Candi was merely holding out her hand for him to shake but suddenly, she found herself wrapped up within his arms. He was holding her with extraordinary gentle care, but it didn't matter.
Candi could barely breathe.
"Haaaaahhh…" she gasped. The nearness of him was affecting her breathing!
At 6'4", he was also the tallest of all the brothers, towering over her like a giant.
"Here in my world, we don't shake hands for deals this important. We seal it with a kiss." Her ear was pressed to his chest and she could hear his voice rumbling.
"Wha—" She barely managed to choke out half a word when his lips dropped down and claimed hers.
And for a moment, Candi was breathless.
As hot-tempered as he was to everyone around him, he was extraordinarily gentle to her.
He did not ground his mouth into hers. He did not force his tongue into her mouth. He did not make her feel as if he was assaulting her with his hands.
His lips were feather soft. His tongue glided in with tentative touches, as though he was afraid he would hurt her.
She could feel his body tensing up. He was shaking with the effort of holding back, but he continued to hold back.
Then, with great regret, Dante released her. His face stoic and frozen.
"Consider our deal sealed."
Candi touched her lips. They were still tingling even though his touch was so extraordinarily gentle.
"Do you seal all your deals with kisses?"
He smiled.
"Only ones that have to do with people named Candace Farrah. For those deals, I will seal kisses as many times as possible. I will even create deals in triplicate forms which must be kissed in triplicates for them to be legally binding."
"Ahhh. So this is a business deal."
Dante shook his head.
"Consider it a legal deal."
"I don't understand."
"Candace, I am an intergalactic businessman and what I have found is that most things in life are legal deals of some kind. All marriages that require paperwork are legal deals. So are birth certificates. Bank accounts. School diplomas. They're all legal documents."
Candi laughed.
"But surely my staying here and reading old books cannot be considered a legal deal."
Dante lowered his head down to look at her in the eyes.
"I'm not sure if you are aware, but Earth has changed its stance in your case."
Candi shook her head in confusion. What did he mean by that?
Dante's green eyes were furious. His body tense.
"The Earth Ambassador has proclaimed that they will not be actively pursuing you for arrest and detainment because you are now the legal proxy female for Dahlia Halloway."
"What does that mean? I don't understand."
"It means you will be acting as her body double. Anything you achieve will go to Dahlia. If you win First Place at the Avgo Event, the winnings and the glory goes to Dahlia Halloway."
For a moment, Candi was slack-jawed with disbelief. She clenched her hands into fists, her body shaking with anger.
"Who do they think they are??? Is that even legal?"
Dante shook his head.
"No, but they will argue that it is because you are a criminal in their system, which means you have no rights other than what is allowed to you by their justice system."
Seeing Candi's pale angry face, Dante reached out and touched her cheek.
"You have nothing to worry about. Trust in me. You are sheltered under my wing and I will protect you."
He straightened up, and in a dry business tone of voice, stated matter-of-factly.
"I will throw my VERY SUBSTANTIAL legal team at them to ensure that you will not be legally required to hand over your winnings to that gross Earth Princess."
"Unfortunately, all legal proceedings take awhile to resolve, so in the meantime, I did something that is completely legally binding which will allow you to remain on Erenveil regardless of the results of the Avgo."
Candi breathe a sigh of relief.
"I thought the only way for me to be able to remain here would be to win Avgo first place. Is it even possible any other way? What did you do?"
"I created a shell corporation and placed you as the CEO. In essence, you are currently working in an official capacity for an intergalactic company based out of Erenveil."
"How does that help me to remain in Erenveil?"
"Business residents have a maximum of five years to remain in Erenveil for business-related purposes until they have to renew their legal statuses."
"Thank you so much!" Candi's sudden bright smile combined with tears welling in her eyes caught Dante off guard.
His breath got stuck in his throat and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
She reached out and clutched at his hands.
"You have done so much to help me through all of this craziness. You even chased after that ship and rescued me from Mattheus Cordera."
A tear rolled down one cheek.
"And now you've created that fake corporation to help me so I wouldn't feel so much pressure at the Avgo competition. I don't even know how to thank you." She took a deep breath.
"Maybe…after five years, I can figure out how to continue to evade Earth's legal justice system."
Dante blinked, not quite sure how to respond to her. He leaned down and kissed her tears away, wicking them with a gentle tongue.
"Candace, it won't take five years. A couple of weeks at most."
"What do you mean?"
"If you win, part of the stipulation for Avgo First Place prize is the provision of an automatic marriage certificate. You will automatically be married to the Crown Prince and the title of Crown Princess will be transferred to you within 24 hours."
He leaned his forehead against hers.
"If however, you do not win First Place, the Business Residency from your position as CEO of an Erenveil Corporation will kick in automatically so that you do not have to leave Erenveil at the conclusion of the event."
He pulled back to look into her eyes.
"But that Business Residency is just to tide us over until I can get the documents together. It buys me enough time to set up marriage documents for you to remain permanently on Erenveil."
His eyes began to dart about as he began calculating the next stage of his plans.
"It normally takes about five days to request for an Erenveil marriage contract and another five days to go through the legal procedures. The Business Residency will cover those ten days so you can remain within the protection of Erenveil space."
"M—marriage contract? Who am I marrying?"
Dante smiled and enclosed both her hands in his.
"Me!" He looked bashful. "If you'll have me."