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ONE
damages
CHLOE
It was certainly notthe letter I’d been hoping for.Hey Chloe,texted Elena, the madam who’d hired me.Bryce’s attorney hand-delivered a message this morning. You better read this ASAP.
I sighed as I re-read the attachment.
Dear Mrs. Windsor:
Your husband, Bryce Windsor, has retained us as counsel. I have attached a copy of your post-nuptial contract for your records.
Please be advised that pursuant to Section 72-F of your agreement, you are hereby in default. Our client is exercising his right to demand specific performance of the contract terms within forty-eight (48) hours from today. Failure to perform constitutes a breach on your part, which will result in our client seeking damages, up to and including punitive ones.
An associate from our office will be following up shortly.
Sincerely,
Jim Wright, Senior Partner
Kellogg, Kramer and Wright LLP
My phone buzzed—my attorney, Akira Zhang, was calling again. I’d already sent her to voicemail three times, but she didn’t give up easily. “Hey, Akira.”
“What thefuck, Chloe?” she hollered into my ear. “Jim Wrighthand-delivereda letter to AccommoDatingthis morning! Do you know what he charges? Three thousand dollars anhour! Elena said he freaking walked there! That’s a fifteen-hundred dollar walk.”
“So what?” I asked, careful to keep my voice down. My younger brother, Noah, was asleep in the bed next to mine. “Bryce can afford it.” My estranged husband, Bryce Windsor, was a billionaire. His family was one of the wealthiest in the United States. If anyone could afford three thousand dollars an hour, it was Bryce.
“You don’t get it. Bryce is coming after you hard.” She sounded agitated. “His law firm mentionedpunitivedamages. Do you know what that means?”
“No.”
“It means he’s going to sue you for everything you’ve got! And he’s going to sue Elena, AccommoDating, and probably me because he’s pissed and has piles of money to burn. It means you need to go back to the island and finish your contract within forty-eight hours—or you’re screwed.”
Bryce was my husband, but our marriage was hardly traditional. We’d signed a contract before we wed. He paid me money—lots of it—to be his bride. Things had been great for a while…until he fired me.
Bryce had offered me another contract for even more money if I agreed to return. I accepted, but things had gone wrong. Terribly wrong. So I’d left him, and now everything was a mess. He was threatening to sue me, I was hiding in a crappy motel with my brother, and Akira Zhang was yelling at me to go back to my husband.
But I couldn’t. And I couldn’t tell her why.
I swallowed hard. “I thought you said you could help me,” I reminded her. “You said you could get me out of this if I wanted. Remember? Back when you were saying this was a messed-up arrangement?”
“Oh, I remember.” Akira’s voice rose. “Doyouremember that I told you this contract was—if I recall my words correctly—some ‘seriously fucked-up shit?’”
“Yes.” If only I’d listened to her.
“Can you tell me that Bryce did something bad?” Her tone turned hopeful. “Because if he hurt you or Noah,we’regoing to be the ones seeking damages. Just say the word.”
I sighed. “He didn’t do anything wrong.” Except make me fall in love with him.
“Then why won’t you go back?” she asked.
“I just… I don’t want to. I can’t.”
Akira groaned, then stress-counseled me about breach of contract, Jim Wright’s exorbitant hourly rate, and what might happen if I didn’t return to my marriage. But I couldn’t follow her words. All I could think about was Bryce. I shouldn’t blame him for what happened—for how my heart was broken. Our wedding had been arranged. It was supposed to be contractual, strictly business. He paid me to say ‘I do’ because he needed to be married in order to vest in his family business. I’d eagerly taken the money. It was enough to change my life. It would’ve kept my brother safe for years, maybe for forever.
I glanced over at Noah, who was still sleeping. He wasnothappy with me right now; I didn’t blame him. So many things had changed since I’d married Bryce—my poor brother must have whiplash. We’d gone from living in a crappy motel to residing in an ocean-front mansion and then back again.
