AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A contract for...” I draw out, genuinely interested in what he thinks he can offer me that I’d be willing to accept.
“You need my help, just as I need yours. I think we could be mutually beneficial for each other.” He grabs the envelope, pulling out a stack of papers and placing them in front of me.
I shake my head. “I don’t need your help.”
“Ahh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Tara. I recall you saying that you weren’t going to let the business go down, but you don’t want to marry whoever your parents have planned for you. I can give you money to keep this place afloat, and make all your problems go away.”
This prick. “I knew you were fucking eavesdropping on my private conversation.”
He gives a small shrug. “You were practically screaming. Anyone within a mile radius would’ve heard your conversation. Not exactly a secret if you’re announcing it to the world.”
“You were standing right outside the door like a creep!” It’s not that hard to hear a conversation when you’re pressing your ear to the door.
“Marry me instead of him.”
My heart skips a beat, and my breath hitches at his words. “Wait. What?” There is no way I just heard him correctly. I pinch my leg, making sure I’m not in some weird alternate reality where Marnix Taylor, a man I only met this week, just asked me to marry him.
“You heard me. Marry me instead.” His voice is casual, like he’s picking out a dish off the menu, not asking a complete fucking stranger to marry him.
Who the hell is this guy?
I laugh. No way in hell he’s serious about this. “I’m not sure how they do things on your side of the city, but over here that’s not it. No, I won’t marry you.” This guy is certifiably insane if he thinks I’m going to be falling at his feet, thanking him for asking me to marry him.
“The idea of marrying you is repulsive at best. But I need a wife and you need money to save this run-down hole in the wall.” Oh, I get it. He sees me as a charity case he can push around. One who’ll see this opportunity as a miracle which I should be grateful for. Well, screw that.
“Don’t you have plenty of socialite snobs to choose from?” Out of all the people he could ask to marry him, he chose me? I’m a nobody. A poor, insignificant woman from the West Side, running her parent’s restaurant. There are absolutely zero interesting things about me, so I don’t see the appeal.
“Would you rather marry whoever it is your parents want for you?” he counters smugly, acting like he has me right where he wants me. The thing is, he kind of does. I’d rather chop off my hand than marry Zayan.
The idea of losing my parent’s restaurant sickens me, filling me with grief. It’s all I’ve ever really known; it’s been the source of my happiness for as long as I can remember. This place is home for me. It’s my peace. So of course I don’t want to lose it.
My parents think Zayan would help us keep it afloat if I marry him. In reality, he probably could. He comes from a family of doctors, and always had money to throw around when we were together, but honestly? The idea of selling my kidneys is more appealing than that.
Damn him. Marnix is a dirty fucking player. The nerve of this jackass.
“Why do you need a wife?” If he knows my situation, I need to know his. Is he a serial killer? I heard about this group in Cincinnati where this charming guy was killing women. Could he be doing the same? A man like him probably has plenty of women throwing themselves at him, even for just a little taste. He’s alluring, but clearly the devil in disguise. I’ve already had one of those; I don’t want another.
“None of your business.” His low growl was probably meant to warn me off the topic, but it only sent a tingle to my pussy.
“On the contrary, hubby. As man and wife, shouldn’t we share everything with each other?” I shoot a sly grin his way, noting with satisfaction how his fists clench. Good to know I can piss him off like he does me.
“You’re impossible,” he sighs, running a hand through his perfect brown hair before he continues. “My father recently died. Part of the terms of his will is that I have to be married for at least a year before I can take control of his firm. If I can’t make it happen within three years, then it will go to someone else.”
I’m intrigued by the malice in his voice when he talks about his father. The handsome asshole has daddy issues. “That’s legal?” Obviously he’s a lawyer, so he would likely know but it seems, I don’t know, wrong.
“Unfortunately,” he grumbles, looking even more pissed off, if that’s possible.
It’s an odd condition to have in a will. Even more odd, because by the looks of it, Marnix Taylor doesn’t seem like the relationship type. He’s cocky, egotistical, and very unapproachable. Hot as hell, yes, but the commitment type? Definitely not. His father must’ve hated him if these were his conditions.
I looked up Marnix after he left the other day. Yeah, and I’m the one calling him a stalker. There are pictures of him with countless beautiful women plastered all over the internet, but never the same one. There’s no record of any real relationships—I checked. So the idea of him managing to get someone to fall deep enough in love to marry him within three years honestly does seem like a stretch.
“I’m sure there are plenty of desperate women more than eager to marry you, Marnix. Your time is up, though. I’ll get your order in.” I go to slide out of the booth, but he stops me in my tracks again.
“I don’t want them. I want you.” The words would be endearing if I felt like he meant it. He doesn’t actually want me; he wants the idea of someone like me. He knows I need help, and he’s taking advantage of that for his own agenda. He wants someone vulnerable, someone dependent on him.
This is a terrible idea. I don’t know him, but he’s obviously a little messed up in the head to ask a complete stranger to marry him. The man also clearly has some family issues, even if he didn’t admit that out loud. What father would make that a condition of his will for his own son’s inheritance? There had to be some sort of animosity between them.
Marnix Taylor is everything I need to avoid. He’s rich. His family comes with deep-seated secrets. And he’s arrogant, which means I’d want to punch his smug face every two seconds if I married him. He’s all-round completely wrong for me.
