myself! Get that worried look off your face!" she said as she walked to her room.

Rachel closed her bedroom door tightly. She took a deep breath, panicked. Soon, all the bank collectors might come to her apartment or maybe to her parents' house. How could she possibly overcome the mess she had made? She threw herself onto the bed, staring at the ceiling in deep thought.

Three years ago, she got a job at a prestigious New York public relations firm, and that changed her life completely. Her lifestyle began to change, she lived with her best friend in an expensive apartment in the Central Park West area, whose rent, even though it had been halved, was actually still too expensive compared to the salary she received as a regular PR staff. She also started to buy many luxury goods so that she could compete with her colleagues in the office. Whenever Lucy reminded her, she always said that she needed to improve her lifestyle to keep up with her clients.

She borrowed large sums of money from several banks, swiped all her credit card limits, and even mortgaged her parents' house certificates just to satisfy her shopping craze.

"AAAAAAARGH!" she screamed into the pillow, releasing the weight on her chest. What should she do?! She couldn't borrow that much money from Lucy, she had helped her too much. She had to do something! If her parents realized that she mortgaged their house certificate, her life would be done.

"Rachel, are you sleeping?" A knock on the door startled her. She quickly got out of bed and opened the door for Lucy.

"What's up?" she asked, putting on a cheerful face.

Lucy handed out an invitation to her, "I know you're not in a good mood, but a few complimentary glasses of wine will surely please you. Come to this party, Charles and I, we want to go somewhere else," she said with a wink of an eye.

"Isn't this a high-end event for the rich people? You and Charles deserve to be there, but not me, they won't recognize me, and I'll look stupid among the tycoons," Rachel mumbled as she held out the black invitation back to Lucy.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! You're used to hanging out with the upper class, just put on your best clothes! Who knows, you'll meet your soul mate there! I'll be staying in Los Angeles for a week, don't mess around while I'm away! Bye Rach, love you!" she babbled as she walked briskly, waving her hand, leaving Rachel staring at the invitation in her hand in bewilderment.

"Shit, should I go?" Rachel raved to herself, she had two choices. Go to that prestigious event to enjoy free wine and food, and then go home with a full stomach, or spend her Saturday night in her apartment alone, thinking about her debt that will not pay off on its own. After thinking for a while, she finally decided to leave.

The theme of the party was 'mysterious masks', lucky her, she had a nice silver mask she bought last year for the Halloween party. She put on her best black dress, bandaged her legs in twelve-inch stilettos, and styled her hair in a stunning messy bun. After feeling confident with her reflection in the mirror, she went down to the apartment lobby, took a cab, and went to the five-star hotel in the Soho area where the party was being held.

She read the invitation in her hand that was engraved with Nicholas Anthony's Birthday Bash. She frowned. She seemed to have heard the name but couldn't remember where. What was clear is that the man must be one of the New York conglomerates because the list of guests was very impressive, even the vice president of the United States would be there.

New York City's traffic was quite heavy, but five minutes later, Rachel arrived at the hotel where the party was being held. She got out of the cab and felt inferior when she saw other people getting out of their luxury cars. She sneered, envious that no matter how hard she worked, she would never become rich like them.

With her chin held high she walked to the examination site.

"Good evening, Ms. Lucy Fergusson? Did you come alone?" asked the security guard.

"Yes," Rachel answered simply. Her eyes fell on the neatly arranged party favors not far from her, and she couldn't wait to see them.

After scanning the invitation barcode into the computer, Rachel was finally allowed to enter. "Enjoy your party, Ms. Fergusson!" said the security guard almost without a smile.

"Thanks!" replied Rachel while walking briskly to the table with party favors on it.

"May I know what's in it?" she asked a woman standing beside the table.

"Tiffany's gold keychain," the woman said curtly, watching Rachel as she chewed gum.

Rachel sneered. How could the hotel hire such an annoying woman like her?

"Can I have one?" she asked, trying to keep herself friendly.

"Yeah, sure," answered the woman casually.

"Um, actually I came with my boyfriend, can I get two of them?" she lied, though not completely, because, in fact, Lucy was supposed to come with Charles that evening.

The woman chewed the gum more rapidly as her eyes lingered on Rachel.

"Sure," she said, shrugging. She held out not two, but four boxes of souvenirs to Rachel, who happily accepted them.

"It turns out you're not as annoying as I thought! Thanks, have a great night!"

The woman smirked, "And you're not as rich as I thought," she replied casually, but managed to make Rachel's face turn red instantly.

