Page 288 of The First Taste

"I take great pride in the way I dress. This suit?" I pinch the collar of my jacket between my fingers. “This is a bespoke wool suit from Italy. It’s handmade and costs at least ten thousand dollars. This shirt? It’s made of Egyptian cotton and silk, making it the nicest button-up that money can buy. The same goes for my shoes. They are custom-made to fit my feet, and I have one hundred pairs of them. Looking like you belong is almost as good as actually belonging."

Talia stands up and moves towards the window, masking her expression or perhaps just gazing outside while she mulls over my words.

"So what? What is it that you want me to do?"

All the sass and the fire that she previously had vanishes in that moment. Her voice is quiet, her shoulders slightly rounded. She looks like a woman who’s been defeated.

While I need her to comply with my wishes, I didn’t want to crush her spirit entirely. Repressing a sigh, I move toward her, my arms crossing. I shift my gaze away from her body and begin making a list.

"The first thing that you need is poise. Women with their parents’ money, women that have climbed the social ladder, and women who have married up—they all possess a strong sense of self. Rather, they walk around looking like they do, whether or not they have a sense of who they are." I wave my hand. "That’s another discussion, I guess. But you need to act like you are the most important thing in the room. No, the most important thing in the world. You need to act self-possessed, and you need to demand, not ask, for everything. You must be an impressive choice for me, a billionaire. People must look at us together and think that we are a great match."

Talia crosses her arms and keeps looking out the window, walking a little further away. "As opposed to how we appear now?"

"If I saw us together now, would I be impressed? No, I would have questions. I see someone who is very careful about his appearance paired with someone who looks like an anonymous, mousy little nobody."

She raises her hands to her face, blotting at her eyes. She doesn’t say anything, but I can see that my words have upset her. At some point, though, they would need to be said. She can’t just expect to blend into my world of luxury and wealth without changing a single thing about herself. The thought is unreasonable.

She stands facing away from me, still looking out the window. Now I am certain that she is masking her emotions from me. But maybe that’s a good thing. After all, I did tell her that she had to keep her feelings from reaching her face.

I leave the room for just a few moments, grabbing an electronic tablet and a pen. When I sweep back into the room, Talia looks at me, her face a smooth mask.

Looking at the tablet, I pull up the prenuptial agreement and offer it to her. "I’ve arranged to have my lawyers draw up our agreement. You’ll need to sign on the dotted line before I can transfer any funds to you."

Looking at me with an anxious expression, she takes the tablet and pen from my hands and walks back to the window. She leans her head against the wall and begins reading.

"What is this?" She inquires, her voice low. I’m not sure whether she is talking to herself or not, but I clear my throat.

"It’s just what we have already agreed on. What we talked about earlier. Plus, the contract lays out how much money you will receive in addition to the five hundred thousand. It says that you will get one hundred thousand dollars per year, deposited into an account of your choice. It also specifies a couple of points.”

She looks up at me, and I can feel her weary gaze. "What kind of points?"

"You shouldn’t ever tell anyone who fathered our kid. That includes doctors. Also, it stipulates that if you ever want to leave me, you forfeit everything I’ve ever given you, and you lose the kid in the bargain. Plus, you will need to maintain your looks and health for the foreseeable future."

Pushing out her cheek with the tip of her tongue, Talia looks down at the tablet as she scrolls through the pages. Without looking up, she says, "You know that I’m going to gain weight while I’m pregnant, right? Or do you not allow for that in your contract?"

Her words are so sharp, and her tone is downright acerbic. For a split second, I am too surprised to respond. "Of course, it's not written in the contract because it’s not necessary. I’m not going to require you to be any certain kind of way. I just want you to be healthy and presentable for as long as possible."

Her lips thin, and she looks up, piercing me with her blue gaze. "Healthy and presentable. How nice for you."

I roll my eyes, losing patience with her little tantrum. "As soon as you sign the contract, I will wire an initial payment into an account that I’ll set up for you. I’ll start with fifty thousand now, two hundred thousand when we actually tie the knot. The final two hundred and fifty thousand will come when you deliver the baby."

Pushing herself off the wall, she says, "Is that all? Does your document ask me to give you a piece of my soul in exchange for your dirty money?"

Talia moves as if she is going to brush right past me, out of the sunroom. But I grab her wrist and haul her to face me, fury rising within my chest. I look down into her eyes and lean close, not even trying to disguise the fact that I am abjectly threatening her now.

"You forget who you’re talking to. I hold all the cards. If you want not only a better life for your baby but for your Aunt Minnie to be dug out of the financial pit that she is trapped in, you’ll sign the contract."

Her eyes go wide, and her face pales a little. She whispers, "Don’t you have doubts about this marriage? It’s a big life-changing thing."

I release her wrist from my grip and tell her no. "I’m always certain of everything I do. I made this decision, and now we are both traveling down this path together. Sign the fucking contract already."

She stares at me for a few more seconds, tucking a fiery strand of her hair behind her ear. And then she releases a breath and bows her head, signing the contract.

Twenty-Two

Talia

"Mademoiselle?" The butler asks gently.