“Then let me spread before you Miss Masini’s terms.”
“I’m listening.”
Gabi sat back and heard her words spoken through Hunter’s lawyer.
“Your contract is for eighteen months. At which time divorce proceedings will begin without contesting from either side or the entire contract is forfeited and no money will exchange hands.” All that was standard.
“The agreement is for twenty-four million, one million for each month of marriage, and one million for every estimated month it will take for the divorce to be final.”
Gabi met Hunter’s eyes. The amount was triple the normal contract.
He didn’t bat an eye.
“Continue.”
“As your wife, she insists on a new residence, one in keeping with your current lifestyle with no possibilities of a previous woman having ever been in attendance.”
There was a smirk . . . maybe even a little admiration behind his eyes.
“Continue.”
“If the marriage lasts eighteen months, she wants five years in the home you purchase before selling and splitting the profits. If the home loses money, you will pay the difference.”
There was no doubt now . . . he was smiling.
“Continue.”
Ben shook his head.
“Any extramarital affair going public . . . assumed or proven, will cost one million per affair.”
That made him pause. “Really, Gabi?”
“I hate being made a fool.”
He shook his head, rolled his fingers in the air. “Continue.”
“In the event of any criminal charges being brought against Miss Masini, your marriage will continue until she has been freed of all charges, to which all funds will continue as promised. All legal expenses to exonerate Miss Masini will be paid for by you.”
Hunter tilted his head. “Touché.”
She grinned, feeling more confident with every word the lawyer spoke.
Ben tuned the page and continued to paraphrase. “In the event of any domestic violence, Miss Masini has the right to terminate the marriage and will obtain one hundred million dollars. Said funds will be placed in an account on the first day of marriage and held in trust until the completion of the contract.”
Hunter’s smile fell, and for the first time since walking into the office, Gabi felt exposed.
“I’ll never hurt you,” he said softly.
I’ve heard that before.
Staring directly at Hunter, she said, “Please continue, Mr. Lipton.”
“In the event of Miss Masini bearing your child, half of your net worth will be placed in a trust for your child. The marriage can be terminated at any time after a pregnancy is determined, and the home you purchase will be free to live in until your son or daughter reaches eighteen or graduates from high school.”
Hunter frowned.
“That’s an expensive child.”
She leaned forward, made sure he understood her words.
“The only way a child would be conceived between us would be through force. I’m assuring my safety, Hunter.”
It was his turn to hold her eyes with his own. “Anything else, Ben?”
“Standard stuff . . . if you both agree to early divorce, the original payout is applied.”
Hunter twisted his phone toward her. “Get your attorney on the phone . . . I have a couple of conditions of my own.”
Two hours later, Gabi agreed that if she were to have an affair, the settlement would be half of the expected twenty-four million. The home would be sold within one year of divorce, and any child not his would keep her maiden name and be entitled to half of the final settlement.
By the time Mr. Lipton left Hunter’s office, the hour closed in on three.
Gabi’s back ached from sitting in the office chair, the view from Hunter’s office forever burned in her brain.
They discussed marriage in terms she never thought possible.
There was a day in her life that love and devotion were once a part of till death do us part. She knew better now.
There were many examples of “good marriages” around her . . . but she couldn’t help but question. What didn’t she know . . . what was happening behind the scenes that no one spoke of?
It made her sick . . . the questioning . . . the wondering.
The memories.
“We missed lunch,” Hunter said when they were alone.
The agreement was made . . . the contracts sat in front of them, waiting for their signatures.
“I don’t think I can eat,” she muttered.
He was silent until she met his gaze.
For the first time since they’d met, Hunter Blackwell’s shoulders slid . . . and his eyes softened. His next words were quietly spoken. “I’ve never laid a violent hand to a woman, Gabi. You will not be my first.”
The image of Alonzo smiling as the needle slid into her vein came from nowhere. He hadn’t forced anything on her, either.
“That’s little comfort.”
Hunter stood and approached as if to a frightened animal.
Hadn’t she gotten past that? The fear stage and on to the fight?
Before he could say anything, she swiped the contracts from his side of the desk, grasped a pen, and signed her name.
Tomorrow she would begin the task of removing her name from anything and everything Alonzo Picano.
Today . . . or at least until she signed her name to a marriage agreement, she would simply be Gabriella Masini.
Soon-to-be wife of Hunter Blackwell.
The blackmailed wife of a ruthless billionaire, the widow of a soul burning in hell.
Chapter Six
Twenty-four hours after she signed the agreement, he called to ask her ring size.
The contract was signed and recorded on the third day . . . on the fourth, a Thursday, they stood in the private quarters of a justice of the peace and exchanged meaningless vows.
Hunter didn’t bother attempting a kiss, and the judge didn’t ask for it.
He’d done it.
Marriage within two weeks of the initial onset of his unsolvable problem.
He turned to the pale stranger beside him as he walked out of the courthouse and felt every ruthless cell in his body.
