CHAPTER 9: The Contract
(Betty's POV)
"So do I."
His words echo in my head.
I stare at him. My heart is pounding. My throat is dry.
Did he mean it? Did he mean love? Or was he just agreeing that Taylor loves me?
I do not ask.
I am too afraid of the answer.
I look away first.
"You need to change the subject," I say.
"What?"
"Change it. Now."
He watches me for a moment. Then he nods.
"The marriage proposal," he says. "Have you thought about it?"
I laugh. A dry, broken sound.
"You asked me an hour ago."
"Time is running out."
I cross my arms.
"Explain it to me. Clearly. No games."
He leans back on the couch. His hand presses against his side.
"I need a wife," he says. "A legal one. It makes me harder to find. Harder to touch. A married man hiding with a respectable doctor is less suspicious than a lone criminal."
"That is your reason?"
"That is one of them."
"What are the others?"
He looks at me.
"If you are my wife, I can protect you. My enemies will find out you helped me. Married or not. But if you are mine, I have resources. Connections. People who will keep you safe."
I shake my head.
"You have nothing. You are hiding on my couch."
He reaches into his jacket. Slow. Careful. He pulls out a small phone.
Old. Untraceable.
"I have more than you think."
He types something. Then he turns the screen toward me.
A bank account. Numbers. More numbers than I have ever seen.
Millions.
"I cannot take that," I say.
"It is not a gift. It is payment."
"For what?"
"For marrying me. For keeping my secret. For saving my life."
I stare at the screen. Then at him.
"You are buying me."
"I am protecting you."
"Same thing."
He puts the phone away.
"No," he says. "It is not."
Silence falls between us.
I think about Taylor walking out. About the police knocking. About my career hanging by a thread.
I think about Granny. About the hospital. About everything I could lose.
And I think about his eyes. The way he looked at me when he said "so do I."
"I am not asking for love," he says quietly. "I am asking for survival. For both of us."
I look at him.
Really look.
The blood. The bandages. The shadows under his eyes.
He is not a monster.
He is just a man who has been running for too long.
"Fine," I say.
He blinks.
"Fine?"
"I will marry you."
He stares at me.
Just for a second, his mask cracks. Something flickers in his eyes. Surprise? Relief? I cannot tell.
Then it is gone.
He stands up. Slow. Careful. He walks toward me.
Each step is heavy. Painful.
He stops in front of me.
He extends his hand.
"Then we have a deal, Mrs. Blake."
I look at his hand.
I do not take it.
"It is Cooper," I say. "For now."