7. Jane

William stopped eating. He simply stared at me and it was starting to freak me out. This is why you should never dine with the devil. I knew it was a bad idea from the moment I took the seat opposite him but I stayed anyway. And I poured out my heart to William in a way I'd never done with anyone else. Not even my brother.

Now he stared at me like I'd sprouted an extra head. He probably thought I was crazy after hearing everything. Maybe he even thought I was actually a thief. What was going through his head? Was he worried I would steal from him?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, no longer able to keep my mouth shut.

"This will sound absolutely psychotic, so remain calm."

"What are you—

"I want you to marry me," he blurted out.

I almost choked on my Flamiche. When William told me the name of the French pastry earlier, I did not expect to have it coming out of me shortly after. I reached for the bottle of water on the table and downed the entire thing. At some point, I didn't know if I was trying to stop myself from choking or if I was avoiding William.

Probably both.

I placed the empty bottle back on the table. William was still staring at me. I could feel it. His gaze burnt a hole in my face while I avoided eye contact. He couldn't possibly be serious. Maybe he hit his head on the way to the door and I missed it because I was so wrapped up in my mess. Maybe he ingested some kind of drug. Maybe my Flamiche was poisoned as well.

For the second time that week, I had the abhorrent desire to empty my stomach onto my companion. I'd had a shitty week but this definitely took the cake. William's words left me too shocked to speak.

"I know it's incredibly unexpected—

"Not to mention insane!" I said cutting him off. I'd finally found my voice and I intended to use it. "Why on earth would you want me to marry you? You hate me, I hate you. That's how it's always been. And even if we didn't hate each other, we have never had that kind of relationship. You can"t just spring marriage on me like that."

William sucked in a deep breath. "I understand that you must be shocked—

"And appalled!"

"Would you just let me finish my sentence?" he asked. I glared at him but I didn't say anything. He took that as a sign to continue. "Thank you. Let me explain things to you. I don't actually want to marry you."

I perked up at that. I was about to give him an earful but he sent me an exasperated look. Fine, I thought as I sank back onto my seat, I'll let him finish his explanation before I tore into him.

"I need to marry you. For my grandfather's sake."

"You're not making any sense."

William sighed. "My grandfather, Bernard, is an old-fashioned man with old-fashioned views. He believes that I need to be married to be a good CEO. To be honest, I was never meant to inherit the position as a single man. Marriage was a prerequisite, of sorts, for taking over the position. Sadly, my father passed away and I had to step up. My grandfather allowed it because we had no other choice. Now he is demanding that I get married as soon as possible. I've done a damned good job as CEO but all the money in the world wouldn't be able to convince him. He wants me to get married or…"

"Or what?" I asked. I had no intention to agree to his insane marriage proposal but I had to admit I was curious about the whole thing.

"Or I'll lose the CEO position."

If you ever lose your job as CEO, you should consider being a therapist.

I just might.

Pieces of our earlier conversation floated into my mind. Now, I understood why he said that. There was an actual chance William might lose his job. I couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't working as the CEO. I‘d known him long before he took the position but William had always been born to lead. He was born to sit in the highest chair of the building.

"That's… um…" my words trailed off. I didn't know what to say to him.

"At least now you understand why I'm so desperate."

"I do but that still has nothing to do with me. Why don't you just get married?"

"Because I don't want to," he said plainly.

"But you want to marry me?"

"I need to marry you."

I shook my head. "I'm back to not understanding again."

"I'm proposing a fake marriage between you and me. It will be legal but it will only be for a short while. After about a year or maybe even less. We can just get a divorce and go our separate ways."

He spoke about it like it was the most casual, normal, mundane thing anyone had ever said. When in reality he was saying something mind-boggling. He wanted us to get married and then divorced in the span of a year. That was insane.

"What will happen with your grandfather? Do you plan to kill him before the year is over or will his old-fashioned views simply melt away after the divorce?" I asked.

I didn't know why I was asking these questions. Maybe because a part of myself was beginning to consider something I knew I shouldn't.

I still had no plans to accept but like I said, I was curious. I'd never heard anything this crazy in my life. And I'd been in rooms where the scandalous stories were discussed.

"I have a plan for that. I will win over the board before the year is over. If they're on my side, then my grandfather won"t be able to take my position from me."

I shook my head again. "This is crazy."

