The Billion-Dollar Marriage Contract [SAMPLE ONLY / FREE ON TAPAS!]

Chapter 4- Engagement (3)

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Nikos excused himself and went back to find Cassia who was still sitting in the spot he left her in. She stared at the crowd warily and he noticed that she was twisting her skirts yet again.

"Cassia." Nikos called. Immediately, she raised her head and her brown eyes looked straight into his.

"I want to introduce you to my grandfather," Nikos told her.

She stood up and he took her arm and led her across the room and towards his grandfather.

"Grandfather, this is Cassia, my future bride. Cassia, this is my grandfather, Stavros Demakis," Nikos introduced.

Stavros looked at Cassia from head-to-toe and then leaned forward and gave her a kiss on both cheeks.

"Nice to meet you, Cassia. And welcome to the family," Stavros said.

Cassia noticed the coldness in his tone and the way his eyes hardened like Nikos' did earlier.

She peered up at Stavros and tried to study his expression but his face remained blank. A second later, Stavros turned his back on her and continued talking to his fellow businessmen. With that, Cassia's spirits fell. She knew she was not welcome with Nikos' family.

"I guess that means your grandfather doesn't like me," she whispered in defeat.

"Pappou doesn't like a lot of people," Nikos replied dryly.

"What about your parents, then? Will they like me?" she asked.

"You don't have to worry about my parents. They are too busy travelling the world to pay me any notice. If they don't notice me then maybe they would not notice you too," Nikos muttered.

He realized later that he'd been rude and he quickly made amends.

"And it does not matter. It's not them who are getting married. It's us," he explained and even squeezed her hand to comfort her. She lifted her head once more and smiled at him.

And something tightened inside Nikos' chest at the sight of that smile.

"Thank you, Nikos..." she whispered dreamily.

With those words, Nikos was snapped back to reality for he realized that this girl truly had a bad case of infatuation with him.

"Well, time for the big announcement," he said as he took her hand and guided her towards the dance floor.

The moment they were in the middle, the music stopped and the entire crowd became silent.

"Good evening everyone. I know that some of you already know why we are gathered here tonight. And I also know that some are still baffled as to why. So let me announce this right now. The lovely Cassia Andrade has agreed to marry me and this is our engagement party! So tonight, help yourselves to the food, the wine and I bid you enjoy!" Nikos announced.

To make everything look real, he pulled Cassia affectionately towards his side and placed a kiss on her temple. He also felt her stiffen in surprise at first and then further melt against him.

He turned around and faced her then put his hand on her waist. With his other hand, he signalled the orchestra to play some music. Then he took her hand and they waited for the music to start so they could dance.

Nikos saw Cassia's eyes flare with panic.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know how to dance."

"I seem to recall that we danced fine the first night we met," Nikos pointed out.

Cassia shook her head nervously and bit her lip.

"Don't worry. It's fine. Just follow my lead," he ordered.

Cassia nodded and with that, the couple took their first step which was followed by another and then another...

While they danced, Cassia finally realized that this was not a dream.

This was not a fairytale and that this was better than all the scenarios she came up with in her head.

This was real...

She was truly with Nikos Demakis.

She was now engaged, and in a month's time, she would be married to the same guy who took the lead role in all of her fantasies.

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