Chapter Five
She was screwed. Before falling into a fitful sleep, she’d found a second account under Gabi Picano, one smack in the thick of Colombia. This one had a steady stream of money coming and going. The infusion of funds correlated with the withdrawals of the larger offshore account, which led her to believe that they were tied. Whoever was playing with one account was playing with the other.
Gabi woke with the intention of dragging Samantha into her troubles, only to find a message on her cell phone telling her to take care of any and all Alliance needs. Jordan had been transferred to the ICU and everything Alliance had to wait.
When she lifted the phone to call her brother, she stopped herself. Val had fished her out of hot water once before. A mess she made by trusting the wrong person. If blowing off Blackwell and landing in prison would only affect her, she might consider taking her chances.
But it wouldn’t.
Alonzo had taught her that she could do nothing without it affecting everyone around her. Her trust in him nearly got her sister-in-law killed.
Instead of pulling in others to shovel her out of her past, Gabi decided it was time to dig herself out.
She brought up the boilerplate contracts Alliance used and started to modify them.
Two hours later she contacted the Alliance attorney and sent her an e-mail. Before Gabi could shower, Lori Cumberland called. “What in the world is this?” she asked in disbelief.
“It’s a contract.”
“A contract someone will actually sign?”
“Did I add something that’s illegal?” Gabi was fairly certain that every clause that had ever been placed in an Alliance contract was legal. She decided a few other conditions needed to be in writing.
“Not illegal . . . just . . . wow. Am I reading this right? This is between you and Hunter Blackwell?”
The thought of marriage made her shudder. “That’s correct.”
“The zillionaire Hunter Blackwell?”
“Not sure about the zillion . . . but yes. I need to know if the conditions I added can be held up in court.”
To render a lawyer speechless left a certain smile on Gabi’s face.
“He’d be stupid to sign this.”
“Or desperate.”
Lori paused. “Does Sam know about this?”
“Her sister is really ill, Lori. She asked that I handle the Blackwell account.”
“I don’t think that means you have to marry the man. From what I hear, he’s an ass.”
Gabi smiled for the first time in hours. “An ass that will have me handing it to him if he violates our contract. Is it legal?”
“I need to modify a few words, but yeah. Wow.”
“Glad you approve.”
Lori sighed. “Approve? I’m impressed. I didn’t consider you the shrewd one. Make sure I’m invited to the wedding.”
Gabi doubted a ceremony was forthcoming. “I need to get these to Blackwell before noon. Can you modify and send them back?”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Me, too,” she muttered before hanging up.
The tight black dress stopped above her knees, her black stockings had beads up the back that turned heads when she passed. Tall and slender had always been a gift to Gabi, she used it now by adding an extra four inches with her stilettos. Her hair was slicked back in a simple knot.
With her back straight, Gabi walked up to the ground floor security, expecting her first delay.
When she mentioned her name, they waved her through and escorted her to a bank of elevators. She stepped in and ignored the looks around her.
Blackwell Enterprises held the entire top floor of the building, making the reception space larger than the ground floor of Gabi’s home.
She commanded attention as she walked to the desk. The receptionist offered a brilliant smile.
“Miss Masini for Mr. Blackwell.”
The smile stayed and the twentysomething model-perfect woman blinked. “Right away, Miss Masini. I’ll call Tiffany.”
Gabi ignored the roll of tension down her spine. Walking into the office had been too easy.
She turned away from the desk, hoping to hide her nerves. The entire way into the city, she questioned her decision. Then again, Blackwell would probably shred her contract.
The quick, steady click of heels slowed as they approached. “Miss Masini?”
Gabi turned and couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m Tiffany, Mr. Blackwell’s personal secretary.”
The introduction instantly had Gabi envisioning a very personal position between Hunter and the lovely woman beside her. She was luscious, beautiful, and appeared too innocent to be hooked up with the likes of Hunter. Gabi felt an instant desire to shelter the younger woman from the evil man.
“Hello, Tiffany,” Gabi managed.
“Mr. Blackwell is expecting you.” Tiffany turned back into the thick of the office and led the way.
Gabi lifted her chin and ignored the glances as she walked through. The sheer amount of attention her presence created as she rounded the corner made it clear that Hunter didn’t often have personal calls to his place of work.
Somehow, that pleased her.