“I honestly wish it didn’t have to be this way,” he said almost to himself.
“Excuse me?” Gabi asked.
“Nothing.” He motioned her to the waiting limo and took her to her Tarzana home.
They wouldn’t reside in the same house until Gabi agreed to a home.
Having little choice, Hunter walked behind Gabi as she approached her front door.
Like Remington had said, the home had an advanced security system, which Gabi disengaged the moment she stepped into the house.
The light furnishings were in direct contrast to anything Hunter owned. The pale green sofa and floral pillows were subtle and calming.
He watched in fascination as Gabi dropped her purse on the hall table. The table housed the flowers he’d sent. There must have been a look of surprise on his face.
“It’s not the flowers’ fault you’re an ass,” Gabi explained.
She stepped through the home, leaving him to close the door behind him.
He immediately noticed a light on the security panel light up. That’s when he noticed the camera under a dome by the front door. There were other cameras and motion detectors. “Why is this house so heavily monitored?” he asked as he followed her into a kitchen.
Gabi moved about the space, filled a kettle, and placed it on the stove. For some reason, Hunter didn’t see her as a domestic woman, yet walking around the kitchen, she seemed more relaxed than during the drive to and from the courthouse.
“The house belongs to Samantha,” Gabi explained. “Since she married Blake, the house has been occupied by her staff.”
“Women?”
Gabi nodded.
Blake was a good man, he mused. Still, the surveillance felt
like more than just a safety measure for a single woman living alone. He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the security had something to do with Gabi’s past.
He walked around the small dining area, looked out the back window to the modest backyard. Even there he noticed cameras in the eaves of the house. “Who monitors the system?” he asked.
“Why do you care?”
He let the curtain to the backyard drop and turned to find Gabi watching him, her arms crossed over her chest.
“You don’t have to be hostile, Gabi. It’s a simple question.”
She relented, pushed away from the counter, and opened one of the cupboards. “Blake has a security team.”
“Of course.”
She set a tea bag inside her cup, kept her back to him. The simple black pantsuit was stylish and not at all what Hunter thought she’d wear for their court appearance. Not that he thought she’d wear anything resembling a wedding dress, but black?
It was fitting, he supposed. Her hair, once again, was in a tight knot, making him wonder how long it was and when he might have the opportunity to see it loose.
“When are you going to tell me the real reason you needed to get married in such a hurry?” She removed the kettle from the stove and started to pour.
He wasn’t expecting the question and had no intention of answering it. She’d find out eventually, but he wasn’t prepared to tell her now.
“About the time you reveal the reasons behind all your conditions in our contract.”
She stopped pouring and held perfectly still. “That will never happen,” she told him.
“Then I’ll just have to find out on my own.”
She glanced over her shoulder and scowled. “Why bother? You have what you want. We’re married and will stay that way for the duration of the contract.”
He lifted his chin. “Eighteen months is a long time to keep secrets.”
Gabi set the kettle down and placed both hands on the counter. “Where do we go from here?” she asked, changing the subject.
He glanced at his watch and then removed a folded paper from the inside pocket in his suit. “I have a meeting in New York tomorrow. I’ll be leaving in a few hours.”
She sighed, as if relieved, and twisted around to face him.
“I expect you to begin the search for the home today. If you don’t find something suitable in a week, I’ll find one.”
“Why the hurry?”
“We’re married, Gabi. No one will believe it’s for real if you’re living here and I’m somewhere else in the same city.” He handed her the paper, watched her unfold it. “Phone numbers, addresses. We should be able to keep a lid on our marriage until I return. If something leaks, call me.”
“I’m not one of your employees,” she told him.
He wanted to contradict her, decided against it. “Please.”
She turned the paper toward him, pointed at a number. “What’s this?”
“The code to the parking structure in my building.” He tapped his fingers on the counter. “What do you drive?” he asked.
She shook her head. “My car is in the shop.”
“I’ll have one of mine brought here for you.”
Was that a grimace? “My insurance was canceled.”
“Your . . . what?” he asked.
“My auto insurance. It’s a long story.”
Hunter looked at the time. “A long story will have to wait. I’ll fix it, bring you a car.”
Gabi rolled her eyes. “Do you fix everything with money?”
Yeah, he did. “And wives.” Was that a smile? “I’ve got to go.”
She turned away and picked up her cup. “I’d wish you a safe trip, but if your plane goes down, all my worries are over.”
It was his turn to smile.
“Judy?”
Rick called her name from the open door of his office.
“Yeah?”
“Can you come here?”
She pushed away from her drafting desk and the project she was working on outside of the office. The desire to move up the architectural ladder was crying out.
The familiar wall of monitors and equipment that Rick surveyed filled an entire wall. There were a dozen homes, plenty of coming and going . . . lots of conversations that they most often didn’t listen in on.
