A deal with the devil

Chapter Four

"You look pale. What happened, dear? Did he hurt you?" Ginny's concerned voice broke my chain of thoughts and I looked at her, giving her a small assuring smile.

"Umm..no. He did say he might fire me though and uhh..."

I went blank. I had no idea what to tell her. He could be joking about the killing part but knowing him and his temper, I was genuinely scared about the lengths he would go to protect his name and reputation.

"He is heartless. Dammit! Even the tears didn't work on him. Don't worry, Aria. I'll make sure you have a job by tomorrow. I can speak to my daugh—."

"I think I have a headache, Ginny. I'm gonna go rest for a while." I lied, cutting her off mid speech and started to grab my things. I felt bad for lying to her. I would have told her what exactly happened if it weren't for his threats.

"Oh dear, shall I make you a cup of coffee?" She offered with a worried look on her face.

"No, Ginny. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. I'll figure it out. I always do." I rushed and walked out of the kitchen, feeling so lost and confused by what happened upstairs. I informed my grandpa that I was feeling sick on my way out and started to walk towards the gate. As I was walking, I suddenly got an eerie feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around to find no one in sight and shook my head at my silly delusions but just when I was about to look away, my eyes accidentally caught someone walking away from the balcony swiftly, the one that was located on Xavier's wing.

Was he looking at me? Or am I imagining things?

I let out a soft groan and continued on my way out of his stupid mansion, wondering if this might be my last working day. I could get another job easily and my grandpa also wouldn't question me much if I simply say 'I don't wanna talk about it' but we would have to struggle to make ends meet. I might have to work two jobs a day.

Fuck! I jinxed my streak of perfect work record.

Once I reached home, I laid down on my bed and took a deep breath to clear my head. Eventually, I started to think about his stupid deal. I couldn't not think about it. He was rich and things like this must be normal to him but marriage is a huge deal to me. I've always wanted to marry the love of my life not some cocky bastard for some business deal. I was just 21. Who gets married at this age? I mean, it's not like I would agree to his offer if I was older and still single. Or would I?

The fact that I was slowly starting to consider his deal made me convulse in disgust.

What the hell was wrong with me? Was I that desperate? I mean, he did say there wouldn't be any sex involved. I could go to college with the money and get a degree that I've always wanted. I could finally take the next step towards achieving my goal. I could reduce the burden and stress for my grandpa. There were a lot of pros but there was only one con.

I would have to marry him.

But what about grandpa? What would I tell him? He would definitely spiral and prevent me from doing something reckless like this. If I was going to do this, I would have to come up with my set of rules to be included in this arrangement.

Wait, what if all of this was some elaborated prank to make me look like a fool for insulting him? That's highly possible. I decided not to worry about it much and pulled out my book to escape from reality.

If he really was serious and still wanted me to be a part of his marriage deal, he would know where to find me. If not, he can fire us both and go fuck himself.

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The next day, I continued to act sick and decided to stay at home. I wasn't ready to face him. My grandpa almost decided to stay at home with me. I forced him to leave the house after assuring him that I was fine for the millionth time.