Present Day
As the car drove away from the hotel, Nora reminded herself not to cry. How could she have been so blind to Antonio's shamelessness? He'd betrayed her so badly and other than a little pang of guilt, he had felt absolutely nothing. Did he really believe that after all that happened, she would still be grateful for the crumbs of his friendship?
However, she reminded herself that she too had been at fault here. After all, she had always bowed her head and acceded to his wishes. Could she entirely lay the blame on Antonio?
She felt a blast of cold air from the air conditioner and hugged herself. In the next moment, the heat was turned up, and she could feel herself warming up. She turned to look at the man who was driving and finally broke the silence, "Thank you for... this."
With his eyes still focused on the road ahead, Demetri simply nodded, saying nothing. However, Nora did not mind. In the last two weeks, she had come to realize that Demetri Frost was a man of few words. He treated words as if they cost a fortune, as if he was running a word-saving business and trying to maximize his profits.
"How did you know I was coming out?" she asked hesitantly.
The silence continued, and she wondered if he would ever answer her when he finally did, "Attorney Doughby called me."
"I see. Thank you once again."
Silence reigned again in the small car, and Nora could not help but wonder how to break this. She did not like this tension and awkwardness. "Where are we going?"
Demetri glanced at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the road, "My house. As per our contract, you will live there from today onwards."
Nora gulped. She had tried not to think of this day in the last two weeks, but the day was finally here. Was she ready to move into his house? Not really. Sighing, she wondered what was wrong with her when she had agreed to his conditions. Ah yes, she had been partially insane due to the heartbreak. Closing her eyes, she thought back to their first meeting...
"Do you think you can handle pretending to be my lover? And be in love with me?"
The way he had looked down on her, his gaze challenging and smug as if he had already won, had made her go crazy. All the anger that she had felt towards Antonio, towards her sister and her mother and the world had come to her at that moment, and she had looked at him and given the best acting performance of her life.
Instead of cowering away, she rubbed her cheek against his fingers and smiled up at him, "Pretend to love you? Of course? Don't you see the love in my eyes?"
He'd stepped away from her as if she had sprouted horns. The slight distance between them and the incredulity in his eyes had given her the courage to speak, "I am a good actor, mister. You don't have to worry about that."
Just then, William Doughby entered and introduced, "Nora, this is Demetri Frost. He would be your perfect husband. And Demetri, this is Nora. Your perfect wife."
"Let's finalize the details of the contract. Doughby, you are biased. You will not sit for the negotiations. Send in someone else." Demetri bit out.
William Doughby opened his mouth but refrained from saying anything and with a reassuring nod to Nora, he walked out of the room. As soon as the two were seated, Demetri started to lay down the conditions.
"Contract will be for 5 years."
"3 years. And standard Prenuptial agreement. We exit the marriage without claim to anything that belongs to the other party," she'd parried.
"Non-disclosure Agreement." He bit out.
"Agreed." She accepted easily.
"No Physical contact." She'd added.
"Impossible. Physical contact with consent." He countered. "And early termination only after prior notice and mutual consent."
"No cheating." She'd added.
This time, there was a pause, and Demetri looked at her intently, "Miss William, are you proposing to offer yourself to meet my needs?"
"No. I meant... I meant..." She'd had no idea what she had meant herself. Just that she did not want to be cheated on again...
But the man had taken pity on her and added, "I can be discreet. And you will be informed of any lover so that you are not blindsided. And the same applies to you."
"Thank you," she answered a bit unsurely.
"That is the only concession you will get from me, Miss Williams. All expenses during the term of the marriage will be mine. We will get married tomorrow so you can pack your bags and move in."
However, she had spoken again, "I, uh...I cannot move in with you."
"Miss Williams, we are going to be husband and wife. A couple lives together."
"I don't mean that I won't move in with you. Just that, I cannot move in right away. I need to settle some things. My wedding ceremony is in a couple of weeks..."
"A wedding ceremony?" A small amused smile played at his lips, and she wondered if he had been apprised by Grandpa William of her situation...
"Very good. Then we will get married tomorrow, and you can move in with me after the wedding ceremony...if you do not get wedded, that is..."
Within an hour, the contract had been drafted, signed, and sealed...
"One last thing, Miss Williams, you absolutely cannot fall in love with me at the end of the contract."
"We are in agreement on that, Mr. Frost. You should also remember that you cannot fall for me."
Nora opened her eyes as she remembered the last thing they had said to each other that day. And could barely believe herself. She was hardly lovable. Her own parent and sibling had no love for her. The boy who had promised to cherish her and love her had let go of her hand without much thought or care.
