Chapter 2 - The Contract
The ocean crashed violently against the rocks below.
Emma could not breathe.
She looked at the photographs scattered across the leather seat.
Her sweet, younger sister was a corporate spy.
"This is impossible," Emma whispered.
Adrian turned off the engine.
"The Marston family does not deal in impossibilities, Emma."
He leaned closer to her.
"We deal in threats, and Tessa is currently the biggest threat to my empire."
Emma shook her head wildly.
"Then go to the police," she pleaded.
Adrian smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.
"The police do not handle syndicate espionage."
He reached into the glove compartment.
He pulled out a sleek leather folder.
"I handle it," he said.
He opened the folder and placed a silver pen on top of it.
"And you are going to help me."
Emma stared at the document.
It was a marriage license.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Cole needs a wife to secure his shares," Adrian explained patiently.
He tapped the paper.
"If he marries Tessa, they vote me out and dismantle the company."
Emma felt a headache forming behind her eyes.
"So stop the wedding," she argued.
"Cole is in love, and love makes men incredibly stupid," Adrian replied.
He picked up the silver pen.
"The only way to block his inheritance is if I trigger the morality clause."
Emma looked at him in total confusion.
"How do you do that?" she asked.
Adrian held the pen out to her.
"By marrying the woman he just betrayed."
Emma stopped breathing.
"If I marry you," Adrian said quietly, "Cole's reputation is destroyed, his shares are frozen, and Tessa loses her leverage."
He was asking her to marry a man she barely knew.
A man everyone in Port Mercy feared.
"I cannot do this," Emma said, her voice shaking.
Suddenly, Emma's phone began to ring in her purse.
The screen lit up with Cole's name.
Emma froze.
Adrian reached over and picked up her phone.
He answered the call and put it on speaker.
"Emma, please listen to me," Cole's frantic voice filled the car.
Adrian stared directly into Emma's eyes.
"She is listening, Cole," Adrian said.
There was dead silence on the other end of the line.
"Adrian?" Cole finally stammered. "Why do you have her phone?"
May you like
Adrian smoothly unbuttoned his suit jacket.
"Because she left it on my nightstand," Adrian lied effortlessly.
