The Ideal Deal

2

Dominic exhaled a deep breath while sitting at the edge of the couch he was seated on. He stared deeply into my eyes before announcing, "The only way to get into the Circle-"

I cut him off nodding, "I know the two requirements. Are you supposing that we find a powerful monopolist to marry?"

All of the powerful monopolists that I knew about were either taken already or very old. Besides, I felt uncomfortable marrying a complete stranger, especially one much older than me. Furthermore, there weren't many candidates that fit the Circle's idea of near monopolists, as I once heard Lumiere call it. I figured that consisted of people that held large power within a shared corporation; for example, someone working in the beauty industry but happened to have power so great that he or she could be seen as the head or next best thing.

Dominic nodded, "Exactly. You and I both have the legacy and our parents' businesses. Since we both come from the few handful of extremely powerful monopolists, in order to be sure that we both get accepted in the Circle-"

I cut him off once more to ask, "You think that we-you and I- should marry...each other?" I stared into his eyes with curiosity and a bit of surprise. Of all persons to marry, I never fathomed that it would be me that Dominic would choose. While making sure that his face showed his seriousness, Dominic nodded in response. I knew that this proposal was just a deal, however. After all, Dominic and I despised each other. We were only doing this because we needed answers that the cops would never find. They had no idea about what went on behind closed doors. Dominic motioned to explain himself, but I raised my hand and silenced him. "I understand."

We both properly sat up, and Dominic explained, "We can get a divorce when we have everything we need. If you're going to see someone while we're married, just make sure you keep it on the low, but if you can avoid seeing someone while we're supposedly together, that would be easier. Paparazzis are no joke. Just let me know what you want to do."

I didn't get crushes often and barely ever dated, so I felt that I would be able to avoid dating during the fake marriage I would have with Dominic. Additionally, I didn't want to ruin the only chance we had.

"I won't date," I promised. "Will we have to live together?" Dominic rubbed his beard as he thought about my question, but due to the long silence in the room, I questioned, "Do you think the Circle will investigate us?"

"They're a very selective group. They'll want to know that we're joining because we want to contribute and benefit from them, as opposed to only benefitting from them," Dominic reasoned. "I suppose they might investigate us, especially given our family history with each other and the weird timing in which we are choosing to marry."

Trying to think of an alternative, I questioned, "Can't we just tell them that we've chosen to marry each other because we want our companies to flourish at a faster rate?"

Dominic shook his head and explained, "If two people are marrying only for power, there's a high possibility that they'll part soon. That's a concern for the Circle because then they'll have members that have been exposed to certain secrets and knowledge that won't be in the Circle for long, and that will basically be a waste of resources and possible weakness in the group." I thought about Dominic's rationality before nodding in agreement. "Do you think you can have your things packed up by tomorrow?"

While frowning, I questioned, "Why can't you move-"

"Here?!" Dominic frowned. "No, thanks."

Taking offense as to why he was scorning my home, I questioned, "What's wrong with my home?"

Noticing the offense that must've been written on my face, Dominic quickly replied, "Nothing." He then looked around at the photos that decorated the wall of the living room before cringing a bit. "I rather not sleep on Winter property, and it's even weirder knowing that they're no longer around, you know."

Though I felt much more comfortable staying in my home than moving into his, I found his justifications reasonable. I definitely wouldn't want to sleep in his parents' house either. Luckily, Dominic had his own. He was 25, and I was 21. I recently came out of college so I never really thought about moving out. Besides, my family was barely home, so I practically had the house to myself. I had planned to be gone out of everyone's hair by the time I would turn 23, however. Now, I didn't really have anyone's hair to be in. It was just me.

"I understand," I nodded. "What time will you be picking me up?"

Dominic informed, "Ten a.m, and after you unpack your things, we'll buy a ring and get a marriage license. We'll wait a week before announcing the news to everyone, even the press."

The press had been trying to contact me for a week now, but I kept avoiding them. My family was murdered just last week. Surely, they didn't expect me to be so open to talk about things. Besides, I never once addressed the press before. My parents and Autumn, my sister, would usually speak to the press. Given that I was in college, running the business was never something I had to think about, especially because Autumn was already very engaged in the company and her own. They didn't need spare hands. They only wanted me to focus on passing my exams and what not, but it was required of me to master in business. That way, I would have knowledge of the environment I would be getting into.

"Okay," I agreed, "but you do know that paparazzi will be following us around, right?"

Dominic smirked, "That's the plan." I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to understand where Dominic was going with all of this. Noticing my baffled expression, he explained, "They'll spread the news that they saw us together and getting a marriage license. The news will blow up quickly, but we'll still blow off talking to the public about it until next week. That way, everyone will be eager to know what we've been up to, especially the Circle."

Catching on, I added, "If we properly pull this off, we'll be receiving an invitation from the Circle next week."

"Exactly," Dominic smirked. "Do we have ourselves a deal, Ms. Winter?"

While staring into his eyes, I smirked, "We have ourselves a deal, Mr. King."

••••••
A/N: Excited for chapter three? There might be some steamy stuff there, but who knows what I'll actually write? Stay tuned. Chapter three will be out Wednesday, August 21st, 2019!!!
8/18/19