Chapter 3 THE AFTERMATH

Sloane’s POV

The elevator doors slid shut, sealing me in a tomb of much-appreciated silence. I leaned my head against the cool stainless steel, my legs feeling like overstretched rubber bands.

My own signature burned against the back of my eyelids.

I let out a dry, sharp snort that echoed in the small space. Married.

I am a wife now. Or I was about to be. Sloane Mercer was transitioning into Sloane Hayes, a name that felt like a mouthful of ash. This had to be a hallucination—some fever dream brought on by too much caffeine and not enough sleep.

I pushed through the heavy glass doors of the lobby and out into the city’s indifferent noise. The Chicago wind whipped at my hair, but it didn't cool the fire in my blood. Cassian Hayes thought he’d bought a pet. He thought he’d trapped a bird in a gilded cage.

He didn't realize he’d just invited a wolf into his bedroom. I am going to fuck Cassian Hayes up very badly he'd wish he could go back in time and tear that contract into pieces.

~

I alighted from the cab in front of Maya's apartment and paid the driver. I couldn't ride my bike, I wasn't in the mood to become a smear on the pavement. I had a goal, and as much as I hated Cassian, I didn't hate myself enough to die before I saw him ruin, I value my life.

I fumbled with my keys, my fingers clumsy and numb, and let myself in.

“Finally! I was about to send a search party. I’m starving, you owe me big time for—” Maya’s voice cut off the second she saw my face. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, holding a bag of tortilla chips, her smile fading into concern.

“Whoa. What happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I didn’t answer, I walked to the living room, dropped my bag on the floor, and pulled out the folded contract from my jacket pocket. I let it fall onto Maya’s scuffed coffee table with a soft thud.

Maya approached slowly, wiping her hands on her jeans. “What’s this?” She picked it up, her eyes scanning the header. Her brow furrowed. “Marital… Agreement?” She looked at me, then back at the paper, her eyes widening as they darted down the page. “What the fuck is this? Is this a joke? You're getting married?”

“I wish it was a joke.” I whispered, sinking onto the sofa and burying my face in my hands.

“To who?” She asked, dropping her bag of chips to read the paper carefully. “Uh...what the fuck is this?”

I looked up, confused. “What?” Is there something she missed? Did Cassian add some outrageous request?

“Cassian Hayes?” Maya’s voice climbed an octave. “Your boss? What the fuck Sloane?!”

“Maya my head is hurting and the last thing I need is you yelling. You think I don't hate him too.” I winced, nursing her head.

“He asked you to marry him? Since when… how… I don't even know what to ask. Is he in love with you or something?” She flapped the paper in the air. “Why did you even sign it?”

“Okay, Calm down now, It’s not a real marriage it's just a two year contract marriage, and he's not in love with me. No strings, no feelings. I’m a PR prop to save his merger.” I retched.

“In love!?”

“In love with me?” I added, the thought was so absurd it was almost physical. “I’d rather have my eardrums pulled out with pliers than hear that again. It’s just a contract, he’s doing this for the board, and he’s paying me for the trouble. Ten million and a permanent seat on the board when the clock runs out.”

Maya's jaw went slack. “What? Sloane… that’s… that’s too much, and a seat on board, what the fuck is your boss planning because I don't see how a two year fake marriage is worth ten million and a seat. And being married to him already comes with its own perks. Fuck that's huge.”

“And it comes with plenty of cons,” I retorted, rolling my eyes. “Like gambling with my sanity for 730 days. I have to live with him. I have to pretend to be devoted to him in front of the world. It makes my skin crawl.”

“Okay, okay, let’s be logical here,” Maya said, sitting down beside me, the contract forgotten on the table between us. “Pro: you become a multimillionaire. Pro: you get a power seat in one of the biggest companies in the country. Pro: yours and of course my own financial worries are over, forever, you get set for life.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Con: you have to put up with a rich, powerful, devastatingly handsome man who’s apparently been secretly obsessed with you.”

“He’s not obsessed,” I snapped, a little too quickly. “He’s a sociopath. This is a business move for him, I’m a convenient prop, and he’s not… he’s just…” I trailed off, unable to articulate the cold, predatory aura that clung to him.

“He threatened you,” Maya said, her tone sobering. “That’s also a con, isn’t it? So con number two, but we're two cons short of deciding not to go ahead with it.”

I just nodded, the pros were higher, and not two but three cons were needed because pro number three was how easily my plan would start moving once we got married.

We sat in silence for a long moment. “Okay,” Maya said finally, slapping her thighs and standing up. “So do you really want to do this? Let's ignore the fact that you hate him for a second, besides that everything is in your favor, and it's not like you're going to let him walk over you once you get married. Get on his nerves too, yes he's one of the richest men, yes he's got enemies who will come after you but that's literally the same thing they do and you're just a security personnel so...” She trailed off. “Do you want to do it or not? Fuck his threat, it's not the first time I've seen you turn tables.”

I took a deep breath. Maya was right though, which is a first but she was right. Almost everything was in my favor. “Let's just see how it goes.”

“That's a yes then. So, we’re going to have a normal night as we should, we’re going to make dinner, we’re going to open a bottle of wine, we're going to get drunk while watching some movies with hot actors.”

I managed a weak smile. “Okay.”

I didn't stay the night. By 9:00 PM, a black town car was idling outside Maya’s building. Cassian didn't send a text; he sent a driver. The message was clear: The clock has started.