The party was held in a hotel ballroom, which she just realized was called The Anthony's, which means the property belongs to the birthday person, Nicholas Anthony. She entered the banquet hall, and instantly her mood improved. She took the two glasses of wine that the waiter passed around and took a quick sip. "Ah, free drinks are always delicious!"

She walked towards the food booth hurriedly, "Oh my God! Caviar! Scallops! Abalone with white truffles! Is this heaven?!" she said as she took the food one by one and ate it voraciously.

"You look like you really enjoyed the party?" Suddenly a man in a black mask greeted him.

She turned, nodded, and smiled with her mouth full of caviar bruschetta. She ignored the man and returned to focus on the food she wanted to taste all of them.

"Want to eat more comfortably? There is a room there, you can ask the waiter to bring food and drinks there," said the man, pointing to somewhere.

"Really? Is that even allowed?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, why not?" answered the man, shrugging.

"Okay! I'm in!" said Rachel excitedly. She was in the middle of the party, and no one would harm her.

"So you just like me? You didn't know anyone at this party?" Rachel muttered, glancing at the tall, well-built man walking beside her. "Yup," the man replied, his gaze still straight ahead.

Rachel patted the man on the back lightly, showing empathy.

"It's okay, it's really hard to get into the company of rich people, but I will teach you how," she said lightly.

The man smirked, but he didn't say anything.

Rachel followed the man up the stairs and walked into a room.

"How did you know this place? Do you know Nicholas Anthony well?" she asked in amazement. She looked around the room, and all the things in that room looked very luxurious. She looked intently at the man in front of her. "Are you Nicholas Anthony's bodyguard?" she whispered suspiciously.

The man waved his hand, "It doesn't matter who I am, wouldn't it be better if we didn't know each other?" he said as he typed on his cell phone.

Rachel shrugged, "Well, okay, I can understand if you're afraid of having your identity exposed, Nicholas Anthony will definitely fire you, won't he?" she babbled as she flung herself onto the soft khaki sofa.

Minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and two waiters came with a trolley with food and alcoholic drinks on it.

"Wow! You really are amazing!" chirped Rachel as she took a piece of cheesecake and put it in her mouth.

The man snorted with laughter. He shooed the two waiters away and sat across from Rachel.

"Okay, I'm going to get drunk tonight! Mr. Don't Know Who, can you pour me some vodka?" Rachel said impatiently.

"For the shitty life!" She said, raising her glass of vodka high.

The man nodded, "For the shitty life!"

Time went by so fast that, without realizing it, Rachel had already finished the glasses of vodka that made her very drunk. The last thing she remembered was when she was signing something on the man's cell phone, something that would change her life once and forever.

---

"Who the hell are you?!" yelled Rachel when she woke up in the morning to find herself all naked with someone snoring softly beside her.

"I'm your future husband, have you forgotten what happened last night?" said the man with her eyes half-closed.

"No way!!!" screamed Rachel, shocked.

---

Rachel was silent for a few moments, trying to digest everything. She closed her eyes, remembering what happened last night. Then the memory came out...

She leaned over to the man sitting next to her, licked his lips with a sudden burning passion. Then the vague image of them kissing and groping each other flashed through her head, making her cheeks turn red with the shame of herself. The elevator clinking open, the 68th floor, the president's suite, all clearly pictured.

She bit her lip harder as she recalled everything.

She remembered when she was passionately taking off that man's clothes one by one and jumping on his muscular body. She, Rachel Clarke, the miserable woman who never slept with any man because she was too picky.

"Wait! Can you step aside for a moment?" she said nervously, asking the man to get out of bed.

Sleepily the man moved, he covered his lower body with a pillow.

Rachel hurried to get rid of the pillows and clothes scattered on the bed. It turned out that her guess was right, there, on the white sheet was a red bloodstain that had dried since last night. She covered her mouth with her hand, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"What's that?" asked the man stepping closer to look at the bloodstain.

"No way! Are you a virgin?" she asked as surprised as Rachel.

"Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten what happened last night?!" Rachel snapped in a huff, starting to pick up her clothes one by one from the floor.

The man frowned, "I remember a few things about everything we talked about in the ballroom, but everything we did in this room, was a bit blurry..." he said with a frown. "Are you regret it? I mean, you'd want your virginal night to be more memorable, wouldn't you?" said the man with an understanding face.

"Oh shut up!" Rachel snapped. She hurried away from the man and walked quickly to the bathroom to get dressed. When she returned to the room, the man was already wearing his pants and shirt.

"Okay, can you explain everything now?!" Rachel said with her arms folded across her chest.

"Sure, but I'll need a cup of coffee, would you like one?" he said casually which irritated Rachel even more, was the man in front of her was some kind of sociopath or something?

"Rachel? What kind of coffee do you want?"