She'd done all she could to win the love of these people and still failed miserably, so what hope could she have that a stranger would fall for her? Rolling her eyes, internally at her own audacity, she finally remembered something and spoke up hastily.
"Mr Frost, I cannot move in with you tonight."
"Mr. Frost, I cannot move in with you tonight."
As Nora uttered those words, the temperature in the car seemed to drop a few degrees, and Nora gulped. This man was too intimidating. Hurriedly, she raised her hands to clarify as she said, "I am not trying to be difficult or playing games. My things are in storage. I did not move them to Antonio's house, and I had hoped to be able to escape after the wedding. I really did not expect them to be so shameless as to insist that I attend the entire reception."
Finishing in a small voice with a shrug of her shoulders, she couldn't help but wince. Sara looked dainty, but the girl really had mean claws!
"Collect them tomorrow." The man answered easily.
Nora wanted to protest, but then simply sighed. She hated arguments, and there was no need to argue. She could simply sleep in the dress.
Nora tried to hide her curiosity, but she was sure she had failed. She had not expected the man's house to be so... warm and welcoming. But it was just that. Even though the house had minimal furniture and almost no artifacts or decorations, the muted palette of the walls gave it an open look. The absence of excess seemed to create a sense of peacefulness, like a garden of tranquility.
It was vastly different from her own home, where taking a wrong turn could lead to accidentally breaking something. She liked this place. She was about to compliment him, but the man had already walked away, leaving her standing in the foyer.
Was she supposed to settle on that comfortable-looking couch? Or should she explore this mansion and choose a room for herself? Before she could think much, however, the man returned with a small bag in his hand and motioned for her to follow him.
Blinking curiously, she followed him as he led her up a winding staircase. As she entered the room, she almost walked into his back, realizing too late that he had stopped. "Your room. And this bag has things you may need for tonight."
Nora accepted the bag and carefully peered inside. The bag seemed to contain basic toiletries and a t-shirt. "Thank you, Mr. Frost."
The man looked at her intently for a moment, and Nora could only blink up at him uncomfortably. Did he want something?
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke, "People who know me call me Demon."
Nora blinked as he walked away after dropping that line. People who knew him called him Demon? Just how intimidating was this man? And why did he tell her that? Did he want to scare her? Nora frowned and wondered if that was the case. Well, she was already apprehensive about him. The only thing stopping her from cowering was her determination not to revert to her old self.
As she arranged her toothbrush and other items, Nora finally concluded that maybe he wanted her to address him as Demon. After all, soon she would have to portray a woman who was deeply in love with him and intimate with him.
Slowly, she slipped out of her dress and winced at the marks on her shoulders. There was a clear imprint of fingers, and her skin had been scratched by Sara's nails. Wincing, she carefully removed the dress and put on the t-shirt and the large drawstring shorts from the bag. With everything settled, the last thing she noticed was a small brown package.
Her eyes widened as she saw the ointment. Did he know that she was hurt?
Embarrassed by her own vulnerability, Nora quickly shook her head to dismiss the thoughts. It had never been her fault that they had hurt her. Over the past few weeks, while pretending to be on vacation and preparing for today's events, this was the mantra Grandma Dorothy had made her repeat several times. The affection that the couple had showered on her in these few days had surpassed what she had received in all her nineteen years.
Applying the ointment, she settled into the softest bed she had ever felt and closed her eyes, ready to face the new challenges of tomorrow. Finally, all the preparation she had done would come to fruition tomorrow.
However, she had barely closed her eyes when her phone started to ring. It was her best friend. She'd barely pressed the phone to her ear when she heard her best friend squeal, "Where are you? I hope you didn't go back to the witch's house. And what's going on? Are you going to keep secrets from me now? The next time I get a suspense thriller book, I won't tell you the ending!"
Nora grinned at her best friend's rapid-fire questions. She and Isabella had bonded over their love for fiction novels, and if there was one person her best friend despised, it was Nora's mother, whom she called a witch.
"I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Let's meet up for lunch."
"You want me to endure the night with the agony of being kept in suspense? Fine. I'll do that too for you." Isabella sighed dramatically. However, she became serious the next moment as she said, "Nora, I really hope you're okay..."
"Yes, Bella... and if I'm not, I will be."
Hey everyone! To all those who have been following the story from the beginning, I have changed Nora's age from 18 to 19 years. Though 19 is not much different, 18 was too young. Also, I am so happy that the book has already received a contract from webnovel! I hope you are enjoying the book up until now. Also, though we've started out slower, I hope you look forward to our Nora charging ahead in the coming chapters! Your comments, reviews and power stones are what make me look forward to writing more so do share some motivation!
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