Tiffany stepped through a set of doors that opened to a large reception space complete with couches and magazines . . . and a desk that would engulf the one Gabi had at home.
Tiffany approached a set of sleek double doors and knocked. Without waiting, she opened one and stepped aside.
Gabi knew her practiced smile left, briefly . . . then she squared her shoulders and walked in.
Hunter stood behind a black desk that held a computer, a phone, and a pen. Behind him was a wall of windows overlooking the city. The space was completely masculine down to the leather couches, the simple art . . . the bar on the far end of the office.
Their eyes met . . . locked, and he stared.
There was a spark behind his gray eyes that screamed of his success by her walking in his door.
He’d won and he knew it.
“That will be all, Tiffany. Let me know when Ben arrives.”
“Yes, Mr. Blackwell.” Tiffany closed the door behind her.
He made a slow path around his desk. “I assume you had no trouble with security getting up here.”
Gabi approached, set her purse in one of the empty chairs. “The ease of my entrance smacks of arrogance.”
“Yet here you are.”
Could she hate the man any more?
Keep your enemies close.
Instead of debating with him, she removed the contracts from her purse and slid them across his desk. “I took the liberty of adding a few conditions . . . in light of our personal situations.”
He didn’t bother a glance at the papers. “I’m sure we can work out whatever you might have come up with.”
So arrogant.
“You’re going to find your condescending words to be a mistake, Mr. Blackwell.”
“Hunter, Gabi . . . my name is Hunter.”
She wasn’t sure what shook her more, the fact that he’d instantly put them on a personal level by the use of his first name, or the fact that he’d used her nickname.
“I despise you,” she muttered.
He lifted a hand, indicated the chair at her side. “A fact that we will both recognize and speak of freely . . . when we’re alone. In public, I expect a reserved wife who accepts a casual touch and even a smile.”
“What kind of touch?” She hated asking.
“I won’t maul you.”
She sat across from him, comfortable with the desk separating them.
The despicable man was a stranger . . . he unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat before sliding his chair closer to his desk. He’d yet to look at the contracts.
“Why are you really doing this?”
“I’ve already told you—”
“Beggianate!”
“Excuse me?”
Gabi took delight in her ability to speak a language he couldn’t. “I don’t believe you. Your explanation is trivial at best. It’s one of the many reasons Alliance rejected your application.”
He lifted one brow. “Yet here you are . . . contract in hand.”
She closed her eyes, sucked in a breath, and calmed her nerves. When she opened them again, Gabi found him watching her.
A wave of something resembling concern passed over his eyes before he said, “As soon as the contracts are signed, and we’re married, I have a team of lawyers and investigators ready to move on your case.”
“And if they find me guilty?” she asked.
That left a smirk on his face. “They’ll find a way to exonerate you.”
Such an ass.
“It doesn’t bother you to believe you’re marrying a woman with a history of killing a wealthy husband and collecting after his death?”
He smiled for the first time since she entered his office. “You’re stunning in black.” His eyes swept her frame before returning to her face. “But I don’t think you’re a black widow.”
It was her turn to grin. “Mating before killing isn’t necessary.”
He laughed when she was hoping to intimidate.
I need to work on that.
Before he could comment, the phone on his desk buzzed.
Hunter lifted the receiver, listened. “Let him in.”
Gabi stayed seated as Hunter introduced one of his lawyers.
Ben Lipton was a personal attorney who’d been given enough information to know that Gabi wasn’t in Hunter’s life because of a romantic relationship.
He shook her hand and took the contracts to the opposite side of the room to read.
“Can I get you something to drink, Gabi?”
Hearing her name from Hunter’s lips wouldn’t sit well for some time. “Tea.”
He buzzed Tiffany, placed her request.
The silence in the office was broken by the door opening and the tea setting being placed on the table.
Tiffany glanced between the three of them and left in silence.
Mr. Lipton would occasionally lift an eyebrow, glance Gabi’s way, then return to the contract.
When the man finally finished, he evened out the pages and stacked them on the table. “Have you read this?” he asked Hunter.
“That’s why I have you.”
Mr. Lipton was in his fifties . . . his salt-and-pepper hair and starch-filled suit would label him as sophisticated. He had kind blue eyes, but if he was in business with Hunter, Gabi believed he couldn’t be trusted.
“Then let me spread before you Miss Masini’s terms.”
“I’m listening.”
