4: The Deal

That was why his name sounded so familiar. Mason Caldwell was a renowned CEO and heir to a huge conglomerate. She had been too caught up in the confusion of the film shoot to make the connection earlier.

The most chaotic part of all of this was that she was now married to him. By mistake and it all felt like a dream.

Gianna shook her head slowly after listening to the explanation of how the whole issue came about, also staring at Mason, who sat impassively in front of her with his fingers absentmindedly tapping the armrest of the couch he sat on.

She took a deep breath as she slid the wedding ring off her finger then placed it on the glass table separating them.

"This isn't even real. We never signed any marriage documents, did we? It was all a misunderstanding, and I'm sorry for my part in it. Actually, you know what? I'm not sorry, because if you had just given me a chance to speak and get things straight earlier on, we could have avoided all of this.”

“So you can just go ahead and marry your original bride and we can pretend like none of this happened, right? ”

Mason didn’t respond nor speak the whole time she talked. Seeing this, Gianna nodded and got to her feet.

“Great. Have a nice day then" she said curtly on her way to the door.

"There were witnesses," Mason finally stated matter-of-factly, stopping Gianna in her tracks.

She turned around, "Huh?"

Mason leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled together as he gave her a calculating gaze.

"Do you think I'm a joke or something? That I can just waste my time reenacting a new marriage?"

Gianna scoffed. "How is that any of my business?" she retorted.

“Do you expect me to just live as your wife because, ‘hey, we got married by mistake, so why don't we just roll with it’?"

She shook her head vehemently. "I'm sorry, but I hope that's not what you're trying to get at. I'll be on my way...again."

As she turned to leave, Mason's next words froze her in place.

"What do you want?"

Gianna blinked quickly.

"Thought I was going to ask you to do this for free?” Mason almost scoffed irritatedly while got up from his seat and pulled out a checkbook from the desk behind them.

If a billionaire like Mason Caldwell was asking that question, it could mean a million things. Even though she hated the fact that Mason was flaunting his wealth at her and believing she ought to change her mind if he offered to give her something in return. The rich believed influence and wealth could get them anything don’t they?

At the same time, she knew that her life, which had been a constant struggle, could be transformed in an instant. Every financial burden and every dream she had had to put on hold up till that movement could all become something she could have in her hands again.

But, there was her pride.

Did she want to sacrifice her self-esteem and independence for the sake of her dire needs? She was basically going to be back in a huge mess of troubles the moment she would walk out of that door.

He took out a pen and held it poised over the blank check.

"How much?" he asked again.

Gianna's swallowed, leaving his question hanging.

A part of her was telling her to seize this opportunity and use it to erase the cycle of poverty and struggle that had plagued her for so long. But another voice was whispered to her to cling to her self-respect.

"Well... whatever you do, I still don't want to live my life as a wife to a complete stranger."

"I'm not asking for your whole life," he countered. "Five months will be enough for the charade. I don't need you to be a real wife either. The only place we won't be strangers, as you say, is in public."

To Mason, those five months will be enough to get back at Olivia for toying with him like she did.

Gianna started weighing the pros and cons of his proposition again. Five months. That was pretty much a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things.

What should she do? Take it?

She could surely sacrifice that span of time if it meant erasing every trace of need and want from her life to a degree.

"A million?" Mason asked impatiently.

Gianna's mouth went dry. A million dollars was a crazy sum. It was definite worth more than anything she’d ever made in her life nor would she ever made by the end of the year as the low grade actress she was tagged to be in the industry.

"F-five... five million," her intrusive thoughts pushed her to say without thinking.

The silent look Mason initially gave her made her think she was being too greedy. Or if her audacious request would shatter the negotiation before it even began.

Then, without a word, Mason’s eyes returned to the blank check, and his pen began to move over the paper.

And while watching him inscribe five million dollars on the check, Gianna’s knees nearly buckled because of how unreal it still felt to her that she was going to be owning that money soon. Even her entire body couldn’t stay still but she fought it into composure.

Mason held out the check to get and Gianna's fingers twitched, about to take it from him, but he swiped it back.

"Until the contract has been finalized. And when it is, you’ll be paid monthly until the divorce. And then you may forget any of this ever happened.”

Gianna withdrew her hand. Well it was still a great offer.

“The lawyers will be here soon. You're welcome to provide yours as well."

“Do we have to do all of this today?" she asked.

"Like I said, I don't have that much time on my hands. I will provide you with comfortable lodging at the hotel because as soon as the news and photos of the wedding reach the press, moving around without proper protection isn't safe for you and not in your best interest."

Gianna exhaled a slow breath. Five months just five months. It was soon going to be over.

As planned she was given a luxury suite at the hotel and this is when she told her friend the crazy news of everything that went down and how thanks to her friend’s recommendation she got catapulted into a new life. Her friend believed it was a blessing in disguise after all the difficulties she’d been through. But also advised her to be careful with everything.

For the rest of the time she had, Gianns spent it swiping and scrolling through an unending stream of news articles, blog posts, magazines and rumors about her new "husband," and so that she may at least have an idea of the extent of what she was really signing up for.

She stopped mid-scroll when she saw an article about Mason and his lover, backed up with a few photos.

"He had a girlfriend?" Gianna murmured interestedly as she tapped on the image and enlarged it to get a better view. The woman in question was very beautiful. Her hand was resting on Mason's arm, and even through the static image, there sure was a level of intimacy between them.

There wasn’t much concerning Mason’s personal life on the internet because Mason had made it so. So Gianna couldn’t find anything other than that, but she still wondered how they separated and why he was having this kind of ridiculou wedding in the first place.

Her phone pinged with a new email notification. She opened the message and read the contents of it. It was a copy of the lawsuit documents her former agency intended to file against her. Gianna smiled as she read through the meticulously crafted legalese that was meant to ruin her mental health and peace had she not found a solution with Mason.

Then she closed the email, lying back in her pillow and staring at the large windows ahead of her and the cityscape beyond them. Soon, very soon all these problems would become a distant memory and for the first time in many years she felt a little bit of peace.

The day wore on, the sun's rays began to wane, and soon it was way past evening.

There was a knock on her door and she sat up, pressing a button beside her to grant to her unexpected visitor. The door opened to show the uniformed worker standing through the doorway.

"Mrs. Caldwell, It's time to leave,” he said curtly.

Gianna’s mind fixated on the name: Mrs. Caldwell.

She had woken up that morning as Miss Gianna William, and would be sleeping the night of that same day as Mrs. Gianna Caldwell.