Judy slid her arms around the broad shoulders of her husband’s back. He reached up and kissed one of her hands before clicking into his computer and bringing up one of the houses.
The image of Gabi standing over the sink in the kitchen of the Tarzana home looked innocent enough, then Judy realized the shake of her shoulders. She was crying, which cut Judy to see. “Oh, no. I thought she was doing better.” Judy looked away, feeling like she was invading the other woman’s personal space.
“I did, too. Russell told me she had a visitor, so I searched the video.”
Rick cued the images, turned up the volume.
“Who is that?” Judy asked when a tall man walked in behind Gabi. His business suit told her he had money. He looked directly into one of the cameras and frowned.
“I’m not sure.” Rick pointed at the kitchen feed. “Notice how Gabi is ignoring him.”
“She’s upset.”
“Pissed, listen to her voice.”
Why do you care?
“Wow. She’s spitting venom at the man,” Judy said.
“Keep listening,” Rick told her.
It didn’t take long for Judy to realize that the man was a client for Alliance, then Gabi laid into him. You have what you want. We’re married and will stay that way for the duration of the contract.
The strange man stared at her and said, Eighteen months is a long time to keep secrets.
“Oh, my God.” Judy sucked in a breath. “Did he just say what I think he said?”
Rick turned in his chair and lifted both eyebrows. “He sure did.” He pointed back to the live feed and zoomed in.
There, sitting on Gabi’s left ring finger, was a rock the size of Judy’s thumb. “She didn’t.”
“I think she did,” Rick said.
Judy turned from the monitors and headed for her office to retrieve her purse.
“Where are you going?” Rick asked, following her.
“To talk to her. She’s obviously upset. My guess is no one knows what’s going on. If Meg and Val knew, Meg would have called me.” Meg was Judy’s best friend and Gabi’s sister-in-law.
“I’ll take you.”
Judy pushed her hand on Rick’s thick chest. “No. She’s still not completely comfortable with men. I’ll go.”
“I guess it’s pizza for me tonight,” he said with a grin.
“Save some for me, Green Eyes.”
He kissed her and patted her butt as she walked out the door.
The doorbell buzzed several times before Gabi moved from the kitchen counter to answer it. She shouldn’t have been surprised to see Judy’s face behind the peephole, but she was.
Running her fingers under her eyes, Gabi knew it was useless. She’d been weeping since Hunter left, the reality of what she’d done set in.
She opened the door and tried to smile.
Judy’s face filled with sympathy, and her first words brought fresh tears to Gabi’s eyes. “Oh, hon . . . what happened?”
Judy pushed inside, kicked the door closed, and dropped her purse on the floor.
Gabi accepted the other woman’s hug and cried. “I-I got married.”
They stood in the hall for a couple of minutes, Judy tried to soothe her over with soft words. Who would have thought a woman a good five years younger would be the one comforting her?
“C’mon.” Judy led them into the living room where they sat on the couch. “Start at the beginning.”
The thought of letting it all out, every detail, was tempting. But what would be the point? Judy was a direct link to her brother, and if Val found out that Hunter had blackmailed her into marriage, she’d have to contend with his wrath inste
ad of focusing on clearing her name.
“His name is Hunter Blackwell,” Gabi told Judy.
“An Alliance client?”
“Yes.”
“If he’s a client, how is it you married him?” Judy asked.
Gabi shook the truth from her tongue. “He needed a wife, fast.”
“Why?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” There was no way around that truth. Gabi knew that fact shook Judy. “But he’s a friend of Blake’s.”
Judy seemed to like that piece of information. “Did Sam approve?”
Gabi shook her head. “Jordan’s really sick. She asked me to deal with Blackwell.”
“Deal with . . . not marry.”
The image of the justice of the peace asking her if she’d take him as her husband shot into her head. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“I don’t think—”
“Twenty-four million.”
Judy stared, open-mouthed. “Oh.”
“Yeah . . . oh!”
They were silent for a minute, before Judy asked, “So if you wanted the deal . . . why are you so upset?”
Half the truth came out. “Memories.”
Judy grasped both Gabi’s hands and held them in her lap. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
She thought she’d loved Alonzo when he convinced her to elope. The memory was clouded, where the image of Hunter vowing to be her husband was fresh in her head.
Judy ran her thumb over the ring on Gabi’s finger. “This is crazy,” she said.
Gabi really hadn’t noticed. She twisted the ring on her finger now . . . realized the size of the thing that very moment. “It is, isn’t it?”
“It’s got to be at least five carats.”
“I don’t know.”
The tears were drying up, the memories of Alonzo with them.
“So what now? Are you moving in with him?”
Gabi focused on her hand, lifted it high to really look at the ring. “No . . . I need to find a house.”
“What?”
Gabi dropped her hand, offered a grin. “I told him I wouldn’t live in his house, that he needed to buy us a new one.”
Treasured by Thursday (Weekday Brides Series Book 7) Page 5
