Novel Palace
Chapter 12
The sun dipped below the horizon when Emily Walker finally got off her shift and agreed to meet with Ethan. She claimed she needed time to process everything that was suddenly going on. In the heart of the enchanting metropolis, the air was thick with anticipation as she sat with him in a lonely park. The shadows grew longer and secrets danced in the fading light. It was a delicate hour that felt like fate was weaving its intricate tapestry.
Emily gazed at Ethan Hatton, whom she thought she knew as Ethan Jacob but apparently he was not. He lied to her. Her eyes searching for answers in the depth of his troubled gaze. Her heart, once ablaze with admiration, now flickered with uncertainty.
“You’re Hatton? You’re the Ethan Hatton? You’re a billionaire?” she asked him, her voice laced with confusion, her eyes dancing about.
“The Rolls Royce didn’t do it for you?” he asked back and noticing her frown he softened his look.
“Why did you lie to me?”
Ethan still clad in his tailored suit took a step closer to her “I didn’t mean to, when I saw you didn’t recognize me or know who I was I wanted to keep it that way, I liked the weirdo image you had of me in your head”
But Emily trembled still, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a caged bird fighting to escape, to be set free.
“But the pictures…. the rumors….. I don’t know if I can handle all that, the scrutiny that comes with being seen with you, especially for somebody like me”
“What do you mean somebody like you?” Ethan asked her, moving closer.
“Don’t you get it, I’m a nobody. I have no parents, I have no one, no money, no qualifications because I didn’t even finish high school. I clean toilets for a living, I clean toilets for people of your kind” she told him, the words falling out of her mouth rapidly.
“You know what” she continued “I have a 2-day eviction notice stamped to my door so guess what I might be living on the streets soon, I have….”
“Then marry me Emily” Ethan said quickly interrupting her and Emily froze. Her world tilted on its axis as Ethan’s unexpected proposal hung in the air, his words echoing through the chambers of her heart. Time seemed to stand still as her thoughts swirled in a tempest of emotions, a whirlwind of uncertainty.
“What!” she gaped at him “I can’t marry you, I barely know you”
“Hear me out Emily” he moved closer to her holding her shoulders “I need you, I guess the university have made me cross paths with you more than once, but I need you to marry me please. There’s a business deal I need to seal and the main requirement is that I get married….”
“So it’s all about business and money” she interrupted him “Not because you love me or….”
“This has nothing to do with love Emily, I don’t care about that and besides what do you have to lose? You just said you have a 2 day eviction notice, you wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. You’ll come live with me in my pent house, hell you can even move in tonight.”
Emily stayed pensive as she began to process his request
“I just need to get this deal done, and we can hold this charade for about six months and you can divorce me if you want to, but I need this and you don’t need to clean toilets anymore, you’ll be Mrs Hatton. You’ll have everything you need, everything you’ve ever wanted. I promise you that”
Her mind became a battlefield, where reason clashed with the intoxicating pull of attraction. She pondered on the enigma that stood before her a man she had only recently met asking to marry her to seal a business deal just when she stood to be evicted from her home. What were the odds? She truly had nothing to lose. In the depths of her consciousness, skepticism whispered in hushed tones, cautioning her against the perils of rash decisions. How could she trust a man she barely knew? The notion of a contract marriage, veiling their connection in a web of pretense, tugged at the corners of her conscience.
A kaleidoscope of thoughts spun within Emily’s mind, each fragment painting a different hue of possibility. Could she take this leap of faith, embracing the uncharted territory of a contract marriage, knowing the lines between pretense and reality would blur.
“Emily?” she heard Ethan call “I need to be back on my father’s will, I have messed up way too many times and this is my only chance of redemption.” She saw his eyes, the desperation hidden between them and she sighed.
“Please Emily” he pleaded further, his hands moving to hold hers, his eyes boring into hers like she held his fate in her hands.
“Fine” she said quietly “I guess I’ll do it. I’ll marry you Ethan”
Ethan smiled suddenly lifting her off her feet and spinning her, oblivious to the clicking cameras around them
“You’re saving my life in a million ways Emily, I promise you, you won’t regret it but firstly my publicist has to give a press release, so the public is going to know your name and everything about you, that’s okay?”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
“I guess” she told him “I don’t have much choice about anything now, do I?”
“You always have a choice, Emily. Always remember that”
“I’m okay with it” she told him with a smile.
“And also” Ethan continued “You’d have to get used to paparazzi following you around, and just randomly finding pictures of yourself on the internet. You think you could handle that too?”
“I think I could deal with that”