Chapter 6

“Marry me.”

Eden was too shocked to say anything. Did he really ask me to marry him?

“Don’t get flattered Miss Brown, it’s not like I like you romantically. After what you did, I should be disgusted by you.”

“But you’re not. Why aren’t you?” Eden asked, her brain unable to process the situation completely.

“You’re really beautiful.”

What is even happening?

“And young and rich. I need you to be my wife. I can assure you that I have no sexual or romantic intentions. This is nothing more than a temporary solution to both our problems. If I recall correctly, you wanted to marry me too, yes?”

Eden could not believe how well this had worked out, but she felt humiliated that things did not go the way she had planned, she wanted to be in control. She felt a surge of anger about the fact that she is the one who is being blackmailed into getting married. She knew well that if she refused, Bennett could easily expose her and ruin her reputation. 

“Why do you want to marry me? You know my issues, I think you should let me know yours IF we are going to do this,” asked Eden, emphasizing ‘IF’.

“Alright Miss Eden, but at least sit down so we can talk civilly. I must say you hovering over me like that is quite annoying.” Hearing Bennett say her name made her ears pink, but she was still as stubborn as always.

“I wonder how you are sitting with that stick all the way up in your ass,” Eden snapped.

“Are you really in a position to talk to me like that? Do you think you are my only option? I had simply hoped that you would be okay with this seeing what your father is going to do to you,” said Bennett, standing up and looking at her straight into her eyes. He looked slightly angered, he had been nothing but nice to her since she arrived, but Eden had refused to cooperate and was constantly snarking at him.

“Once again, let's sit down and discuss this like adults, please,” said Bennett firmly.

Eden took a deep breath and realized that she can at least hear him out properly. She walked over to a single couch and sat on it, and motioned Bennett to continue talking.

“Alright, so you asked me why I want this and why I chose you. It’s kind of ironic that we both have fathers controlling our lives a bit too much. Yours want to sell you off and mine wants me to marry and become a family man before I am given real responsibility in our family business. Of course, your issue is way worse but I don’t really care about it. All I want from you, Miss Eden, is to remain married to me for three to four years until this one project is completed, after which we will part ways. Again, it’ll be a strictly platonic agreement, nothing more.”

“And why me?” Asked Eden. “Why not anyone else?”

“Ah yes. Here’s something about the project I mentioned. We are building a factory to increase the scale of operations of our business. It will be a construction of a very, very vast scale. Every architect wants to design this building, every contractor wants to manage its upbringing,” Bennett stopped talking for a second and smiled at Eden. “And every metal industrialist wants to sell their metal to us.”

Eden’s eyes widened.

“Yes. I will give your father this opportunity if you say yes to marrying me. He has plans for a merger with Carter Schmidt’s company, and everyone knows their rivalry is legendary. Your father is clearly doing this to attain more profits in the business dealings, but I know he will give it all up just to get a step ahead of Carter. If I let him supply the materials for the construction, it will give him a significant advantage over all his rivals. He would easily sell you to me instead of Carter if I simply ask him to. But I can only get to handle this project if I am married.” Bennett sighed. “But business is obviously not the sole reason why I asked you to marry me.”

Eden listened intently.

“I want to help you.”

“Why?”

“There’s something about you that I can’t get out of my head.”

Eden’s breathing fastened. Has he…taken a liking to me?

“I have never seen anyone so…”

Beautiful? Elegant? Enigmatic? 

Eden looked at his face, his jaw, his eyes, and those lips. She still thought he looked very handsome. Her heartbeat increased as she anticipated what he was going to say.

“So goddamn stupid. You really are a piece, aren’t you?” Bennett bellowed with laughter. “Look at your face, you really thought I would start liking you after what you did? Yeah no, this is nothing more than a business tactic.”

Eden was fuming at this point. She got up and started to storm out of his apartment. 

“You can leave now, I know you are going to think about it and you are going to say yes, mark my words,” said Bennet, smirking as Eden struggled to open the door.

“I would rather die than marry a prick like you,” said Eden, still struggling with the door handle.

“You’re going to have to marry one prick or another, I suggest you choose one your own age.” Bennett stood up from the couch and walked over to her. He picked up the key from the table next to her and motioned her to take it. 

His hand grazed Eden’s as he handed her the key. 

“Hey,” he said softly. “I was joking. Think about everything I told you.” 

Bennett was dangerously close to Eden, his tall stature almost intimidating her. But she was too furious to feel anything but anger. She looked him directly in the eye and said “With all due respect, Mr. Mason, go and die in a ditch somewhere.” 

Eden finally unlocks the door and walks out.

“You will say yes, I know you will,” Bennett called after her, his words fading as she walked down the hall.