Diane had every reason not to continue reading the agreement but she just had to, just in case there were better terms down the list, but it never got any better.
She could remember swearing that she would do anything Christian asked of her as long as that wicked husband of hers didn't get to take a dime away from her assets but right now, she was starting to reconsider the entire situation.
One was the devil, and the other was the deep blue sea. She was stuck between them and either way, she dies.
Now, the question is, which death would be much less painful?
---
Christian sat at his desk, surrounded by piles of papers littered around. A bottle of Johnnie Walker whiskey rested on the corner of his desk, half empty, along with a full glass of the amber-coloured liquid.
He scribbled some notes furiously, lost in thought. A few moments later, he puffed out a deep sigh as he put his ballpoint pen down and grabbed his whiskey glass.
Just as the rims of the glass touched his lips, three soft knocks sounded on the door.
His gaze moved from the liquid in his glass and fell on the door. 'That was fast,' he thought idly to himself.
"Come in," his low voice instructed.
In the same second, Diane pushed open the door and took a step in. There was a slight pause in her steps as her gaze darted around the room, taking every visible piece of item in.
It turns out that this room he had directed her to was his workspace and personal library.
Suddenly, as she cast a glance at the Siena desk, surveying the messed-up scene, her brows drew in close.
"Are you done?" Christian cast a dismissive glance at her and went ahead to gulp down a mouthful from his glass before putting it next to the entire bottle.
Diane recovered from her earlier surprise and walked straight to him. "I know that I don't really have a say on your conditions to help me, but I really think you should consider letting me pay for your lawyer's services instead."
Christian looked her in the eyes and said slowly so she could catch every word, "You can never afford them."
"I know you have the best lawyers in New York for a reason, but I promise that if you let me pay in install…" Diane tried to make her pleas towards another method but Christian didn't budge.
"Installments?" he laughed out loud. He let his gaze ascertain her like he was trying to piece some item in the market. "Unfortunately for you, I am too rich to use that broke-ass method. Now, to save both of our time, I will draw the conclusion here."
As soon as he said that, the smile on his face completely disappeared without a trace. "It is either you agree to my terms, or you pick your bag and walk out. I won't blame you."
"How can I be your mistress when I'm still legally married to my husband? No matter how much I hate him, I can never do anything that contradicts my principles."
In Christian's mind, she was going to be contradicting all her principles when they got together.
Christian clasped his fingers as he examined her with his thoughts tucked away at the back of his mind. "Are you not curious to find out the feeling of ecstasy from cheating? Don't you want to give it a try?"
It was now that Diane confirmed that Christian's whole agreement actually centred on taunting her and trying to get back at her for what she did to him in the past.
It seems like a verbal apology did not amount to anything for him.
Christian pointed at the agreement in her hand and said while looking her in the eyes, "And I cannot go contrary to what is written there. I will give you until 8 PM to decide. As soon as you agree to my terms, my lawyers will be in touch with you."
"Christian," Diane called out as she licked her lower lips which were getting drier the longer she spoke. "Your agreement not only states that I have to be your mistress before you take up my case. It also states that I have to marry you after you have taken care of the prenup issue. Isn't this price too heavy for the favour I'm asking for?"
Diane found the whole situation ridiculous and seriously wanted to talk to him as none of his conditions made any sense but he wasn't interested.
"If you don't like methods, you should seriously reconsider giving your husband half of your assets. And I'm not going to take any more questions on this," Christian warned.
Hot tears took a stroll down Diane's cheeks as she watched the man with the coldest look ever. He was so mean to her. This was not how help was rendered. He was seeking to punish her.
If not for the fact that she would end up dying in her mother's hands for losing half of her assets to Phillip, she wouldn't have ever had to consider selling herself to him.
Diane wiped her tears away as she placed the agreement on the desk and flipped over to the pages that needed her signature. Finding them, she grabbed Christian's ballpoint pen and scribbled her signature on those places.
When she was done, she passed the agreement back to him and announced with a clear crisp voice. "It's done."
"Good," Christian said as an unknown emotion flickered in his eyes. He picked up the agreement and penned his signature in the right places before getting off his seat. He walked towards a black biometric safe that looked like a portable refrigerator on the large shelves behind him and keyed in his password.
The moment the safe unlocked, he dumped the agreement inside and shut the door before returning to his seat.
"How will I get my copy?" Diane frowned.
"You get no copies." Pointing at the safe, he returned his gaze to her and said, "You don't need it for anything, and as this agreement is between us two, a third party should not know of it. Is that clear?"
Silence enveloped them for a while before Diane moved on with her questions. "When do I get to meet with your lawyers?"
"6:30 AM if you sleep over and I move up my personal meeting with them. The last option for tomorrow would be through a video conference call at 9 PM. So… which do you prefer?" he trailed off as he leaned back on his seat, watching her with all manner of triumph.