"I know but I don't have much of a choice. I asked you because we're… friends?" he said that last word like it was a question.

I answered. "Acquaintances at best."

"Either way. I trust you and I think you're the perfect person to do this with."

"And what would I gain from doing it?"

I had no idea why I was asking that question. I wasn't going to agree to his deranged plan. Again, I was simply curious.

"Two things." He paused like he was thinking about something. "Three actually. One, a million dollars in cash."

I tried to hide my surprise at the amount he mentioned. A million dollars was a lot of money but not enough for me to sell my soul to the devil. I didn't tell him that, though. Instead, I let him say the remaining two things. I was curious.

"Two, I'll help you find who really stole the money."

"What?"

"You said you'd been trying to track down the thief but you haven"t been able to. If you marry me, I will hire the best private investigators in the world to uncover what happened to you. They'll find out who stole the money," he said. Confidence oozed from him as he spoke.

"And the third thing?" I asked with a shaky voice. This whole thing was becoming too much for me.

"You'll get your old job back even before we find the thief."

"How?"

"You'll be an Aldaine. You'll mingle with high society. You'll be invited to the most exclusive events. You'll be welcomed in rooms not even your former boss has entered. Trust me, she'll be begging you to come back."

I gulped. I knew he was right but I also knew that this was madness. I couldn't marry him. I wasn't ready to get married and this was William. The guy I've hated since I was a kid. We couldn't possibly get married.

I pursed my lips as I prepared to reject his offer but William spoke before I could. "If you're going to say no then don't say it yet. Go home and think about what I'm offering you. You can give me an answer next week."

There was no use postponing the inevitable. I knew that but I nodded anyway. Come Monday, I would tell William that I was rejecting his offer. I couldn't marry him.

My hand tightened around my glass as I beamed at Skylar. It was another one of those smiles that hurt my cheeks, but I kept it up. I didn't want her to know how jealous and bitter I really was. I couldn't let her see how much it hurt me that she was living my dream.

The noisiness of the bar drowned out most of our conversation. I had always hated crowds but today I was grateful for them. The last thing I wanted to hear was how great things were for Skylar back at Bella's Elite. It was Saturday so the bar was more packed than usual. My gaze drifted around. I saw the group of men sitting in a booth by the corner, nursing what was likely their fifth round of beers. Two women sat by the bar, laughing and giggling at a joke only they knew. The bartender watched them with fascination. He was so fixated on them that he didn't see that he had a new customer. The man shouted his frustration, forcing the bartender to pay attention to him.

A few couples sat in other booths. Booths situated in shady corners where they could have some privacy. Privacy that would give them a chance to feel as though they were the only people left in the world. They were in love.

I sighed. I'd never been in love. At least I don't think I have. I think about it often though. What it's like to find your person. The immense joy one must feel because they know they are not alone in this world. Not that I had ever been alone. I've always had Ryan but that was different.

I wondered what it was like to be in love. To be truly, utterly, profoundly in love with someone. I wondered if I would ever feel that or if I would continue to watch from afar.

My mind drifted to William and his proposal. His insane proposal. I've always wanted to marry someone that I genuinely loved. That was one of the things keeping me back from accepting his proposal. William didn't love me and I didn't love him. Hell, we hated each other. We—

"Are you even listening to me?"

Skylar's annoyed voice cut through my thoughts.

I blinked several times and refocused my eyes on her. She had an unhappy look on her face. I offered her a sheepish grin to placate her and she shook her head. I could see her small smile though. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was just talking about life as Senior Editor!" she said. She practically squeaked that last part. It was so loud that the giggling ladies turned back to look at us.

"Oh."

"Unless you don't want me to talk about it. If you don't then I completely understand because—

"Nonsense! I'd be more than happy to hear," I said, my cheek-aching smile slipping back into place. "Please tell me all about it."

"All right! Jane, I don't even know where to start. It's been simply amazing. I know I only got promoted on Tuesday but every day since then has been fantastic. I get to contribute during meetings instead of just standing there like we used to. I got my own office and I even got a bonus. And that's excluding my incredible pay raise. It just feels so magical."

When I left the bar an hour later, I was sure of two things.

One, my cheeks could not endure any more fake smiles.

Two—and no, this wasn"t just the alcohol talking—I was going to marry William Aldaine.