Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The Contract
"How I’ll explain it to them has nothing to do with you. You just need to sign this and keep my secret." With that, Tristan Grayson tossed the documents in his hand into her lap.
She stared at the contract in her lap, stunned for a full three minutes before she finally came to her senses. "Why should I sign this? Tristan Grayson, don’t forget, we’re already divorced. You have no right to demand that I sign." ’Now that they were divorced, what right did Tristan Grayson have to still be ordering her around?’
"Hah... If you don’t sign, I have my ways to make you. Besides, this contract only benefits you. There are no downsides. You just need to keep my secret for ten days."
"Fine. Then tell me, what’s in it for me?" ’So it was only for ten days. It seemed she’d been reading too much into it.’
’But she didn’t understand. If he only needed her to keep the secret for ten more days, why couldn’t they have waited until after that to get divorced?’
Tristan Grayson shot her a cold glance and said flatly, "In ten days, I’ll give you another five million."
’Five million? She had traded three years of her youth for a five-million-dollar check and a downtown apartment. And now, she could get another five million just for ten days’ work?’
A dull ache spread through her heart, but her words were laced with sarcasm. "Tristan Grayson, I know you’re rich, but I didn’t realize you were *this* rich. And since you’ve got so much money to burn, it’d be a crime not to take you for a ride."
"How much do you want?" Tristan Grayson had expected her to agree, not complain that it wasn’t enough. His eyes grew colder, his voice laced with impatience.
"If you want me to keep your secret, fine. Ten million a day! And not a penny less!"
"Ten million a day? You’ve got some nerve."
"What? Is that too much for you? I never thought the great Young Master Grayson could be so cheap."
"Hardly. A paltry hundred million is well within my means." Tristan Grayson flashed a wicked smile, pulling a checkbook from his pocket and immediately writing out a check for one hundred million.
Seeing him write out a check for a hundred million without so much as blinking, the color drained from her face.
"Here’s the check. You can cash it in ten days. Now, you can sign, can’t you?"
"Fine..." she agreed, her expression grim. Taking the pen from his hand, she signed her name on the contract.
Once she signed her name, Tristan Grayson snatched the contract back. He shot her a cold look and said flatly, "You can go now."
"Oh." With reddened eyes, Mika Summers threw open the car door and ran off. She was afraid that if she stayed even a second longer, she would burst into tears.
’She didn’t know why she was feeling this way. The moment she signed the contract, her heart ached with a pain so intense she could barely breathe.’
’She was a rich woman now. She had a hundred million! A hundred million... she couldn’t spend that much in a lifetime. What was there to be unhappy about?’
Tristan Grayson stared blankly at her retreating figure. Just then, his phone suddenly rang.
He reached out, pulled the car door shut, and drew back his gaze. He took his phone out of his pocket. Seeing the name on the screen, his expression softened. He swiped lightly and answered the call.
The moment the call connected, a woman’s tearful voice came through the line.
Hearing her sobs, Tristan Grayson’s face instantly darkened. "Maggie, what’s wrong?" he asked, his voice tight with alarm.
"Tristan, let’s break up..."
"Maggie, don’t cry. I’ve already divorced that woman. In ten more days, we’ll get married. You have to believe me. I promise I’ll make you the happiest woman in the world."
"Tristan, I believe you... but... but... I’m afraid I can’t wait that long..."