Page 67 of The Husband Contract

For a few moments, I feel triumph—and then sadness. Extreme sadness. Because the relationship, the lightness that had existed between us before, is now gone forever. But I can’t continue on the way we were before. I can’t continue opening up to her, or letting her open up to me.

I can’t allow myself to fall for her trap, for her lies, to fall forher. I can’t allow her to do to me what she’s done to my brother.

“But don’t worry, Willow,” I say. “You’ll have a payoff at the end.”

“A payoff?”

“I mean, we both know this was about money. I heard you the other day talking to your friends about how you’d bagged yourself a billionaire.”

“No, that’s not what I was saying. I—” She bites her lip. “You don’t understand. I mean, yeah, I was excited that you were rich, but I’m not with you because of that.”

“Sign the contract,” I say, heading toward the door. “I’m going to get myself a drink.”

“But I don’t understand, Sebastian. Is this some kind of weird test?”

“Sign the papers. I’ll be back.” I pull on some jeans and a shirt and leave the hotel room, slamming the door behind me. I stand there for a couple of moments and exhale three deep breaths.

She had truly looked shocked when I’d brought up Sergio’s name. Maybe he hadn’t told her who he really was. Maybe she hadn’t added two and two together. If he’d given her a fake name, then she wouldn’t have known he was a Laurence. That meant she wouldn’t have known I was his brother.

Something in the back of my brain starts ticking, but I don’t know what’s causing the distress. I don’t feel as exhilarated or as happy as I thought I’d feel pulling the rug out from under her. In fact, I feel… like I’m not any better than her.

But then I think of Sergio, and I think of David, and I think about all the other men who’d been played by women—men who’d been broken. And I realize that I’m not going to allow her to make me a statistic. I’m not going to allow her to be a black widow in my life.

Chapter Seventeen

Willow

My heart races as I lie there in the bed. I don't know if this is some weird sort of test and Sebastian is pulling some sort of trick on me, but I don't really understand what's going on. I don't understand why he's handed me a bunch of paperwork, saying that he has a contract. I don't understand why he says he doesn’t love me. None of it makes sense.

I don't know if this is some weird joke and he has some crazy sense of humor, or if he's playing some sort of weird, kinky game. Maybe he's coming to ask me to join some sort of sex club with him, which I'm not really interested in, but if it's just the two of us, I'd be willing to explore. I don't really know what to do.

I grab my phone and call Katherine. She answers on the second ring.

"Hey, married lady, what's going on?"

"Is Brielle there? I need to speak to you both."

"No, she went to go and grab some ice cream for us. Why? You sound… weird."

"She went to get ice cream for you guys in the morning?"

"Girl, it's been a long night," she says, "but don't worry, I'm not going to worry you about it right now."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Oh, Charlotte just called, bitching and moaning, but you know how she is."

"I'm sorry, girl. Something horrible has happened."

"You getting married to some hot, sexy billionaire?"

"Yeah, that was a mistake."

"Oh, fuck. What did you do, Willow?”

“What do you mean, what did I do?”

“Did you have a threesome?”