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CHAPTER ONE
Harper
I MISS MOM. I wish she were here to tell me this is okay. That I’m making the right choice. That marrying Gabriel Cross, one of the richest men in the world, is not a mistake.
I take a deep breath and stare at myself in the mirror, glad that my friend Selena and brother Oscar are both out of the City Hall private waiting room, so I have a few minutes to myself.
I don’t recognize the woman there. She’s beautiful, like a princess in the fairytales Mom believed in. If only this were a real fairytale, where the bride and the groom are helplessly in love and are marrying to live happily ever after.
However, this is a marriage of convenience. Laughter bubbles up inside of me. I cover my mouth to stop it from coming out. I don’t know if I’d be able to stop it.
This whole thing is surreal. I’ve lived the last couple of weeks, since I said yes to Gabriel’s preposterous yet incredibly hard to refuse proposal, in a daze.
Two months ago, when I found out about the new treatment that could drastically improve Oscar’s life, I racked my brain for ways to come up with the money. Selena told me about how I could sell my virginity at an auction at The Club for a quarter of a million dollars, but I didn’t think I could do it. The idea of sleeping with a total stranger, albeit for one night, was horrendous.
Then last month, Oscar was rushed to the hospital. For the fifth time in as many months. Seeing the excruciating pain in my twenty-year-old brother’s face and knowing he would live with pain crisis for the rest of his life, when he didn’t have to, changed my mind.
I couldn’t bear to see him suffer like that anymore.
I made up my mind and contacted The Club. Had a nerve-racking interview. On the day The Club manager called to give me the okay, Gabriel overheard my conversation. I thought I was alone and asked questions about the night. It was enough to give him a rough idea of what I was planning.
Instead of ignoring the situation or telling me off for talking on the phone at work about private matters like I expected, he’d proposed this marriage.
I shake my head, still finding it hard to believe Gabriel Cross, the tech mogul, the man who could have any woman on earth, was attracted to me and wanted to marry me. It made little sense then and two weeks later, although I’m dressed in the most beautiful wedding gown I’ve ever seen and wearing spotless make-up worth thousands of dollars, a part of me still finds this unbelievable.
One day was enough to think about his proposal. For Oscar’s sake, I’d wanted to say yes straight away, but I held back. With all the stunning women in the world, I couldn’t believe he was attracted to me. Even if he was into curvy women like me, there are prettier women who don’t have a brother to care for, for life.
I knew from experience that was a great turn off. My high school sweetheart broke up with me when he realized how much time Oscar would spend with us after Mom and Dad passed. There aren’t many men who’d be happy to have a grown brother-in-law live with them forever.
Still, as crazy as it was, what he suggested made more sense than selling my virginity to a stranger.
“People have married for convenience for years. I don’t believe in love. I want a partner I find attractive who is sensible and knowledgeable enough to host dinners for those clients who prefer to do business with married people. You want the best medical care for your brother; I can provide that for life. Giving away your virginity will get you a good sum, but it’ll be nowhere near enough for the treatment. Even with insurance and subsidies, you’ll be short about a million dollars. What will you do to find the rest of the money?” Gabriel had said, in the same tone he used when he was discussing sales reports at meetings.
It was the most I’d ever heard him speak on a topic that wasn’t work related in the six months I’ve been supporting his personal assistant and him.
Even in that moment, my pulse raced. My heart fluttered too, at hearing that the most gorgeous man I’d ever met also found me attractive.
“You’re attracted to me now. What if you change your mind before my brother undergoes treatment? Fancy someone else?”
Emerald eyes tracked the length of my body before once again resting on my face.
“That hasn’t happened in the two years since you began working for the company.”
I’d blinked. Heat spread over my body. My breasts pebbled.
“I don’t mess around. Once I decide on something, I stick to it. We’ll both sign a contract. One clause is your brother gets lifelong medical care unless you leave.”
He’d spelled everything out in the contract. I knew he was the type of man that didn’t go back on his decisions. At least not at work. I’d been trying to join his company for years, before I finally got in two years ago.
He kept the pledges he made to his employees. His company had one of the best employee benefits in the world. More importantly, he didn’t care about degrees. All one needed to get in were skills.
I trusted him as a boss. And he was right. I didn’t know where I was going to get the rest of the money. So I’d accepted.
But the weight of being married to someone as influential as Gabriel, even with the protection of a contract, scares me.
The door opens. Selena comes in. She takes one look at me and stretches her arms out, as if she’s going to hug me. Then pulls back.
“I don’t want to ruin your makeup.” She takes my hands in hers. “You don’t have to do this.”
