Chapter 8

Skylar

I noticed you didn’t wear the dress I bought for you to wear to the marriage registry.

"It was too expensive, and I don’t want to call attention to myself, but even without that, the marriage still made it to the news."

"Nobody knows you to be my wife; everyone thinks you are just my secretary, Skyler Hills," he said as he gently played with my hair while I rested my head on his arm. We had a very beautiful view from the top of the hotel room we lodged in last night.

"I don’t think so," I said sharply, standing to pour more wine into our glass.

"Who cares? You are my wife now, and that is all that matters to me."

For a minute, he sounded so sweet, but I quickly snapped out of it, remembering it was just a contract marriage.

"You know, Mrs. Eve Hills and Clara Scott almost figured out that with the expensive ring you bought for me. You could have just bought something I could afford."

He pulled me closer and kissed my lips tightly.

"You wear anything I get for you and never decide whether you wear it or not. You carry my name, you carry my wealth, as simple as that," he said as he kissed me and started caressing my body.

"Stop, Zane, we already made out twice this night! I am your contract wife, not your contract whore!"

"What do you mean, contract whore? You are my wife, and this is one of her duties, right?"

"Yes, Zane, but we are not in love with each other. I cannot do this whole intimacy thing too much without my emotions."

"Let us have fun, Skyler, and stop being boring!"

I was so irritated by his statement that I instantly stood up and started getting dressed.

I felt so cheap when he behaved like this. A few hours ago, he was sweet and gentle with me at the restaurant for the dinner date, and now he is so rude and selfish.

"What do you think you are doing, Skyler Hills?"

"Well, I’m leaving, Zane Hills, I need to get ready for work tomorrow."

"Stop! Stop wearing your damn clothes! I am just trying to enjoy my wife here, and you are leaving."

"Just to be clear, Zane Hills, I am your contract wife."

"Yes, and in the contract, it says you obey everything I say and support everything I do. And I will pay you for your services."

"Services?! You say." I took a deep breath to control my anger and tongue.

"I think we need to reconsider the contract."

"We can’t do that, you can’t back out now. This contract is guided by dos and don’ts. If you leave now, you will have to pay me the sum of one million dollars."

"One million dollars! You are so wicked. How much is my salary? This contract is for your own good and not mine."

"What do I mean by that? I get to pay you five thousand dollars every month and give you the good things in life, and most importantly, my name. You are as well rich!"

I stood there in tears, not knowing what to say. I thought of the money as well and couldn’t think of backing out of it now. He walked close to me, grabbed me by my waist, and whispered in my ear.

"I will advise that you do as I say and please me. If you impress me enough, I might increase your pay," he said and kissed me on the forehead.

I looked at him with so much hatred in me but also considered everything he had just said. It was almost midnight.

I undressed myself and went back to bed to get my night's rest and prepare for work tomorrow.

"You know, thinking about the honeymoon you talked about, I think I have an interest in it, although I have not been a fan of it since my first wife passed away. So I never thought I would ever find true love."

"Do you think this is true love?"

"No, I don’t think so. This is just a contract marriage. There are no feelings attached, Skyler. I just need this to get away from Mom’s torment about me getting married to Clara Scott. And I also figured you need a lot of money to pay the debt you owe due to your mother’s carelessness. How is she, by the way? I wonder how the universe is so unfair. You see, Skyler, your mother is so lucky to have you. I bet she knows that herself. You’re hardworking and beautiful."

"You think I’m beautiful?"

"Well, not too beautiful," he laughed. "Some people would kill to have your kind of beauty. I guess most ladies out there don’t have natural beauty; they all do surgery." He laughed out loud and handed me a cup of wine.

"You know, Clara underwent a lot of surgeries, and that irritates me. Sometimes she looks like a mannequin. I wonder how comfortable she is. Women! But you are so different and special. I can bet you were specially made."

For an hour straight, we laughed and made so many jokes. I had never seen Zane laugh this hard. I always thought he was a sadist who worked all his life and never had any social life. Just like me, he influenced me in so many ways that I didn’t have any social life, and I lost my boyfriend along the way. I thought to myself as I watched him laugh so hard.

"Zane, I would like to sleep now, I feel sleepy already."

"Oh, was I boring you?"

"No, you are not. This is the best part of you I have seen so far."

Immediately, he burst into laughter.

"I must have been hard on a princess like you."

"Zane, you know you do not really have to act all sweet when you are with me."

"What? You don’t like it?"

"No, I mean, it feels like you are faking it."

"Well, yes, I am faking it. I just want you to feel like you are really married. That is all, okay."

I took a deep breath and laid down to sleep. That was all I remembered before I suddenly heard a heavy banging on the door downstairs. I opened my eyes and saw Zane out of bed with a towel around his waist, looking so worried. He rushed back to me and said,

"Hey, get up! You need to get up now!"

"What is wrong?" I asked, still sitting on the bed half-naked.

"I said, get up now and go into the bathroom," he yelled.

I quickly stood up and began to pick up my clothes, rushing into the bathroom half-naked. I forgot my ring. I turned back to take it, but Zane pushed it under the pillow and gave me a hand signal to enter the bathroom and close the door.

"What are all these, Zane Hills? You are now stopping your own mother from coming into your house."

"I bet he is hiding something; he has been so sneaky since he came out of that marriage registry," Clara said bluntly.

"Tell me, Zane Hills, is there something you are hiding from me, your mother?"