To Diane's greatest surprise, Christian actually waited until she had calmed down before speaking up.
Given his irritation towards her since they met again, she thought he would have already stabbed her with his words, but it seemed like he didn't want to choose violence today.
"The last time we spoke up, you needed my help. Now, tell me in detail what your problem is and what you need help with," Christian urged as he found himself a seat with his gaze resting on her.
Diane was forced into a stunned silence. She didn't know that she had to repeat everything she told him a few days back.
For a moment, she was actually thinking that Christian might be taunting her on purpose by making her repeat her unfortunate story to him because was he trying to tell her right now that he could not remember the details of their conversation?
Diane reluctantly shrugged off the disturbing thoughts that crept over her mind. She looked him in the eyes as she fiddled with the patterned handkerchief in her hands.
"My marriage with my husband involved a prenup that allows us to split all our sets equally if we end up divorcing. Some days ago, I filed for divorce through my lawyer who discovered thereafter that my husband has no assets to his name. Further investigation revealed that he had transferred all his valuable assets to his older sister a few days before our wedding."
Coming to this point, Diane released a sigh as she lowered her gaze. She couldn't meet Christian's eyes as she made her request once again.
"I don't want to have to split my assets with him and that's where I need your help."
Christian leaned back on the couch and crossed his leg over the other, making himself more comfortable.
"What part of the story did you leave out, Diane?" Her name rolled off his tongue like silk. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment to finally call her by her name. And it did sound nice.
Even Diane couldn't believe that her name still sounded like the best sound ever from his lips. She was lost at that moment and totally forgot to reply to his question. It was the snapping of his fingers that brought her back to reality.
"Why do you want to divorce your husband? I need every important detail so I'll know what to tell my lawyers. Don't leave anything out." Christian looked genuinely curious with his brows creasing lightly.
"Okay," Diane's tone was careful. Her gaze stayed on him for a few seconds before she continued, "I caught him cheating."
"Where? With who? Do you have any evidence to back your accusation?"
"I am not lying!" Diane's voice thundered, forcing Christian into silence. A light glowed in his eyes. He was taken aback seeing her getting all riled up that she would risk offending him by being disrespectful.
Has she forgotten that he was no longer that man from her past?
Unaware of the character she just displayed, Diane said defensively, "I caught my husband and his assistant in his office and no, I don't have any tangible evidence to back what I saw."
Christian said almost immediately, "Until your husband is proven guilty of adultery, that's an accusation. My lawyers will tell you that, but that's by the way. Why do you think your husband would cheat on you? What went wrong in your relationship?"
The light in Diane's eyes dimmed. 'Did he also need to know the answer to the last two questions?' she thought to herself.
Diane felt that Christian was asking too many personal questions, and she was no longer comfortable with responding to them so she said while meeting his gaze, "I'd prefer to speak to your lawyers."
There was no way she would ever open her mouth to reveal those intimate details to him. It was never going to happen.
Christian's steel blue eyes zeroed in on Diane and they both got into a staring battle.
Christian gave up first. He stole a glance at the file in his hands and opened it. He stood to his feet and got rid of the file before making his way to her with the document.
He slipped one hand into the front pocket of his pants and passed the document to her. Diane accepted it with a small frown contouring her face. S
he looked up and asked without taking a second glance at it, "What is this?"
"I refuse to help you freely, so I have some conditions." Christian pointed at the document in her hands and continued, completely disregarding the colour draining from her face, "That is an agreement plus an NDA. Go ahead and read them. If you agree to my terms and conditions, go ahead and sign the agreement."
Christian took two steps back and stuffed the other hand into his pocket. Then without any expression on his face, he added, "I will be at the last room by your left down the hallway if you need me. I won't be entertaining unnecessary questions as well."
Just like that, Diane watched in astonishment as Christian picked up a few items from the table and went away.
She glanced at the agreement in her hand and could guess the pages were up to ten. What the hell were his terms and conditions?
Overwhelmed by her curiosity, Diane flipped to the first page of the agreement. The title put her off immediately.
'LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARTY A: CHRISTIAN KNOWLES, AND PARTY B: DIANE BROWN'
It was even more terrifying to see that their contact details had been added to the agreement. This was proof that Christian hadn't come to joke with her.
Following it, there were so many legal words which did not seem important, so her eyes briefly glanced through them before running down to his 'terms and conditions' which seemed to be the real deal.
The term clearly stated that the agreement would immediately come into effect the moment Party A had fulfilled Part B's request except for the first condition which has to be in progress before Party B's request was met.
Diane's eyes widened as her gaze immediately flew straight to the condition topping the list. The moment she read it her heart skipped a bit as an unpleasant feeling pulled at the pit of her stomach.
The first Condition stated that she had to become Christian's mistress to receive his help.
It hurt her to think that was how he rated her. How could he ask something of that sort from her?
Also, how could she become his mistress when she was still legally married to Phillip?
That was absurd!