Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Willow
My heart races as I lie there in the bed.
I don't know if this is some weird sort of test and Sebastian is pulling some sort of trick on me, but I don't really understand what's going on.
I don't understand why he's handed me a bunch of paperwork, saying that he has a contract.
I don't understand why he says he doesn’t love me. None of it makes sense.
I don't know if this is some weird joke and he has some crazy sense of humor, or if he's playing some sort of weird, kinky game.
Maybe he's coming to ask me to join some sort of sex club with him, which I'm not really interested in, but if it's just the two of us, I'd be willing to explore. I don't really know what to do.
I grab my phone and call Katherine. She answers on the second ring.
"Hey, married lady, what's going on?"
"Is Brielle there? I need to speak to you both."
"No, she went to go and grab some ice cream for us. Why? You sound… weird."
"She went to get ice cream for you guys in the morning?"
"Girl, it's been a long night," she says, "but don't worry, I'm not going to worry you about it right now."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Oh, Charlotte just called, bitching and moaning, but you know how she is."
"I'm sorry, girl. Something horrible has happened."
"You getting married to some hot, sexy billionaire?"
"Yeah, that was a mistake."
"Oh, fuck. What did you do, Willow?”
“What do you mean, what did I do?”
“Did you have a threesome?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, but you’re in Vegas, and you just got married to a billionaire, and you said something weird happened, and my mind just went into a crazy place."
"I didn’t have a threesome. No."
“Okay, a foursome?"
"Katherine!"
"Sorry. What's going on? Are you okay?"
"Sebastian gave me some papers this morning."
"What do you mean? Like papers that he wants you to sign? Like a prenup?"
"I mean, I don’t know. I haven’t read them yet."
"I mean, it's a little late for a prenup if you guys already got married, but maybe it's a postnup. Maybe he meant to have you sign them beforehand, but he got so swept up in his feelings that he forgot, and now he needs you to sign them so you don’t walk away with all of his money."
"I'm not going to walk away with all of his money, Katherine."
"What? You were married to a billionaire. If it doesn’t work out, you're entitled to something. Shit, is my best friend about to be a billionaire, girl?"
"I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but this man went from Mr. Sweet Nice Guy to really cold and mean and talking all sorts of craziness, and I don’t know what's going on, girl."
"Slow down. What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that last night he was acting weird, but then he came back, and we made love, and it was really awesome. And then this morning, I wake up, and we’re telling stories, and he was telling me about his childhood, which wasn’t happy.
His parents sound awful. And his cousin died in a car crash, and I wanted to say to him, ‘Look, I understand because my parents died in a car crash, too.
' That’s something we have in common. But then he got all cold, and he was just like, 'I don’t love you. '"
"He told you he doesn’t love you?" Katherine’s voice is shocked.
"I know, it’s weird, right? I mean, I don’t know what to say."
"Was he being serious?"
"I don’t know. He left the room and…” I hear the door opening. “Hey, he's back. I'll talk to you later, girl."
"I bet you it was like some sort of bad joke. You know these billionaires have weird senses of humor."
"You think?"
"Of course. I saw the way that man looked at you. He's totally into you. Just tell him that you are not down for that sort of game because it makes you feel insecure, and maybe he'll knock it off, okay?"
I hang up the phone and watch as Sebastian walks in. His face is cold and austere and not the Sebastian I've come to know. In fact, he reminds me more of the man I'd met on that first night at the Magnolia Club. My heart pounds.
"Hey." I let my hair fall forward. "Hey, you okay?" I ask him in a light voice, because maybe he was joking or maybe he was testing to see if I was going to be crazy.
"I'm fine. Did you sign the contract?"
"Is this for real?" I hold up the paperwork.
"Yes, it's for real," he says as he stops next to the bed. "Read it and sign it."
"Sebastian." I drop the sheets and get out of bed, heading over to him. I grab his hand, and he pulls it away from me. “I just don’t understand.”
“This is revenge for what you did to Sergio.” Again, he brings up his brother.
“I don’t know a Sergio.”
“Yes, you do, Willow. I spoke to my brother last week. He loved you. He was planning a future with you, and you ended things, and you took him and—"
"I'm sorry, Sebastian, I just—" I shake my head. Is this man crazy? Is his brother crazy? I don’t want to be mean, but I am just not sure what to say.
