Chapter 16
16
ELLA
“ R ules?” The question leaves my mouth in a bit of disbelief. You need rules for a fake marriage?
“Yes, we need to put some in place to make this work.”
“Make this work.” I run the words through my head a few times. “I guess I just figured that we would get married, you’ll become CEO and then we’ll get a divorce a month later. So rules wouldn’t apply.”
Saying that plan out loud makes me realize that that won’t work. People would see right through it. And Bennett seems to agree.
“No. Hill and the other board members that are on his side will never take that. If we divorce before the ink is dried on our marriage certificate, CEO will be out of reach. The marriage has to last for a while.”
My palms start to sweat a little bit. “How long is a ‘while’?”
“At least two years.”
My eyes bodge out. Two years. I can barely handle my attraction for this man, how am I going to handle two years?
“Two years is a lot, don’t you think?”
I need to protect my heart. Sure right now what I feel for Bennett is a crush, one that continues to grow with every passing day, but two years is a long time and a lot can happen. A lot of feelings can change. I don’t want to leave this with a broken heart that may not ever be prepared.
Bennett gives me a smile that almost looks sad. “Do you have a better timeline?”
I don’t even have to think about. We both know that I don’t.
“Okay, two years.” My nods are slow, trying to digest the fact that I’m spending two years of my life with this man.
Two years.
It will pass quickly. Two years will be nothing.
Right. It will be nothing.
Apparently, I’m so stuck in my head that Bennett thinks I might pass out so he guides me to the conference table and orders me to take a seat.
“Are you okay?” He asks, concern very distinct in his voice.
“Yeah,” I say looking up at him, a smile that doesn’t reach my eyes on my lips. “I’m just trying to process everything.” I definitely didn’t think that my first board meeting would go like this.
“Before we nail anything down, I want to apologize.”
The way he says the words takes me more by surprised than the words themselves. It’s a complete contrast than the man that was telling me that he craves power.
“Why are you apologizing?” I ask, looking into his eyes and seeing a bit a fear in them.
“Because this is a big ask. Not only with the marriage aspect of things but also with the time that we are going to be dedicated to this. I’m basically asking you to sign away your life to me for two years. ”
Interesting how he doesn’t say that he would be signing his life away to me. He’s making it sound as if for the next two years, I will be his property and his property alone. Wouldn’t the same sentiment fall to me?
Maybe it’s his way of telling me that he can full around during our two years of marriage but I can’t.
I try hard to push down all the weird emotions that were spurred by the thought of Bennett fooling around behind my back, and concentrate on what’s going on in the present.
“This is something I’m agreeing to. There is no reason for you to apologize.” My words come out with a bit of a bite to them and Bennett notices but he chooses to ignore it.
While he doesn’t say anything about my tone, he grabs the notebook that I brought in to the conference room with me and looks back at me when he has it opened to a clean page.
His eyes look into mine and for a second I get lost and forget about what we are about to talk about. And that continues to happen for the next hour or so.
Every time Bennett looks over at me, I find myself trying to find all the different shades of blue and green in his eyes when I should be concentrating on the rules that we are putting together to make this marriage not only work for two years but also seem believable.
Public displays of affection both in public and some small displays while we are in the office. Hand holding whenever possible. Me traveling with him at least eighty percent of the time to make it seem like I can’t be more than two days away from him. Dates at least twice a week in a public space to throw doubt to the naysayers.
Sounds doable.
Doable but there is no doubt in my mind that my heart is going to hate me at the end of the two years.
“Would I be able to tell my sister about this ‘arrangement’? I won’t be able to lie to her for two whole years.” I say as Bennett is writing something down about a family vacation in the next six months.
Apparently that’s what I’m marring into. A family that takes family vacations.
In my whole life I’ve never taken one and now I’m going to be a part of on in six months.
Bennett gives me a nod at my request. “Yes. She’s very much one of the need to know people. My older kids would eat me alive if I held something like this from them and given that they live with me, it would be hard not to explain.”
My eyebrows shoot up a little bit. “Kids?”
He could be talking about his brother’s children, but I could be wrong. Maybe the has a kid that he hasn’t mentioned in the short time that I’ve worked for him.
“Sorry. I meant my niece and nephews. It’s become a habit calling them my kids since it’s easer to explain.”
“I find it sweet.”
I’m rewarded with a smile that I put away for safe keeping.
“Is there anyone else you’d like to tell besides your sister?” He asks once his beautiful smile finally fades.
There is no need to think about his question, because there isn’t anyone else. “No. Charlie is all I have.”
