The Contract With The Millionaire

Chapter 4

When I finally reached my own floor, I came face to face with Stacie, who was coming around the corner.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"What the heck, watch where you're...oh, Adriana, it's just you. Wait, what are you doing here so early?" she said, obviously surprised to see me, since I usually arrived at around 10:00 to work.

"Can't talk right now, bit busy." I barely slowed down to speak to her as I sped past her towards the safety of my office. Once inside, I hastily placed the papers face down on top of my desk, and sat down, never taking my eyes from the crisp white paper. I looked at the paper for what seemed like forever, before taking a deep breath, and turning them over.

The words 'Formal Agreement' were on the front page, prominently displayed at the top in bold, black writing. Scanning my eyes down the pages, I read through the details of the agreement Mr Hastings had proposed to me, quite literally.

Exhaling deeply, I stood up and faced out at the glass wall that faced the hustle and bustle of New York, trying to rationalize all my options in my mind. It all seemed so weird, like it wasn't real, but the ominous agreement on my desk convinced me otherwise. A hundred and one questions flitted through my mind, and I was so confused as to what I would get myself into if I did agree. Mr Hastings did say that I could call him with any questions, but frankly, the thought of hearing his voice again sent shivers up my spine, but for good or bad reasons, I wasn't sure.

One million dollars though. That was a lot of money, by anyone's standards. The fact that he was willing to pay someone to marry him showed how invested he was in his business, which was an admirable trait, even though the marriage wasn't real. I gave my mind the luxury of imagining the things I could do with an extra million in my bank; buying a beautiful house for my mother was top of the list, no doubt in my mind.

Deciding to let myself mull it over for a while, I began working on different emails I had to complete and send for Miss Smith. Taking a glance at my schedule, I groaned when I realised I had a meeting to attend with her. Great, not only will my brain be fried from this marriage thing, I'll have to deal with the Queen biatch as well! This was not turning out to be my day.

As I was typing out an email, I heard a light knock on my door, making me glance up just as Stacie walked into the room, making herself at home in one of the chairs in front of me.

"So, how did it go with Mr.Hotshot? You looked very flustered this morning, wanna spill why?" she asked, raising a perfect eyebrow at me.

Should I tell her about the agreement? No I couldn't, even if I wanted to. The whole point of this 'proposal' was to make people believe we were in love, so it wouldn't seem too suspicious.

Before I could answer her, however, the door of my office opened again. Speak of the devil and He shall appear, there was Mr Hastings standing at the door, looking both intimidating and friendly at the same time. What could he possibly want now? Didn't he know I had a job to do?

"Hey, I thought you and I could go out lunch to talk about the contracts I told you about this morning?" he said, almost as a question, glancing between Stacie and I.

What contracts? He must be talking about the marriage contract, I realised, although he probably didn't want to mention it in front of Stacie. Speaking of Stacie, I looked over at her in a silent apology, but all she did was smile at me, clearly having a joke at my expense.

"I'll talk to you later then." She looked at me as if to say Don't think you're getting away from this. I sighed in defeat and nodded slightly, as she moved past Mr Hastings into the hallway, closing the door gently behind her.