CHAPTER ELEVEN

I entered the dimly lit restaurant, my eyes scanning the place for Jonathan. The chandelier greeted me, casting a warm glow in the place. The decor was one of obvious luxury, with sparking marble tables, well-dressed waiters and waitresses pulling around trolleys filled with different kinds of desserts.

I finally saw him perusing a menu, which looked very different from the normal ones I was used to. It was obvious what kind of restaurant this one was. Even the beautiful waitress batting her eyes like something was stuck there as she attended to Jonathan didn't take away from the aura of the place. I pitied her, though, she didn't know the man she was trying to flirt with was as charming as a cold fish.

Her face fell and she left his side. I passed her on my way and I could hear her muttering to herself. I didn't need to speculate on why a man as attractive as he was, had enough problems getting married that he had to draw up a contract to do so, his nasty personality was a dead giveaway.

I got to his side as with one brief glance at me, he gestured to the chair opposite his. "Sit down."

Of course, the perfect gentleman, I thought grimly. I had better learn not to expect anything from him during the course of our arrangement. All I needed was to find his connection to my father's death, and then proceed to destroy everything he owned before throwing him in jail.

He passed the menu to me. "What would you like to eat?"

I looked through the menu and chose what looked the most appealing to me, a salad. It wasn't like I had any appetite. We still hadn't talked after the dinner he had cancelled, and I'd decided to go see my mum. We had fallen into a weird routine of pretending we were something when people were there and ignoring each other for the past week. It was little wonder I hadn't bailed on this dinner with the assumptions I'd made. I couldn't help but think he wouldn't be able to continue with our arrangement, and that filled me with so much panic. I couldn't lose the lead I had gotten, and I would go back to being hopeless if I couldn't marry him.

A different waitress came back to take our orders and in the next ten minutes, the table was filled with different foods, albeit in the tiny fancy restaurant style. I looked at my boss, hiding a smile. I hadn't known he ate that much.

I glanced at him, and my face flushed when I realized he hadn't missed my reaction.

"I ordered it for you."

I stopped in the action of pulling my salad closer to myself and glanced at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "I don't see a salad as a meal. A meal is meant to satisfy you, I don't see how that will do that." He said, gesturing to the plate of salad.

I cast my mind back, remembering he had done something similar at the first place we'd met and signed the contract. I had ordered just one mini sandwich, and he had made the waitress change the order to something bigger. I had simply regarded it as him being high-handed.

"Thanks?" I couldn't help but phrase it as a question. 

He nodded towards the food and moved a plate of pasta towards himself and started eating, but I kept staring at him until he lifted his brows at me.

I flushed and moved the second plate of pasta towards myself. I guess that meant he wasn't going to cancel our arrangement. Or not.

He took a few spoons and then lifted his head to stare at me. Feeling his stare, I dropped my spoon. Looked like we were going to have the conversation after all.

"I would like us to get married as soon as possible. What do you think?"

I nodded. That suited me just fine. "How soon would you like? Are you under any other pressure?" 

"A little. The reason I need to get married has become a matter of emergency. If it's possible we can have it next month, I would love that. "

Next month. That could work.

He nodded and brought out the contract we'd signed earlier. "Just in case you wanted to go through the terms again. The wedding will be public, I trust you have nothing against." 

I shuddered at his words and shook my head, God forbid my mother caught wind of it. "I would prefer it to be a private affair and my face not revealed."

Hr frowned, "You agreed to appear with me in public events. What difference does that make?"

I supposed my request wasn't logical, but the chances of my mother stumbling onto celebrity gossip was less than seeing the wedding if it was a full-blown press affair. "Do you mean the press will be around? The wedding might be publicized - publicized? Like an article coming out about the wedding and who you're wedding."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure you're aware that I'm an influential figure and there are some reputations I have to maintain. Why exactly are you concerned about that? Is there someone that shouldn't know about it in case they could ruin it?"

"What?" I asked confused.

He grabbed the spoon in his plate and started fiddling with it and gave me a hard smile. "Like a past lover?"

I scoffed. Sure, there was someone I couldn't afford to find out, but not like he was thinking. "He's just a friend. He has a girlfriend. He's just being a concerned friend."

His expression wasn't revealing anything. "Like I said. I'm a businessman and all I do, my goal is profit. Publicizing this wedding is meant to be to my profit, and going with what you want will being me loss. What do you suggest you can do?"

I shook my head, racking my brain for options. It would be absolutely crazy to allow my mother see the news of the wedding and as someone that spent quite a lot of time watching to know what new things happened daily, that was a big risk. "Can it be just a minor affair, or can my face be left out of the media." I said, a little desperately.

He narrowed his eyes at me and nodded. "I'll keep your face out, then."

I nodded, relieved. "Thank you so much."

He smiled and took another bite of his food. "It's not for free. You will have to make it up to me. Like I said, I don't tolerate losses."

I froze and started shaking my head, but he brought his hand up to stop that action. "It's either one or the other. You signed the contract even though I asked if you had any other thing bothering you. You should have mentioned it then."

I swallowed, my throat dry. "How will I make it up to you?" I was suddenly feeling not so confident in my plan, but it was obvious I had no way of getting out of it now. I was too far in to consider the consequence. Various what ifs were running through my head. What if he was an abuser and a manipulator, and I'd fallen right into his trap?

"I'll decide and let you know." He pointed at my food, I had ignored. "Eat. I hate wastage."

JONATHAN'S POV

I watched fear coat her face and nodded in satisfaction. She should have considered the consequence of messing with someone like me. Did she think I hadn't seen her or known her plan? She was just like the others, and I was going to make sure she regretted it. Nobody messed with me, and went scot-free.