A look of pity crosses over Bennett’s face, one that I’ve seen before, and its stays on his face longer than I’d like. He looks like he wants to say something but he holds back and just gives me a small smile.
The fact that Charlie is the only family that I have, and how that came to be is not something that I tend to share with people. Hell, some of the friends I made working at my old restaurant job don’t know much other than the fact that I have a sister.
My past has become something that I hold close to my heart, but if I’m going to be married to Bennett for two years, there are a few things that can’t stay hidden. He’s going to have questions and I will have to give him answers.
“You can ask you know.” I say, looking down at my hands, not wanting to see any more pity directed at me.
“Ask what?” The question leaves his lips as if I didn’t see him hesitating just a few seconds ago.
“Why Charlie is all that I have?” I put the question out there, and why I watch Bennett go through a sting of things before he settles on curiosity and leans back in his chair. He had discarded his suit jacket a few minutes after we sat down, so the movement has that sleeves of his button down long sleeve rolling up.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
He’s right, I don’t but for some reason I find myself wanting to.
“We’re going to be married. Isn’t one of the things makes a marriage work is not keeping things from the other?”
“I guess it is.”
For a second, the both of us just sit here and process the fact that this is legit. We are really getting married and there is no backing away now.
I take a deep breath before I say anything.
“My childhood wasn’t the very best. At least the parts that I remember. My mom had me young during her last year in high school. My bio dad was a rich kid, that apparently had a future ahead of him so, his parents paid my mom to “take care of the situation”, at least that’s what I remember her telling me. She could have been talking out of her ass. She took the money but instead of getting rid of the pregnancy, she had me because she thought that my bio dad would grow a heart and would give her more money to help raise me. Newsflash, that didn’t happen.”
My mind goes to when I was five and a random man came to our door and started yelling at my mom. He kept telling her that he wanted nothing to do with her, to stop looking for him. It looks me a few years to figure out that the yelling man that made mama cry was my dad. I never saw him after that from what I can remember.
“When I was a little, she developed a drug habit. One that at times made her forget that she had a kid waiting at home. When I was about six, she had left for about three days and left me in our house by myself. She always told me to never go outside unless she was home, but I had finished all the food that was left, so I thought it was a good idea to go next door and ask the neighbor for some. To this day, I don’t know if that was a good idea, because that neighbor called child protective services and within two weeks I was in a foster care home in Nevada.
“My mom, or her mother, didn’t fight for me. Neither did my father or his family, so I became a ward of the state and that’s where I stayed until I was moved to a group home here in Chicago when I was fifteen.”
I don’t know what I hated more. Going from one foster home to another or getting shipped out to a different state because nobody wanted to take in a teenager?
I wasn’t a bad kid. I wasn’t mouthy and I followed all the rules, but even when you are doing everything that you are supposed to do, it doesn’t mean that foster care is going to be a joyfilled ride. Sure, there were families that I loved being with and I got the feeling that the loved me, but even then, that wasn’t enough to lead to a permanent home. More so when I got older.
The group home I spent three years in was just an extension of high school. You would think that being in similar situations would bring people closer together but no. For three years, I was surrounded my catty bitches that didn’t know how to keep their hands off my stuff.
Not wanting to do down a very deep and very depressing rabbit hole, I bring my story telling to an end because I don’t want to start crying in front of boss.
Or should I get used to calling him my future husband.
“Anyway,” I say after clearing my throat. “I cut ties with all the people that were my family and now it’s just me and Charlie.”
I cross my fingers under the table, away from Bennett’s eyes, and hope that he doesn’t notice I didn’t mention about how Charlie came into my life.
My future husband stays quiet for a few long seconds, as if he is digesting everything, before he gives me a smile, one that isn’t filled with pity, but with sympathy.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”
I give him a shrug. “It’s okay. It’s something that I’ve dealt with already.”
Liar. I still very much have abandonment issue rooted deep inside of me but I never let them see the light of day, so there’s need to tell him about that.
We go silent for a few seconds, not knowing how to move on from dark turn this all took with the talk of my past. Not wanting to get los staring at Bennett again, I break the silence.
“Okay, so we have our list of need to know people. What else do we need to figure out?”
Not a single beat is missed. “Living arrangements.”
“Excuse me?” The question comes out a little too loud and sounding way too surprised.
We’re getting married, did I think that we were going to leave separately? Well, maybe.
“We have to live together to make this believable.”
“Right. Believable.”
If I want to ask him for the money that I need, then I have to with it and make sure that this marriage comes off as real, no matter how fake it may be.
