After the tragic loss of my parents, my aunt trained and loved me as her own. Sacrificing all the beauty of life, so I could go to college and become somebody in life. I couldn’t allow her to sell her cafe to pay off my debt.
“I’d think about your proposal and I’d give my response tomorrow.”
“See, Ms. Elizabeth. To a man like me, I can always replace money lost, but never time. You have thirty seconds to make the decision or the deal is off the table.” His fingers tapped on the table, each thud sounding like a ticking bomb.
“There’s no way I can accept the proposal without thinking thoroughly about it.” My voice rose an octave higher and my heart thundered against my rib cage.
“Twenty seconds more.” His cold voice drilled into my ears, chilling my core.
I hadn’t even read the proposal. But then images of my aunty flashed into my mind. She loved her small cafe shop as that was the only dream she could achieve all because she took me in.
“Ten seconds more, Elizabeth.”
Time wasn’t on my side. I couldn’t find the calmness to think. Beads of sweat carpeted my face
“5…4…3…2…”
Each number instilled more panic in me, drowning me in the deep blue sea with no straw to clutch at
Elizabeth
“I accept.”
Although faint, the scribble sound gnawed at my ears as I quickly signed the document.
My stomach tightened as heat pooled. My chin lowered to my chest as I dropped into the chair. Defeat stamping a bitter taste on my tongue.
Mr. Adiaga smiled as he took in the white paper and tucked it back in the envelope. A smile—one that seemed to hide sinister intent—gleamed up his face. “Thank you.” Tossing it on the other vacant chair, he said. “Are you ready to have dinner yet?”
I rolled my eyes. “I think I should be going home,” I stated, my fingers digging into the armrest of the blue upholstery chair.
His dismissal behaviour grated on my very last nerve. Acting like he hadn’t done something so inhumane.
His gaze hovered around me before he drank the last content in his wine glass. “So the contract is simple. You just have to act as a wife for a year. Tomorrow, prepare; you will be moving into the Adiaga’s mansion while you prepare for your wedding. A week is enough for that.”