Chapter 6 Signed
Dandelion.
“You came back quickly, Miss suicide queen.” He smirked the moment I stepped inside, closing the desktop which laid extravagantly on his marbled office desk.
Miss Suicide Queen?, I immediately regretted coming back to him, this ruthless man even gave me mocking nickname, and perfect for my current pathetic situation.
How ironic, he must be gloating within that demonic mind of his.
My hand, still trembling clenched into a tight, useless fist at my side.
My jaw tightened. Every cell in my body screamed to turn around, walk back out that door, and pretend this never happened.
But where else would I go? Back home to that nest of vipers? Back to the airport where humiliation curled around my throat like a choker? Back into the emptiness of everything I had lost?
No.
Alexander was my only option now.
My only second chance.
My last, pathetic lifeline.
"Are you just going to stand there moping?, hurry up come in and sit, I don't have all day to waste" Alexander drawled in a bored tone looking away from me then at his wrist watch, seated majestically on the swivel chair in his private study.
I forced myself to walk further into his cold, impossibly perfect dark colors palette study, I sat down slowly on one of the guest chairs facing him directly, Mr Walter stood beside him, hands behind his back like a respectful loyal soldier.
Alexander leaned on the chair with one leg crossed over the other, looking like sin in a suit, unbothered, annoyingly composed, green eyes glittering with amusement and yet with a hint of mockery.
And that overly annoying smirk on his sculptured face.
He liked that I returned desperate.
I could see it and feel it.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” he asked when I didn’t retort back at his silly remarks. “Or did you spend all morning practicing your dramatic entrance?”
I glared, Hard. “If I had any other option, I wouldn’t come near you.”
“Ah, yes,” he sneered. “Your options, I hear they’ve been reduced to zero, just like I predicted”
My stomach twisted.
He already knew.
Somehow, he always knew.
And Mr Walter avoided my eyes. He knew too, didn’t he?
Are they spying on me?
I straightened my shoulders. “Fine,” I muttered with gritted teeth, my voice trembled. “I’ll marry you. But....I should have my freedom intact.”
Alexander’s lips curled into another infuriating smirk.
“Of course,” he murmured. “I like women who bargain strategically.”
The way he said it made my skin erupt in goosebumps, it made me wonder if this was some sort of business transaction.
Walter stepped forward and placed a light well arranged stack of documents on the table. “The contract, Miss Williams.”
I stared at it.
At the finely printed front page.
At the weight of my future sitting there like a silent threat.
Alexander gestured lazily opening his desktop. “Go on. Read it.”
I swallowed hard, The chair felt colder than the marble floor. My palms were sweating.
I reached out and slowly took the document, flipping the first page.
And immediately regretted everything.
\---
Rule 1: Not allowed to love him.
I blinked.
What kind of contract starts like that? Who even thinks of that?
I glanced at him. He was watching me with that half-bored, half-Cold expression, like he already knew which rule I was reading.
Even though I know I definitely wouldn't fall in love with this cold man, I still had to ask him why though.
“Why is this necessary?” I asked.
“Because love complicates things,” he stated. “And you don’t strike me as someone who handles complications well.”
My cheeks flushed with anger.
Or embarrassment.
Or both.
He was right. Again.
And it made me hate him more, the fact that he kept predicting me, like I'm some naive open book in which he knew all the wordings, words for word.
I exhaled as I read the next rule.
\---
Rule 2: No affection allowed.
I frowned deeper, puzzled.
“What does affection even mean here?”
“No hugs,” he murmured. “No clinging. No emotional turbulence directed at me.”
I scoffed. “Please. As if I’d ever hug you.”
He opened the desktop looking at the screen. “People do strange things when they’re grateful to be saved.”
Saved.
Saved?
My lungs tightened. He knows I didn't ask to be saved…
I killed the thought before it swallowed me whole.
\---
Rule 3: Do not enter his bedroom.
I stared at that one for a long second.
He cleared his throat like he felt my eyes burning into him.
“Privacy matters to me.”
“Or you just have skeletons hiding in your closet?” I shot back.
“Only expensive suits,” he said smoothly looking up at me.
I scoffed, then my eyes landed on the 4th rule.
\---
Rule 4: Not allowed to touch Willow.
My head snapped up. “ Willow?”
Could it be? he has a child?
He looked too young, Too sharp, Too emotionally unavailable.
A son didn’t fit him.
“A child lives here?” I quizzed, my lips, parted in surprise.
So the Almighty Alexander Graham, had a secret son living with him, what then happened to the childs mother?
“It's none of your concern." he stated coldly
“But—”
“You won’t see him. You won’t talk to him. You won’t touch him. Willow stays out of your world, and you stay out of his.” He instructed firmly.
He looked like an apex predator. Walter shifted uncomfortably beside the desk.