Gabi sat back and heard her words spoken through Hunter’s lawyer.
“Your contract is for eighteen months. At which time divorce proceedings will begin without contesting from either side or the entire contract is forfeited and no money will exchange hands.” All that was standard.
“The agreement is for twenty-four million, one million for each month of marriage, and one million for every estimated month it will take for the divorce to be final.”
Gabi met Hunter’s eyes. The amount was triple the normal contract.
He didn’t bat an eye.
“Continue.”
“As your wife, she insists on a new residence, one in keeping with your current lifestyle with no possibilities of a previous woman having ever been in attendance.”
There was a smirk . . . maybe even a little admiration behind his eyes.
“Continue.”
“If the marriage lasts eighteen months, she wants five years in the home you purchase before selling and splitting the profits. If the home loses money, you will pay the difference.”
There was no doubt now . . . he was smiling.
“Continue.”
Ben shook his head.
“Any extramarital affair going public . . . assumed or proven, will cost one million per affair.”
That made him pause. “Really, Gabi?”
“I hate being made a fool.”
He shook his head, rolled his fingers in the air. “Continue.”
“In the event of any criminal charges being brought against Miss Masini, your marriage will continue until she has been freed of all charges, to which all funds will continue as promised. All legal expenses to exonerate Miss Masini will be paid for by you.”
Hunter tilted his head. “Touché.”
She grinned, feeling more confident with every word the lawyer spoke.
Ben tuned the page and continued to paraphrase. “In the event of any domestic violence, Miss Masini has the right to terminate the marriage and will obtain one hundred million dollars. Said funds will be placed in an account on the first day of marriage and held in trust until the completion of the contract.”
Hunter’s smile fell, and for the first time since walking into the office, Gabi felt exposed.
“I’ll never hurt you,” he said softly.
I’ve heard that before.
Staring directly at Hunter, she said, “Please continue, Mr. Lipton.”
“In the event of Miss Masini bearing your child, half of your net worth will be placed in a trust for your child. The marriage can be terminated at any time after a pregnancy is determined, and the home you purchase will be free to live in until your son or daughter reaches eighteen or graduates from high school.”
Hunter frowned.
“That’s an expensive child.”
She leaned forward, made sure he understood her words.
“The only way a child would be conceived between us would be through force. I’m assuring my safety, Hunter.”
It was his turn to hold her eyes with his own. “Anything else, Ben?”
“Standard stuff . . . if you both agree to early divorce, the original payout is applied.”
Hunter twisted his phone toward her. “Get your attorney on the phone . . . I have a couple of conditions of my own.”
Two hours later, Gabi agreed that if she were to have an affair, the settlement would be half of the expected twenty-four million. The home would be sold within one year of divorce, and any child not his would keep her maiden name and be entitled to half of the final settlement.
By the time Mr. Lipton left Hunter’s office, the hour closed in on three.
Gabi’s back ached from sitting in the office chair, the view from Hunter’s office forever burned in her brain.
They discussed marriage in terms she never thought possible.
There was a day in her life that love and devotion were once a part of till death do us part. She knew better now.
There were many examples of “good marriages” around her . . . but she couldn’t help but question. What didn’t she know . . . what was happening behind the scenes that no one spoke of?
It made her sick . . . the questioning . . . the wondering.
The memories.
“We missed lunch,” Hunter said when they were alone.
The agreement was made . . . the contracts sat in front of them, waiting for their signatures.
“I don’t think I can eat,” she muttered.
He was silent until she met his gaze.
For the first time since they’d met, Hunter Blackwell’s shoulders slid . . . and his eyes softened. His next words were quietly spoken. “I’ve never laid a violent hand to a woman, Gabi. You will not be my first.”
The image of Alonzo smiling as the needle slid into her vein came from nowhere. He hadn’t forced anything on her, either.
“That’s little comfort.”
Hunter stood and approached as if to a frightened animal.
Hadn’t she gotten past that? The fear stage and on to the fight?
Before he could say anything, she swiped the contracts from his side of the desk, grasped a pen, and signed her name.
Tomorrow she would begin the task of removing her name from anything and everything Alonzo Picano.
Today . . . or at least until she signed her name to a marriage agreement, she would simply be Gabriella Masini.
Soon-to-be wife of Hunter Blackwell.
The blackmailed wife of a ruthless billionaire, the widow of a soul burning in hell.