Chapter Three
The Dotted Line
Deshavi was gone, when I arose in the morning, but her stuff was still there so she had only gone outside and not left altogether. She came in as I was making breakfast. She looked decidedly moody and without asking I made enough breakfast for two.
She glared across the table at me, after I sat down, but I paid her no attention.
“What would it take to get all your stash of money?” She asked sullenly.
Now this I hadn’t expected, but I should have. What to do? I decided to play along.
“No more stealing.”
“Agreed.”
“No more whoring.”
“Agreed.”
“A lifelong married commitment to one man, with a baby in your arms no sooner than nine months after your wedding.”
I could hear her teeth grinding, as she nodded and then asked, “Anything else?”
Her tone said that she thought I had already asked for far too much from her.
“The man has to be Trent.”
Her eyes smoldered anger at me, “Why him?”
“Two reasons. For one, because he’s man enough to tame you and not be dominated by you. I like him is the second reason. You two will make beautiful babies together, which I look forward to holding in my arms soon.” I added at the last just to see the flames go higher in her eyes.
“Well what do you say?” I asked.
“Yes!” She gritted out. “But I want it in writing!”
I nodded and got up to fetch some paper and a pen. Sitting back down I wrote it all out and then slid the paper across the table to her with the pen. She glanced down at the sheet of paper as she read it.
Her eyes shot up to mine, “Thirteen and a half million!”
I nodded.
She picked up the pen and signed the paper and then slid it back to me.
I signed the paper and dated it.
Triumphantly she declared, “You’re a fool! I can be married, have a baby and be divorced inside of two years!”
I glanced up and met her eyes. “That very well may be, but to do it you’re going to have to show me first what kind of pathetic excuse of a mother you would be to deprive your newborn child of the love and positive nurturing influence of a father, that even you were ill equipped to do without at the age of three.”
She visibly winced with the impact of my words and the cocky look fell off her face entirely.
She reached for the paper, but I removed it out of her reach.
“Too late, it’s signed. Now I believe you have some work to do to ensure the inheritance of your fortune. Trent is at his grandfather’s place. Good luck with your hunting.”
I stood up and the deeply shaken sight that Deshavi now was, glanced up at me forlornly, “Where are you going?”
I held the paper up, “To hide this where not even you could find it, let alone steal it.”
I unhooked a plaid coat from off the door hook and shrugged into it. Folding the paper neatly I stated with emphasis. “Remember Deshavi, no babies until well after the wedding night.”
She truly looked pathetic now, as she sat there trapped by the very document she had just signed. It always paid to consider all the angles thoroughly before one signed something important. She had been too focused on the money to consider all the angles that could make the agreement binding.
I read the emotions of alarm that suddenly coursed across her face, as the meaning of my words became real to her. In order to snare Trent she’d have to do it without her feminine bedroom wiles and she had a limited window of opportunity in which to work in.
“Daylight is wasting, and Deshavi I think you know that birth control is not an option on the table with which to work around this obstacle you’re faced with in order to gain the prize.”
She nodded knowing exactly what I had meant by the statement of no babies or she forfeited everything.
I closed the door behind me triumphantly. She still had a few things to learn before she outfoxed me. This deal might cost me my fortune, but it was a small price to pay for a settled and well trapped granddaughter.
Deshavi sat there at the table staring at the closed door. What had she done?
She’d made a mistake, that’s what! She’d been suckered by a one and a three and a bunch of zeros. To complete it all she was locked into a commitment that she wanted no part of, but that she had to participate in, if she wanted the money. Sure, Trent was a hunk in every imaginable way, but he was dangerous to!
He made her nervous and she’d seen enough to know that he wasn’t going to be as easy to manipulate as others had been. Her grandfather truly had gotten the best of her this time. Thirteen and a half million!
She’d never thought it was that much. Was it worth being Trent’s woman and bearing his children though? He’d have a say over the money to, no doubt, unless she could get grandfather to give it to her under the table. He’d probably have to do that anyway, because if Trent found out what she was up to he wouldn’t be happy. He might even get mad enough to walk away!
In some ways she couldn’t believe she was even entertaining the bonds of this agreement, but she knew something had to change. That last time had been much too close! She’d had all her bases covered and yet that Russian thug had almost had her. It was time to get out and this was looking to be the best option financially speaking.
It was a good option in one other respect as well. It offered her a chance despite everything that had happened in the past to do and be something that she knew would please her grandfather. That was still important to her.
Now what sort of strategy would work best in toppling Mister Trent into the bonds of matrimony? A direct upfront approach was best, as she doubted that he would respect anything else. Before she had employed raw animal appeal, when she had been taunting him, but that wasn’t the kind of behavior that put a ring on your finger, it was only good for getting oneself laid. She had to avoid that at all costs, because as good as birth control may be, it wasn’t perfect.
She could count on her grandfather to hold her to every stipulation of their contract to the letter of the law, so she would have to win the ex-seal through charm and be honest with him. That is as honest, as she could afford to be of course, which wasn’t very honest at all. In fact what she had to do was lie very convincingly, with only enough truth added in to make it seem believable.