"What did you say? Rachel? How do you know my name? We didn't mention each other's names last night?" Rachel asked warily.

The man let out a long sigh, "I promise to explain everything, so what kind of coffee do you want? I have to order now," he said, holding up the intercom.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I don't care what you order," she said as she threw herself onto the sofa. In her head the image of her laying down on the bed with that man swaying on top of her constantly dancing made her feel very embarrassed and aroused at the same time. There was no conversation between them until finally the doorbell rang and the man's coffee arrived.

"Okay, now you have no excuses! Drink that stupid coffee and explain to me everything!" Rachel snapped impatiently.

The man took a full sip of his double espresso then looked up at Rachel who was glaring at him.

"Last night you were raving about the debts you had with several banks, about your house certificate, and over-limited credit cards..."

Rachel's face was as red as a tomato, her shoulders sagging, starting to lose confidence. "What did you say?" she whispered in disbelief.

"Before I got really drunk I took a video of it, as proof, you want to see?" said the man as he shifted his cell phone and showed a video. With trembling hands, Rachel grabbed the video and pressed the 'play' button before long the footage of herself sitting next to the man was clearly visible.

In that tape, she looked so ridiculous and embarrassing. In a drunken state, she kept blabbering about the debts that made her want to move countries, she even said that she had no problem marrying a rich man as long as the debt was paid off. Then the camera turned to the man, he said, "I need a woman to marry immediately for some reason, a contract for two years, after that we will divorce on good terms, I will give a pretty good compensation for you."

Then the camera turned to Rachel who's snorted out laughing, "Are you kidding me? Do you have any money? Aren't you just a bodyguard?" she said, consumed by her own assumptions. "Of course I have, I'm the owner of this hotel, let's get acquainted formally, I'm Nicholas Anthony, founder, and CEO of The Anthony's Corp..."

Back in the real world, Rachel glared at the man who claimed to be Nicholas Anthony with wide eyes. "You're lying, aren't you?" she hissed a little scared.

"Just watch until the end," he said, leaning his back casually.

Rachel pressed the play button and started to watch again. In the video, the man showed his wallet with his ID in it, he even looked up his own name on an internet search engine to make Rachel believe in him. Rachel looked tempted, she bit her lip, staring at the man as if judging and considering.

"Okay, pay off my debt and compensate me for two million dollars so I don't have to work for the rest of my life!" she said half-joking. But the man nodded, "Okay deal!" then the camera moved towards him who took out another cell phone from his pocket. "I've prepared this contract because I know I will find the right person someday, fill in your name and ID in the blanks, and sign..."

Rachel turned off the video with a dumbfounded face, she turned to look at the man in amazement. "So you really are Nicholas Anthony?" she whispered stiffly.

Nicholas Anthony nodded, "Yeah, what can I say, I am him," he replied with a shrug. "How? Your signature was quite valid, anyway, you have nothing to lose, all women want to marry me! Rachel? You are okay? Rachel!" he snapped as he saw Rachel passed out from being too shocked. She fell onto the table, smashed into the coffee cup, and spilled all of its contents. Her head hurt quite badly, but she didn't wake up.

---

The smell of antiseptic wafted through the air, Rachel's eyes twitched slowly then opened all the way.

"Are you awake?" suddenly Nicholas Anthony was beside her.

"Ah, not you again..." she muttered, looking away annoyed.

Nicholas Anthony sneered, one lip rising.

"Hey listen to me carefully, just because what happened last night doesn't mean I like you, you know what happened right? I'm sure you'll remember by now, you kissed me first and..."

"Stop it! God! That sounds disgusting!" Rachel covered her ears. She didn't deny it because she could remember everything well now. She closed her eyes, "I was drunk last night okay? So whatever I did was illegal, you can't take it seriously!" she babbled without daring to look at him, she was still ashamed of whatever she did last night.

Nicholas Anthony nodded, his hands folded across his chest.

"You're right, I can't deny that. Okay! So good luck with your debts again! You know where to call me if you change your mind, I'm giving you twenty-four hours, bye Ms. Clarke!" he said casually. He turned around and walked briskly leaving Rachel lying on the hospital bed.

"Shit!" Rachel cursed as she grabbed her own hair, but after a moment she cringed as she felt a stinging pain in her forehead. She glanced at the nightstand, took out her cellphone, and turned on the selfie camera to see her face. "Oh God!" she screamed when she saw her bruised and slightly injured forehead. Her mood was doubly worse than before.

While she was pensive a nurse came in.

"Ms. Clarke, your CT scan is good, there are no serious injuries, you can go home after completing the payment at the administration and pick up the medicine at the pharmacy," said the nurse firmly and quickly.

