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“Good. I’m glad you understand that.”
“But there’s more, isn’t there?” She wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t.
“Yes.” His frown deepened. “Would you like something to drink? Water? Coffee?”
“No. I just want the truth. I'm tired of lies and half-truths.”
“Okay. Let’s start with how this contract can be nullified. What's your understanding of that?”
“The contract can be ended by either of us if after a year—through no fault of my own or Harker’s—I don't get pregnant. I’d get half of the agreed upon percentage of the company and we’d get a divorce so that Harker can find someone else to give him a child.” Just the thought of that made her want to cry.
“That’s correct. There are no addendums that modify that.”
“Thank God.” She’d started to fear that she’d lose everything if she or he ended up being infertile. She was so glad that she’d trusted him on this. She knew him. He was still a jerk about the monogamy thing but deep down he’d never cheat her.
“Let’s talk about how the contract can be broken and what you’d each lose.”
“Okay. The contract can be broken by him if I refuse to allow him to fulfill his…” She cleared her throat. “Basically, it can be broken if I refuse to have sex with him, but I already talked to Dan about that. I can refuse him if there’s the possibility that I might be pregnant.” She turned to Dan and smiled. “He wasn’t very happy when I explained that to him.” Her nose wrinkled in thought. “It’s kind of weird that he hadn’t brought that up before because I’ve refused to sleep with him on several occasions.”
“You have?” Dan sounded surprised.
“Yes. We’ve had a few fights.” More than a few considering that they hadn’t been married very long.
“And he never told you that you were breaking the contract?” asked Dan.
“No. That seems odd to me too.” Because that would’ve forced her to sleep with him.
“He probably never planned on using that addendum,” said Terry.
“What do you mean?” She turned back toward Terry.
“Harker’s contracts are known for the addendums and clauses that allow him to win…or at least to lose very little, if things go badly. He seldom uses those addendums if things are going well.”
“So he just has them in there to cover his ass.” While hers was bare, bottom up and waiting for his slap.
“Yeah,” said Terry. “The good thing is that he won’t use them—”
“As long as things go his way.” A cold dread settled in her stomach.
“Precisely.” Terry’s dark eyes studied her. “I need to ask if you’re pregnant now?”
“I don't know. I took a few pregnancy tests. Two came back positive but one was negative.”
“You need to find out from a doctor.”
“I know. I dropped off a urine sample today, right before I came here.” She’d been terrified and excited. She was still mad at Harker but a baby…Her hand touched her stomach.
“Good because there's a clause in here that specifies that the contract can be broken at any time by any of these rules.”
“Yeah. That was so that neither of us were stuck with each other any longer than we wanted to be.” She’d really liked that part of the contract but the look on Terry’s face made her nervous.
“It also means that you could violate one of the terms of the contract before you're pregnant or before you're aware that you're pregnant. He could claim after you have the child that back on such and such a date you violated the contract and it's void.”
“Void? What do you mean by that?” Alison’s stomach twisted. Was this why he’d been so lenient about her refusing him? Was he marking down the dates and planning on voiding the contract?
“Are you okay?” Terry leaned forward. “Dan, get her some water. We'll take a short break.”
“No. I’m fine.” She was as far from fine as she’d ever been. “Let's continue.” She needed to hear every dirty little secret Harker had slipped into their contract because it was the only way she was going to stop loving him.
