Chapter 15
15
ELLA
“ A nswer? What do you mean I’m the answer?”
No way is he suggestion what I think he’s suggesting. I’m all for helping out my boss, but if he is asking what I think he is, this is going to be a hard no.
Bennett doesn’t answer, he just continues to look at me like I’m a prized procession or something.
“If you are suggesting that I marry you just for you to get a stupid title the answer is no.”
“Ella.”
I start shacking my head before he is able to say anything else. “No, I’m not going to marry you.”
“It would be beneficial for both of us.”
A snort leaves me and I can’t help but to roll my eyes. “Beneficial. You get a CEO title and to run your family’s company, and what do I get? You damn last name?”
“No,” he lets out, in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Then how is it going to be beneficial?”
“You’d get whatever you want. Money, property, anything.”
My eyes go wide at the same time that my mouth pops open.
He’d give me anything I wanted if I’d marry him? Who offers that?
A billionaire, that’s who.
The room goes silent as Bennett and I have the most intense stare off that we’ve had since we meet. It’s not until someone clears their throat that we look away from each other and look to where Henry and Elliot are.
“We will let you discuss this,” Henry pauses as if to come up with a word to describe whatever is happening between Bennett and me right now. “situation privately. We have to get Mr. Drake home.”
Henry grabs Elliot’s arm and pulls him out of the office. Bennett’s nephew goes reluctantly but at least he leaves. Now I can have a screaming match with his uncle.
“Are you out of your mind?” I ask, coming out more as a whisper instead of the yell I thought was brewing inside of me.
Bennett lets out a sigh and takes a seat in the nearest chair, and dropping his head into his hands.
“Possibly.” He lets out, looking back at me. “At this point, I almost feel desperate to hold that title.”
“Why, though?”
“Why what?”
I walk over to the conference table, leaving a few feet between us, but not taking a seat. “Why is you becoming CEO so important? Why the desperation?”
When the question leaves my mouth, Bennett looks almost stunned. Like I’m the first person to ever ask him that he doesn’t know the answer.
It takes him a whole two minutes to come up with an answer.
“The company deserves to be ran by a Lane.”
I agree, but that’s that the most bullshit answer I’ve ever heard.
“Is that why you want to do it? Because it’s what the company deserves.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a bullshit answer and you know it.”
Bennett’s jaw ticks and I can see it in his eyes that he’s getting angry. Good. Because I’m not going to agree to anything until I know the full story. I’m not going to jump into a meaningless marriage just because my boss is asking me to.
“It’s not.” Bennett stands up from his chair and closes the distance between us, looking down at me as if to tell me to back down. Not going to happen.
“It is. Why the fuck do you want to be CEO so badly?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Because if you want me to sign my life over to you, I need to know why the fuck you want this so badly that you are willing to marry the first woman you see. That bullshit answer you gave isn’t enough.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just continues to stare me down, but I stand my ground.
After a minute, when he still doesn’t say anything, I let out a sigh and turn toward the door to leave. I’m not going to get an answer. There’s no point in waiting for one.
I’m a foot a way from the door when he finally says something.
“You want the absolute truth?” His voice comes out in a whisper. Something I’ve never heard from Bennett.
I turn to face him. “Yes.”
The man that is standing a few feet away from me, is not the same man that I’ve been working with these last few weeks. This man is wearing his emotions on his sleeves and is trying to keep himself together. The man that I’ve been working doesn’t show an ounce of emotion, always stoic.
“Then you’ll get it, but you have to promise me something.”
“And what would that be?”
“That you won’t judge me for what I’m about to say. You want the truth, I’ll give it to you, but just because I’m handing it over doesn’t mean that you will like it.”
There is no hesitation in me.
There is no second thought as I throw a nod in his direction and make him the promise of no judgement. Because nothing he could say is going to make me look at him differently. That much I know.
“There are two reason why I want it. One you will think it’s endearing and the other, well, you might hate.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh but I do, sweet Ella.”
A shiver runs through my body at the term of endearment. I shouldn’t like it as much as I do, but everything that this man does an says affects me in ways I would never want to admit out loud.
“What are the reasons?” I ask, trying to get my mind away from what Bennett simply calling me sweet does to my body.
