CHAPTER 4 : THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
Celine
“I'll repay whatever he owes, and you release the girl to me,” he repeated as he shifted his attention back to the ringleader, leaving me completely dazed. “Your boss, Edwardo’s a good friend. I'm sure he wouldn't mind.”
The goons exchanged tensed glances at his subtle threats, their postures unrelaxed, but the ringleader seemed to have other plans. “I don't know, Mr. Gray,” His lips pursed in mock consideration, eyes gleaming with unspoken demands. “Our Chinese buyers will offer a lot more than €170,000 for—”
“€400,000,” Antonio interrupted, silencing him.
“What?” I whispered with wide eyes, shock waves flitting across my body.
A slow smug smile formed on the ringleader’s lips, the victory in his eyes glaring. And beside him, I caught the opportunistic grin spreading across Armando’s face, his eyes practically gleaming. He still couldn't hide his greed even in the face of danger.
“You’ve got yourself a deal, signore,” the ringleader said, grinning from ear to ear.
Antonio gestured curtly to one of his bodyguards and a tall man stepped forward. He whispered something to him and the man exited the building, returning a few minutes later with two briefcases.
Once the briefcases were in Antonio’s hands, he handed them over to the ringleader, and he in turn opened one of them, a wide smile creeping up his lips as he gazed upon the wads of shiny notes. Without wasting a second, he signalled to the goons with a nod of the head and they released me from their grip. Then they all filed out, leaving me, Armando, Mr Gray, and his army of bodyguards.
I let out a heavy sigh of relief, glad this hasn't ended in a bloodbath. If what I'd heard about Antonio Gray was anything to go by, there were so many ways this could have ended badly.
Hesitantly, I moved cautiously towards Antonio, maintaining a safe distance. I couldn't fathom why he had decided to help, or how he ended up being here, but he had saved my life and I was grateful for that. Maybe, just maybe, the media had been a tad bit wrong about him. They did tend to exaggerate things.
“Mr Gray,” I counted my words, swallowing my fear. “Grazie. I don't know how to thank you for…” I paused, overwhelmed. “How could I ever repay your kindness?”
“Kindness?” He scoffed softly, his lips twitching up slightly in a mocking way. “Who said anything about this being free?”
Bewildered, my anxious eyes swirled from him to Armando, and he just shrugged, looking completely unfazed.
“Matteo,” Antonio called out, and the tall man from earlier stepped forward. “Escort them,” he ordered, turning towards the exit.
“Wait, what?!” I exclaimed, my heart leaping out of my throat.
The Matteo guy, alongside two other men approached us, the two grabbing onto Armando's arm, while the tall man stood behind me. He didn't grab me or touch me, he simply spread his hand out, beckoning for me to move. And surprisingly, Armando made no effort to resist. He just surrendered like he knew better than to fight back, letting them tug him along.
“Hold on,” I pleaded, my eyes wide with panic as I also moved along with them, having no choice but to comply. “At least tell us where you're taking us.”
I sat frozen, my brows furrowed with pure disbelief and shock as I stared intently at the document in front of me, struggling to make sense of what my eyes refused to believe.
We were now in Antonio's study in the luxurious Gray Villa, Armando and I seated in front of his polished mahogany table while he sat opposite us, taking a drag from the cigarette between his fingers.
I was practically forced—no, kidnapped here, all my questioning and resisting in vain.
“What is this?” I finally found my voice, lifting my head slowly to meet Antonio’s cold gaze.
He puffed out a smoke, extinguishing the cigarette butts on the ashtray. “It’s clearly written in English,” he said with a deep scowl. “Do you need a translator to help you comprehend better?”
“I can comprehend just fine,” I shot back. “I'm not blind. Neither am I stupid. What I wanna know is why you're handing me a marriage contract.”
“It's simple,” Antonio replied. “You're collateral until your brother pays back every penny he owes me.”
I let out an incredulous laughter. “This must be a sick joke.”
“Would you just sign the damn papers already, Celine?” Armando chimed in, his patience clearly wearing thin. “It's not that hard.”
“You have the nerve to say that to my face after trying to sell off your own sister?” I spat, my face contorted with anger.
“Well things worked out for the best. You're safe now, aren't you?!” he barked.
I scoffed, my eyes narrowed to slits. “You're unbelievable. You must think I'm insane to agree to this ridiculous set up. I refuse to marry a total stranger as a collateral for your debt. I'm so sick of you all tossing me around like some property!” I yelled out, my frustration spilling over. “You can burn in hell for all I care, Armando! This is your mess. I refuse to be dragged into it.”
“Enough,” Antonio intervened, his voice a low rumble that silenced us instantly. “You’ve already been dragged into this.” He matched my furious gaze squarely, his tone icy. “I paid for your life. I don't give a damn about your family issues. I'm a business man, not a fucking philanthropist.”
“You stepped in on your own and offered to help!” I blurted out, the ridiculousness of this situation driving me nuts. “Besides, he's the one who created this mess. Why do I have to suffer for it by marrying you?”
He leaned up slowly from his seat, his eyes grim. “Let’s just say this is my way of ensuring you two won't be able to run off without paying up.”
“You're wasting your time,” I said, my voice quivering slightly. “Doing all of this,” I lifted up the document, “This marriage contract,” then tossed it back down. “It won't amount to anything. Just look at him.” I gestured towards Armando, my eyes burning with contempt. “He's a con. A no good addict. This is who you want me to entrust my life with? He'll never be able to pay back €400,000 for the rest of his pathetic and miserable life.”
“Shut up, Celine!” Armando growled.
“You might as well just hand me over to those goons,” I went on, my vision blurring slowly with tears. “I'd rather die than go through with this madness.”
“That wouldn't be such a bad idea,” Anthonio said, and before I could even register it, he had pulled out a pistol, aiming it at us.
I instinctively held my breath, my heart hammering against my chest, while Armando's hands shot up in the air, his eyes wide with a horror that was almost comical. But I kept my eyes on Antonio, refusing to flinch even though I was at the verge of choking on my fear.
“Let’s try this one more time, shall we?” Antonio remarked, flicking off the safety with a sharp click. “Who's going to sign first?”
Armando quickly leaned forward and snatched the pen on the table, scribbling down his signature on the area written ‘debtor’. Then he grabbed my hand, positioning the pen on the part with my name on it. I wrenched my hand free from his grip, leaving a tiny inky smear on the paper.
With gritted teeth I glared at Antonio, my lips quivering as I fought back my tears. Knowing I couldn't escape this, I picked up the pen and leaned down, my hands trembling as I slowly began to pen down my signature. All my pent up tears broke free as I did, leaving wet patches on the pages.
After what felt like eternity, I put the pen down and Antonio grabbed the document, tucking the pistol back into his suit jacket.
“The marriage contract will remain valid until repayment of every cent,” he said as he scrawled down his own signature. “Once your dew is paid, our marriage will be automatically annulled.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red box, revealing two rings. He grabbed one of the rings and slipped it into his middle finger, tossing the other in front of me. “Until then, you're now legally my wife.”
With that, he grabbed the contract and rose to his feet, making his way towards the exit. Armando followed suit, casting me one final remorseless glance before disappearing from sight.
My knees buckled, plunging me slowly to the floor. I screamed out in fury and clutched my chest tightly, my body shaking uncontrollably as heavy tears burst forth, leaving me gasping for air.