Rachel sneered, "Payment?" she hissed to herself. So that snob Nicholas Anthony didn't even pay her hospital bills?! He's really annoying! Even though she had a lot of debts, she would never want to marry that man, even if it's just a marriage contract it will still hurt her pride.

That afternoon she returned to the apartment feeling uneasy, she was very angry and annoyed with Nicholas Anthony but the picture of what they did last night also made her feel very strange, maybe because it was her first time having sex with someone. When she was about to enter the lobby, her cell phone suddenly rang, from her mother. She pulled over and sat on a sofa that was there and then pushed the green button to accept the call.

"Hey, Mom!" she greeted cheerfully, even smiling just so her mother wouldn't guess what was happening to him.

"Rachie, do you remember where I put the house certificate? I looked in all the cupboards and safes but couldn't find it, Janice said I should report the loss to the police if the certificate can't be found," said Paula Clarke, Rachel's mother anxiously.

Rachel's body tensed up instantly, cold sweat starting to run down her back. She gripped the phone tightly, trying to think quickly.

"No Mom! Don't report it to the police! The certificate is in my apartment when I brought my important documents it was carried with the other documents," she didn't lie at all, because the house certificate was indeed accidentally carried. It's just that in the end, it made her naughty mind work so she pawned the certificate to the bank by making a fake power of attorney.

"Thank God! Can you send it to us? No no that's not safe, um maybe Dad's going to be in New York over the weekend to pick that up in your apartment," Mom said quickly as if that was something urgent.

Rachel's eyes widened instantly, "What? Why? I mean, why did Dad even bother to come from Nashville to here just to get a house certificate? You don't have to worry, the certificate will be safe here with me," she raved frantically.

She could hear Mom taking a deep breath on the other end, "Rachie, we're sorry we didn't tell you earlier, but the company your dad worked for went bankrupt and you know at his age he can't easily find a new job, so we planned to pawn a house certificate to the bank so I can get a loan to start a small business, you know I'm pretty good at making bread..."

Rachel was no longer listening to her mother, everything was light and she felt like she was floating. How could she do that bad thing to her parents, she was the worst girl in the century!

"Mom, you don't have to pawn anything okay? I'll give you the money you need! I'll call you as soon as possible, tell Dad I missed him, bye Mom! Love you!" with haste and trembling hands she ended the call. She covered her face with both hands, "what should I do, what should I do...' she muttered to herself.

Then suddenly she remembered the arrogant man who offered her mutual benefit cooperation, Nicholas Anthony. Maybe he was the answer to all the problems, to be specific her financial problem.

She left the lobby apartment and ran quickly in the party dress she had worn since last night to stop the cab, but she realized that she didn't know where to go to meet that snob. The man didn't even leave a business card or phone number. "Where do you want to go?" asked the cab driver, looking at her confusedly in the rearview mirror. "Miss?"

Rachel bit her lip, deep in thought. Then suddenly she remembered the copy of the contract she signed last night. She remembered Nicholas Anthony emailing a copy of it.

"Wait a moment!" she snapped, her hand quickly opening her cell phone. Turned out her memory wasn't wrong at all, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"172 Madison Avenue please..."

As the cab sped through busy New York traffic, she dialed Nicholas Anthony's number. Until the last ring, the call went unanswered.

"That arrogant bastard! He must have ignored me on purpose!" she grumbled angrily.

If she followed her ego she would definitely undo whatever she was doing and return to the apartment. But the image of her father and her mother looking at her with sad faces left her no choice.

She kept calling Nicholas Anthony many times but still didn't get an answer, until finally, she arrived in front of a tall building that was part of Anthony's Corp, at least that's what she read on the internet. She hesitantly stepped into the apartment lobby, she didn't know where Nicholas Anthony's unit was and the receptionist of course wouldn't be willing to tell her.

When she was confused and desperate, suddenly her cell phone rang.

"You called me! Well, I knew you would call," Nicholas Anthony's voice sounded very annoying.

Rachel closed her eyes, worried that she would lose her pride by accepting that annoying man's offer. "Come on, Rach. You can ask Lucy for help-she's a tycoon kid!" she muttered quietly in her head.

"I just called to ask about my scarf, I think I left it at the hotel," Rachel mumbled which of course was a lie, she clutched the Scarf that was hanging sweetly in her handbag.

"Really? No, you didn't leave your scarf at the hotel, and by the way, why are you standing in the lobby of my apartment?"

Rachel shrieked in surprise, she turned around and froze for a moment when she found Nicholas Anthony standing behind her in his tracksuit.

"Busted!"

---