Besides, I already agreed to PDA, I can handle leaving with the man for two years.
As I try not to spiral, we continue to talk about our living arrangements and decide what is best for both of us. Which is Charlie and I moving into the Lane compound sometime in the next week. Since we are moving in with Bennett, I offered to pay rent, which he turned down before the words were fully out.
I should have been made that he wasn’t going to let me pay him, but a part of me is relieved at the agreement, because it means that for the first time in my adult life, I don’t have to worry about paying rent for two years. I’ll have to find a new place to live after our time is up, but that is something that I will think about when the time comes.
After figuring out how we are going to live, we move on to the the type of wedding that I want. My fiancé? was very specific about that.
Even though this isn’t a real marriage, he still wants me to have the wedding that I want. Not a single expense matters.
Give how I grew up, I never really thought about what my wedding would look like if I ever had one. Sure, there has been a time or where I’ve scrolled though social media and really liked a dress or a ring and might have pictured myself wearing them, but it never went passed that.
So why is it that as I sit here, I want to tell Bennett that I want a big wedding. I may not have the friends and family that will fill the seats, but I still want to feel like a princess. I still want to see myself in a big puffy dress, possibly even wear a tiara, get my makeup and hair done and just be the center of attention for a day? I want all the flowers and all the candles. I want the wedding that any girl would think of.
But I can’t find it in myself to ask for it. He’s already done so much for me, and going to do a lot more from the sounds of it, and I can’t seem to find it in me to ask for it.
Which is why I suggest a small wedding. One that doesn’t have the big puffy dress and all the flowers in the world. A small wedding that is just us and our families.
Thankfully we don’t have to look far for a venue or even a cater because Bennett offers the Lane compound and all the chefs that he has on staff.
Once the wedding is planned along with our living arrangement and the rules that we will keep during out marriage have been set, there is only one thing left to discuss.
What I get out of all of this.
“You don’t know what you are offering.” I let out when Bennett reminds me that he is willing to give me anything and everything that I want for helping him with this.
“But I do. Give me your price, Elizabeth and it will be yours.”
Ask him.
Ask him and you will no longer have to look over your shoulder everyday or be wary of who you open the door to.
The words form on the tip of my tongue but I can’t make them come out.
I open my mouth a few times, trying to find my voice but no matter how hard I try, nothing comes out.
Bennett is patient with me, not pushing me to say anything until I’m ready.
It takes me whole three minutes to come up with a sentence that won’t break me down.
“Can you promise me that you won’t ask question any questions? That you won’t judge. That you will just keep your end of the deal and that is that.”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “I promise.”
Here goes nothing.
“I want,” I shake my head, “No, I need to come out of this marriage with one million dollars.”
Shame runs through my body. So much so that I can’t even look at Bennett as I give him request. I find it a bit ironic really. He was able to hold his head high with his request but I can’t even look him in the for mine.
I expected him to think about it. For him to tell me that it was a lot of money that he had to take a few days to make a decisions, but once again, the man takes me by surprise.
“Okay.”
One simple word to take care of all my worry.
“Really?” I ask in disbelief. Nobody in their right mind would agree to this, not even a billionaire, but I guess when you’re desperate you would agree to everything.
“Yes. I told you, if you agree to this, you could have anything you want. If you need the money, then I will give it you.”
Just like that.
This time, I can’t find words but for a different kind of reason.
Charlie is going to be safe and there is going to be no more fear of anyone coming to take her away from me.
“Thank you.” I reach out and place a hand over his.
He looks down at my hand but doesn’t of anything to move it off him.
“No need to thank me. Besides, I should be the one thanking you. Not anyone would have agreed to this.”
“Well I guess you made a good choice when picking a wife”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
Something passes through us as we both look into each other’s eyes. It’s not lust, or even something that may resemble love with time, but more like acceptance. We are really doing this. We are going to be man and wife and both of us are okay with that.
Before the moment gets too deep, Bennett looks away and pushing his chair away from the table and stand ups, leaving me to look up at him. From this angle he looks as if nothing can touch him or bring him down.
It’s as if for a moment he’s the king of everything that lays before him.
He holds out a hand and gives me a smile that rare to see, and one that I put in my mental vault for safe keeping.
“Do we have a deal?”
This is it. I walked into this conferences room, hoping that I still had a job after my boss become CEO and now I’m going to leave it as his future wife.
Standing up, I place my hand in his, ignoring the way my body shivers as our skins touch and shake it, putting out plan into motion.
“We have a deal. Let’s get married.”
“Let’s get married, Mrs. Lane.”