I clenched my jaw, but kept reading.
\---
Rule 5: Pretend to be married, only around his grandmother.
Rule 6: Not allowed to call his grandmother Noona, he is the only one allowed to call her Noona.
I looked up at him and huffed in disdain, such a petty man.
He ignored me, eyes still on the screen.
Rule 7: Do not touch his things.
Rule 8: Do not break any rule.
Rule 9: Do not take pictures of him.
Rule 10: Do not call him by his name when alone, only refer to him as Mr Graham.
Rule 11: No pet names allowed.
Rule 12: No touching.
Rule 13: No kissing.
Rule 14: No sex.
Rule 15. No unknown visitors allowed in his home.
All these ridiculous restrictions made my head feel like it was breathing.
I pushed the papers away.
“This isn’t a contract,” I almost yelled “This is a prison.”
Alexander tilted his head. “Lucky for you, you don’t get to negotiate.”
“You said I could bargain.”
“And you did,” he replied casually. “You already bargained by coming back and also your request for freedom.”
My breath hitched.
He was right.
That was the bargain.
My presence.
My desperation.
My humiliation.
God I hate him.
“This contract makes me look like a clingy wife seeking attention?” I retorted.
“Tch.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk.
“As long as you follow my rules, Miss Williams.”
He finally called me by my name, not really my main name but it's better than that uncomfortable nickname he called me earlier.
Heat flushed under my skin, anger, shame, helplessness all mixing into one ugly blend.
I grabbed the papers again and flipped through them violently.
My life….reduced to a manual.
A rulebook.
A cage with golden locks.
Just like a scene from one of the past movie I had a role in, only that, this was frickin real and the worse thing was that I was practically the lead female.
Who does this?
Who drafts rules about not being allowed to love them?
Psychopaths.
Demons.
Men who torture you with a stare.
My voice cracked. “And if I don’t sign?”
“Then you can walk out,” he said simply. “Back to the world that has rejected you.”
I winced, he really didn't have any ounce of empathy.
“And you will never receive help from me again.” he added with a glare of finality.
My eyes met his, I could see he was really serious about it.
I looked down at the papers. My hands trembled.
Everything was trembling.
“What’s in this for you?” I whispered. “Why me?”
He didn’t blink as he explained cooly “Remember I told you before, for Convenience, I have to pacify my stubborn grandmother who insists I get married before she turns seventy by next month, but you don't have to worry it's only temporary, we'll get a divorce in a year and then you can carry on with your career.”
So I would be a pacifier for his grandmother, and probably a nanny because I heard rich older women liked to bully their daughter-in-law or granddaughter-in-law, especially if it's someone they hadn't recommended to their son.
It's going to be tough, but if I refuse, he could easily find another person.
alright then I'll try my best to play along and endure it.
I didn’t know why, but it felt like this would be the beginning of a more dangerous chapter of my life.
Well it should, since I might need to go against chase who was the famous powerful movie producer who ruined my career, my agency who defrauded me by freezing my accounts and my family for taking away my inheritance.
Walter spoke for the first time, seeing I was still contemplating “Miss Williams…. signing may be unpleasant, but Mr. Graham keeps his word. You will be safe here.”
Safe.
The word felt foreign.
Like something that didn’t belong to me.
I closed my eyes.
Then opened them slowly.
My signature will chain me to him.
But not signing leaves me in the ruins of my life.
There were no good choices.
Just a choice that hurt less.
I picked up the pen.
“Don’t rush,” Alexander murmured, finally closing the desktop “Read it again if you must.”
“I don’t need to,” I said. “I already know hell when I see it.”
He smirked again.
I signed.
The moment the pen lifted from the page, I felt the weight of it — the irreversible line drawn between my old life and whatever twisted future this man was dragging me into.
Walter took the contract.
and immediately Stamped it.
Filed it.
Alexander stood.
“Welcome to the arrangement.”
He extended his hand.... not for me to shake, just so he could pluck his copy off the table with unnecessary dramatic flair.
I glared.
He smirked deeper, then walked out of the study.
Walter approached me gently. “Miss Williams, I’ll show you to your room.”
I nodded numbly.
I really need to rest my heavy head.
I stood up from the chair following behind him, and dragged my luggage which waited at the entrance.
As we walked away, Walter whispered, “Please…. just follow the rules Miss Williams. He can be… frightening when crossed.”
A shiver ran through me.
I didn’t need Walter to tell me.
I had already noticed it in Alexander’s eyes, something dark, something dangerous, something he kept leashed but ready.
I swallowed hard.
He wasn’t a man you disobeyed, was he?
Not if I wanted to survive.
As we entered the elevator, I pressed the contract copy to my chest and made a silent promise:
I will definitely study every rule.
Every clause.
Every line.
If I want to live under the devil’s roof…
I need to know exactly how not to burn.