"I'm telling you, the last guy I was speaking to, and he was not my boyfriend, went by the name of Clark Kent."
"Well, my brother loves superheroes, and he's really rich, and that's probably why he gave you a fake name."
"Okay, wait." I rub my eyes. "Does your brother work in insurance?"
"I mean, we own a couple of insurance companies."
"But he looks nothing like you."
"Sergio is a handsome man in his own right," he growls.
"I’m sorry, I'm not saying that he wasn’t. I'm not trying to be mean here, but I barely knew him."
"I'm not going to talk about this anymore, Willow. You hurt him. You destroyed him. He's left the country because of you."
"He did?" My jaw drops. "Maybe you need to get him professional help, Sebastian, because honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. It was never that deep. Really and truly."
"So you admit you were seeing him for multiple months?"
"Well, no, we weren’t—" I realize that he's not listening to me. I realize that he doesn’t care what I have to say. "Honestly, Sebastian, I didn’t know he was your brother. I didn’t even know his real name was Sergio."
"Well, I know what my brother told me, and I know how he feels now. And like I told you, Willow, my family comes first. You can’t think I would let you get away with how you treated him.
And then, not even months later, you're coming on to me.
You're sleeping with me. You're telling me you love me. "
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"I guess maybe a week ago, but look, I don’t know what he's told you. I don’t know if he exaggerated what went on between us."
"But you still took from him, didn’t you?"
I stare at him, not sure what he's talking about.
"And now you think you're living the life of Riley, huh? You were about to lose your bed and breakfast, so you thought you’d take a couple of million."
"A couple of million?” I can’t stop myself from laughing again because this is a joke. "Maybe he lost that money himself because he sure didn’t give it to me."
"Sure, sure.”
“Sebastian. So what was all that talk of this being fate?” I look up into his eyes and shiver at the lack of emotion. No smile for me. There’s no love. There’s nothing. Just coldness. I feel like I'm in a freezer.
"Like I said, Willow, I don’t love you.”
“But you married me."
"I married you because now I can control you. Now you have to do my bidding, because now I know what's most important to you.” His lips twist up. "Funny how life works, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I think your friends, Katherine and Brielle, are your family."
"They are."
"And I think, even though you're twisted and heartless when it comes to men, you'd do almost anything for those two—to make sure they don’t suffer any consequences from your bad actions."
"I don’t understand what you're saying."
"Listen to me, Willow Montgomery. You decided to play games with my brother, and now I am playing games with you. You're my wife. You see that contract? It's a contract that says that I am your husband, and as your husband, I have certain rights. Certain privileges."
"This can’t be legal. I don’t have to agree to this.
I want an annulment or a divorce or whatever.
I'm not continuing through this. You're crazy, Sebastian. I want to leave.” I look around for my clothes. "I don’t know what your crazy brother told you, but we weren’t in love.
And the fact that you played me, well, you're just as fucking crazy, too.
You're a psychopath. You and your brother are both psychopaths. "
He grabs my wrists and holds me still. "You really want to leave right now? You really want your world to come crashing in around you?"
"I don’t—"
"I know who owns Katherine’s parents’ house."
"What are you talking about? The bank?"
"I know the lender. Actually, a good friend of mine knows the mortgage company. Did you know that they are sixty days past due and on a payment plan? Did you know that can be rescinded at any time? That they can go into foreclosure?"
I stare at him.
"Did you know that Brielle’s father works at a factory that one of the men on my board owns? And I know he's looking to do layoffs soon. And did you—"
"Okay, fine," I say. "What do you want from me? I don’t understand. What do you hope to get from this situation? How could marrying me benefit you or help you in any way? How does that help—" I am about to say Clark Kent, but I don’t. “Sergio in any way?"
"You’ll see," he says.
"So this was all fake," I say again. "I need to know if everything between us was fake or not."
He stares at me.
"It wasn’t real for you. You can’t honestly tell me that the fact that I am a billionaire didn’t once cross your mind?"
"Well, of course, it crossed my mind.
"You thought I was an easy target."
"No, Sebastian. I thought you were my Prince Charming. But I guess I was a fool. You are nothing but an evil bastard."