His eyes don’t waiver from mine as he speaks. “What I told you a minute ago, wasn’t complete bullshit. The company deserves to be ran by a Lane and if things were different, it would have been. If my father hadn’t died, he would be here right now giving this company his all. But he did die, and his oldest son isn’t here, so now giving this company what it deserves falls to me, because nobody else is going to.”
My heart stutters a bit. Bennett may not hear it but I do. There is so much heartbreak in his voice that all I want to do it is go over to him and wrap my arms around him and never let him go. My brain is telling me to do it, but I stay rooted in place.
“And I know what you might be thinking.” He continues before I’m able to say anything. “But it’s not out of obligation. Nobody is obligating me to take on this role. I don’t feel obligated to wear the title just because my parents are dead or because my brother isn’t here. I want to do this. I want to hold that title and build this company in a way that will surpass my father’s dreams. I want to extended build up his legacy so that his grandchildren have something to look back on and wonder what their grand father would have done. I want that role so that I can make my parents proud and see from where ever the fuck they are that at least of their sons is doing okay. I want them to be proud that their son took meaning in their work and made it his own.”
He was right. I am finding the first reason endearing and heartbreaking. Here is this man, this larger than life man with everything he’d ever want in the whole world, with a little boy still deep inside of him, just wanting to make his parents proud.
For a few seconds, I picture the person in front of me the same age as Drake and wonder if he was that exited to see his dad when he came to the office. If he wore matching suits with his dad just for the fun of it. The picture in my mind is heartbreaking especially because how young Bennett was when his parents died.
A tear rolls down my face, but I catch it before more follow behind it.
“What the second reason?” I ask, wanting to stop from more emotions taking over.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
His face changes. In a matter of seconds the little boy that lost his parents at the age of eight is gone and in his place is a man that I don’t recognize. A man that looks like he is hungry but I can’t pinpoint what. More so when a smirk forms on his face and it’s not one that I love seeing. This smirk is different from the others. This smirk almost scares me.
“I want the power. I want the power that comes with the title and I want the respect. I want the ability to come in here and ruin the lives of the people that have wanted to ruin mine. I want people to answer to me and not the other way around.”
A shiver runs through my body in a different way than it did a few minutes earlier.
He wants power and if he is propositioning me with marriage, I know that he will stop at nothing to get it.
And as much as I want to think that it’s an egotistical thing to want, I understand it. I understand why he would want something like that. Why he would want the respect and the authority. Having that type of power in your hands makes you a different type of person and I can see Bennett using it in way that would not only benefit him but others as well.
“Power is a good thing to have.” I let out, trying to figure out why I don’t hate the reasoning like he said I would.
Bennet comes closer to me, almost crowding me. “Not the type of power that I want. What I want, what I crave, shouldn’t be at anyone disposal, I don’t want to just run Lane Enterprises, I want to take over the damn city and make it my playing ground and when I’m done with Chicago, I’ll move on to different parts of the world.”
I swallowed audibly, not sure what to do or say.
Run away Ella. Run away now and don’t look back.
I would. I truly would if the type of power that his is talking about wasn’t at a smidge beneficial for me.
That type of power would stop me from looking over my shoulder.
That type of power would protect me and Charlie if anyone came looking for us. That type of power can pay off a debt that is going to haunt me forever. He did say I can ask for whatever I wanted, I could ask for the money that I need to pay the rest that I owe. It would be a huge asks, but he wants something just as big in return.
“Tell me what you are thinking, sweet Ella.”
There’s that nickname again and I can’t help but to feel a throbbing between my legs.
I take a second to compose myself.
“I’m thinking… that I should say no to your offer.”
“But?”
“But I don’t want to.”
“Then say yes.”
I want to take Bennett up in his offer even if the vows we take will be the most disingenuous things ever said. He will get his title, and in return there’s a possibility that I could get something that I’ve been wanting for years.
Nobody coming after me and taking away my sister.
It may be a lie getting me there but I’m okay with that.
I guess Bennett was right, this little idea of his is beneficial to both of us, he gets the title and whatever power comes with it, and I, well I don’t get my secrets to come back to haunt me.
The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning toward the answer that I least expected to give.
Not a once of hesitation coats my voice when I answer my boss.
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
I nod. “Yes. I will marry you.”
“Let’s come up with some rules then.”