28. Emma
Chapter Twenty-Eight
EMMA
“ S hould I reread that clause to you?” the lawyer asked Emma, concern lining his face.
She gaped at him. “How much did you say?”
“Five mil—” the man began when the door opened.
Emma twisted to see Georgia entering the office. From the look on her face, Garrett had already filled her in on what was going on.
“George!” she squeaked, reaching out to invite her friend to join them at the small conference table. “He’s trying to give me five million .”
Georgia tripped but caught herself before she face-planted. “Dollars?”
“Yes!”
Her friend turned to the lawyer with a sugary smile. “Hi, sorry. Can you give us a minute?”
Emma’s head slumped to the table. The sound of retreating footsteps signaled the lawyer’s departure.
She turned her head without lifting it from the shining dark wood.
“ Five million dollars ,” Emma breathed, slurring because her face was still pressed to the table. “He’s trying to give me five million dollars. ”
George raised her brows. “I thought he was making you sign a prenup.”
“He is!” Emma pushed the thick contract toward her, pointing to the part the lawyer had highlighted with a sticky note in the shape of an arrow.
“Wow.” George lifted the contract to get a closer look as if she couldn’t believe what she was reading. “In the event the marriage dissolves, you get five million dollars in the form of a one-time alimony payment.”
“Just like that!” Emma exclaimed. “Five million! It’s automatic too.”
The lawyer had explained it was hers by default the day after the divorce was final. There were no conditions, which he seemed to find remarkable.
Georgia blinked with exaggerated slowness. “Here I thought Garrett was doing the cutthroat CEO thing, making sure you got nothing.”
She slumped. “So did I when he mentioned the prenup.”
Emma was still reeling. It would be one thing if the five million was earmarked to buy health insurance, but it wasn’t. The insurance was guaranteed for life and separate from the alimony payment.
“There’s something wrong with him.”
Chuckling, Georgia murmured her agreement while flipping pages. “Are these always so long?”
How was Emma supposed to know? “I guess you didn’t get one of these?”
“Nope.” George pulled open a page that folded out, accordion fashion. “What is this? It looks like some kind of inventory.”
“Those are his assets.”
It was a complete listing of properties, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and who knows what else.
“That part was actually comforting because it spelled out explicitly that he keeps all that stuff.”
Which was fine. That was normal. She didn’t want Garrett’ s assets. This was a deal for health insurance and a little breathing room from bills and other expenses.
Georgia’s head drew back, her eyes widening as the list unfolded a comical number of times. It stretched to the floor and beyond, spilling around her chair like a frothy wave. “Uh, this is kind of…”
“Psycho?” Emma finished, still incredulous. She lowered her voice to a whisper, wondering if the wall had ears. “Is this how all rich people do things?”
“I have no idea. Rainer was the first rich guy I met and he’s a marshmallow—so gooey inside.”
Emma brightened at the touch of humor. “I don’t think he’s like that with anyone else.”
Sure, Rainer was perfectly polite to her. But she had noticed a reserve to him, a little standoffishness that told her he usually held the world at arm’s length. That innate distance went out the window only when Georgia was around.
Suddenly she was depressed. What would it be to be that for a man?
Emma might never get the chance to find out. With her medical issues, her prospects for love had never been good. Now she was going to be in a fake marriage with a man too handsome for his own good.
That might sound good if this was a movie. But Emma lived in the real world.
There would be other women.
The contract hadn’t come right out and said anything about infidelity for either party, but of course, he’d start dating eventually. That was going to be weird and uncomfortable.
Georgia grabbed her hand, the touch pulling her out of her spiral. “Are you going to sign this?”
“I should, right?” she asked, taking the contract back from her. “If I’m going to marry him?”
Georgia studied her expression. “And that’s settled? You’re going through with the ceremony?”
Emma pushed her hair back from her eyes. “It seemed like a good idea last night. Especially since Garrett was the one responsible for getting me in trouble with the state in the first place. But I never expected him to add millions of dollars to the mix. Living here rent-free is one thing. Taking his money is something else.”
“Well, technically you only get the five million if you divorce,” Georgia pointed out. “So, the solution is simple. You need to stay married.”
“Ha ha,” she said in a flat voice. “I didn’t realize you were so funny.”
Georgia snickered, continuing to flip through the contract. But she didn’t appear to understand the legalese any better than Emma did.
“How did Garrett get you in trouble with the state? I missed that part.”
Emma explained about Folsom, the insurance investigator, and Garrett’s subsequent conversation with his partner. “I’m not sure why it was so complicated getting me work-based insurance, but nothing will be as good as the insurance Garrett can get me as his wife.”
“That’s crazy. Who do you think reported you?”
“I have no idea.”
At this point, finding out who was responsible was moot. The report had been made and now it was either marry Garrett or risk going without insurance.
Georgia handed her a pen. “Honestly, the fact you have so many reservations means you deserve that divorce settlement. You should think of it as winning the lottery.”
Emma bit her lip and leaned forward to stroke the petals of the potted orchid decorating the table. “It seems too good to be true. Promise me if Garrett ends up chopping me up into little pieces and using me for fertilizer for these, you’ll avenge me.”
Georgia put her hand over her heart. “I promise if my man’s bestie ends up being an axe murderer, I will run him over with whatever car I’m restoring at the time.”
Smiling weakly, Emma flipped back to the beginning of the contract, signing and initialing wherever the little sticky flags indicated.
When she was done, she and Georgia went to change .
Emma had planned on wearing her blue dress. It was the nicest one she owned. But that was no longer true.
Lying on her bed was a gorgeous white lace A-line dress. Transfixed, Emma touched the lace, wondering how something so intricate could be so soft. Then she found the note.
Thought you might need this
-G
“He made a call and had it delivered,” she reminded herself, stroking the edge of the sweetheart neckline.
Finding a stunning dress in her size was very easy for him. Garrett had people for all sorts of tasks, including personal shoppers. But she couldn’t help being touched and surprised.
It fit perfectly. Of course.
Emma was still staring at herself when Georgia returned in a green silk wrap dress.
“Damn, girl. You look amazing.” The shorter woman took her hand and led her into a twirl, making the skirt flare out.
“How do these shoppers know my size?” Emma asked, bemused. “No one came to measure me.”
And with her waist-to-hip ratio, not to mention her cup size, finding a dress that fit like this off the rack was like finding the Hope Diamond in the gutter.
“Rainer has surprised me more than once with a perfect outfit, so I asked him. Someone riffles through your closet and checks your measurements against your current wardrobe. That or they send multiple sizes.”
“ Oh . Weird.”
Georgia wrinkled her nose. “I know. You’ll get used to it.”
She helped fix her hair into a cute half-updo, applying makeup with more skill than Emma possessed.
When she was done, Emma barely recognized herself. “I have never looked this nice,” she said, smoothing the skirt of the dress. “Well, that I know of. ”
Had she ever stood before a mirror all dolled up, anticipating a date with a hot guy? Wouldn’t it be sad if the answer was no?
“Plus, it’s not a date,” she muttered under her breath. She was getting fake married for the sole purpose of securing health insurance.
Emma had a feeling she would need to remind herself of that fact quite a bit in the coming months. Being around Garrett meant blurring lines. Only, she couldn’t tell which one of them was doing it.
“Are you ready?” Georgia asked.
Emma took one last look at herself in the mirror. “Hell no.”
But she followed her friend out the door and got married anyway.