Chapter 2 MARRIAGE OR BANKRUPTCY

CHAPTER 2

MARRIAGE OR BANKRUPTCY

.........

The woman's scornful gaze followed me out of the room. My fist tightened, and I did not look back.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor behind me.

"Miss Bella!"

I quickened my pace. To catch up, he had to run, and he did. His fingers closed around my wrist.

"Miss, I am sorry about earlier." He put his head down.

Why the act? I thought.

"You don't need to put on an act for me. You are not a woman."

The report Lisa had gathered described him as weak and soft, almost like a woman. I had expected tears. I had expected him to run the other way.

"Do you want more money?" I asked coldly.

Even if I were desperate for a husband, I could never be shameless enough to take a broke, married man.

He chuckled gently. "What?"

He looked hurt. I was not bothered.

"You think I came on this date because of your money?" He scoffed and stepped closer. "Let me disappoint you."

I withdrew. He was very tall, and I had to tilt my head back to keep his eyes. What was wrong with this punk? Was he not supposed to run away in tears?

"The woman and the boy you saw are not my family," he said. "I don't even know them."

He was said to be married to her, and the boy called him Daddy. What was their relationship? I did not want to know. It was none of my business.

"Okay." I nodded. "Can you let me go now?"

At that moment the boy ran out of the room, shouting, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

I watched Gregory's face frown.

"Your child is calling you," I snarled, and stepped away.

He caught my hand again. "I said I am not married."

I pulled free of his grip.

"Young man, please know your place."

I tilted my necklace straight and walked on. He chased me down the corridor and stopped right in front of me.

"You can't avoid this marriage."

I knew better than anyone that I could never avoid an arranged marriage. But marrying a man with a child? That was never going to happen.

I looked him over from head to toe, and a smile spread across my face.

"Do you actually think you can marry me?"

I closed the gap between us. He stood still, his eyes locked onto mine. Standing a step apart, he bent over until his face was level with mine, a wide grin across his lips.

"Why not?"

I stepped backwards.

Shouldn't he be a proper good boy, as the rumour said? I doubted it. How could a man with a child be a proper good boy?

I pushed him out of my way, got into the car, and told my chauffeur to drive.

My name is Bella Ashcroft. I am my parents' first daughter, discarded to a mental hospital and used as a test subject for ten years. I returned two years ago. Now my company faced bankruptcy, and a blind date had been forced on me because of one unintentional accident.

Maybe it had all been arranged to push my company under.

Through the window, I saw him still standing there. The woman and the child had appeared again, one on each side of him.

I sighed and lay back against the seat. "What if we had already signed the contract?" I whispered.

"Drive me home."

In no time, the gates of my manor opened. My head was heavy with the weight of the company, and I walked into the hall, wanting only silence.

My phone buzzed. A message from my aunt.

*Baby, don't ruin this marriage chance.*

I threw the phone onto the couch and fell into the cushions after it.

Seconds later, a loud knock struck the front door.

I walked to it and pulled it open. "What are you doing here?"

Gregory stood on my doorstep with his luggage beside him.

"Hello, Miss Bella," he said, grinning.

I could not contain my anger. My face scrawled itself into a scowl. This had to be Mrs. Ashcroft's doing. I would not let her plan succeed.

I gripped the door handle and pushed him back across the threshold.

My phone rang from the couch. I knew who it was before I looked.

"Let the young man inside," my aunt said.

My blood boiled. My grip on the phone tightened. "He is married!" I yelled.

"What married?"

She did not know. So I laid out the whole scene of our date, down to the boy screaming "Daddy."

She laughed lightly. "As long as they are not legally married..."

I cut her off. I did not want her to continue. "So I should marry a married man?"

"Do you have a choice?"

My breath froze. She was right. I had no choice, and it was not a choice either.

"And don't even think about replacing the marriage partner," she added, as if she had read my thoughts.

Finding someone among the young masters of the elite families had been my only bid, and she had beaten me to it.

"No one can save you if you won't save yourself." She went quiet for a moment. "March on your principles, and watch your company go bankrupt."

The words left a chill on my body. March on my principles, and watch Vale Ashcroft go bankrupt.

The TRC resort development had already choked my cash flow. Now bankruptcy threats and a marriage trap had come on top of it. For the first time since I left that hospital, I felt truly suffocated.

Tears rose in my eyes. It was not the time to cry.

On the doorstep, Gregory was still grinning, as if he had never doubted the answer.

Marriage or bankruptcy?