Deal with a Billionaire

Chapter 7

Sorry for the delay! With the kids at home and everything shut down, I have been finding a lot less time to get to writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please vote and comment below! I hope to get the next chapter out very soon :)

Xavier reacted immediately by yanking her away from Christopher.

"Bullshit, I don't know what he's done but I'm gonna get you out of this Belle" 

Annabelle used the momentum to tug Xavier towards the elevator turning back to Christopher,

"I'm going to head out, we can finish everything tomorrow," She said as she quickly yanked her purse from her desk on the way. 

They rode the elevator in silence and as they walked out of the building, Annabelle tugged Xavier's arm towards the coffee shop right outside. 

When they sat down, he finally looked at her and she could see the hurt and anger in his eyes. 

"You wouldn't get married without me, you wouldn't marry a guy you didn't even introduce me to." his words were filled with his hurt and she wasn't sure if he was assuring himself or her. 

"Xavier, of course, I wouldn't." She racked her brain trying to find the right way to convince him without hurting their trust. She knew that he would never allow her to go through with the contract, but she couldn't fake it completely not with him. 

"We have only barely started speaking, it was different, I have a connection with him that I haven't had with anyone else. It wasn't at the marriage point yet, you're right." 

She paused as he processed her words,

"We got drunk and it was just a court ceremony, the plan was to go get an annulment but then the pictures were leaked to the media. I like him, we want to see where this goes so we decided to wait, run with this, and see where it takes us. I really want to give this a shot Xav, with your blessing. But if you're going to be this upset maybe I should break it off" She looked down as she finished speaking for added effect. 

She knew it was difficult to fool Xavier, he knew her very well. Conning a con man was not going to be an easy task but she had to make sure that she kept Xavier away from this situation so that she could figure it out herself. If he knew that it was fake, he would try to step in to fix it for her without considering any repercussions on a future career for her. 

"So you actually like him?"

"Yes, more than I thought I could" 

"I want you to have a proper wedding, not just some court stuff"

"We will, but let's wait to see where this takes us. I'm still getting to know him, if things seem well we can go for the whole wedding but now that this out in the media were going to play it by ear. I don't want to make it public that it was a drunk mistake. I'm almost done with school and then I start interviewing for jobs and that will completely destroy my chances" She elaborated as she watched Xavier closely. 

He was quiet for a few minutes as he watched her,

"You're doing this just because it went public? Belle, there are ways to handle that without this whole charade-"

"Not just because it went public Xav, I also want to give this a chance. See if maybe we accidentally made a mistake that is good for both our lives"

Xavier sighed in frustration, 

"You love him?"

Annabelle hesitated,

"Well, I don't know, I think I might, I want to give it a shot to understand how I feel."