I'll Take You Away From Him

Chapter 19

Hiding my gaze, I hesitate for a few moments. His direct questions bewilder me.

What is there to say to him? Yes, it’s frightening. But it’s not just that I don’t want to. As I try to explain, raising a confused look at the man.

“And how do you imagine this? I don’t know you at all, I’m only twenty two years old, and you… thirty-four,” I recall. “It might be time for you to start a family, but I’m still too young for that. And… I just can’t. Don’t you understand?” I added with a plea. “I dreamed of marrying for love, after finishing my studies. Not getting married to a man I feel nothing for. This… is some kind of madness! I told my mother that I didn’t want this, but she doesn’t listen to me at all!”

“So, you’re rebelling,” he grunts, and again a smirk or some meaningful smile slips across his face, the meaning of which I can’t grasp.

“This is not a rebellion. This is a fight for my rights,” I proudly lift my chin. “I have the right to decide for myself whom I want to live with, sleep with, and tie my fate to.”

“Here you are mistaken,” he counters, and the way he does it suggests he had prepared this answer in advance and knew exactly what I would say. “You don’t have any rights. Hold back your emotions,” he raises a hand just as I open my mouth, ready to protest indignantly. “Let me finish. You and your mother hold the controlling stake, and you actually own the larger portion. Your father tried to hedge against this. The next largest shareholder is me, currently at par with your mother. But someone is actively buying up shares, and it won’t be hard to guess why.”

Christopher falls silent and looks at me expectantly, but what is obvious to him is a dark forest to me. I understand absolutely nothing, just realizing that the majority of the shares belong to me is news by itself.

For a while, we have to postpone our conversation as our order arrives. But even this time is not enough for me to grasp what I’ve heard.

“I don’t understand,” I finally say.

“I was going to marry you solely for one reason — to protect you from encroachments on the inheritance. You and your mother won’t manage on your own.”

“Yeah, right, or just to grab the inheritance for yourself,” I blurt out, and then look at Christopher in horror, because if this is true, I can’t speak to him about it directly.

“You’re sharp-tongued. Good, maybe there’s still hope,” he smiles. “What are you studying for?”

“Design.”

“You’ve chosen the wrong program. You should transfer to Finance."

“I’m not transferring anywhere!”

“And what are you planning to do? What are your future plans?” he asks quite calmly, clearly amused by my emotions.

“Finish my studies and go work in these fields.”

“And what about the inheritance?”

“I’ll give it to my mother. You can marry her,” I mutter, realizing that I’ve gotten carried away, and anger has replaced fear, but I can't stop.

In response to my words, Christopher starts laughing loudly, disorienting me.

What did I say? Noticing my surprise, he does me a favor and, stopping his laughter for no apparent reason, explains:

“You cannot give away, sell, or do anything else with your shares. I’m telling you, your dad thought everything through. The only option is to marry me. Then we both will have the controlling stake, and whoever is trying to take over by buying shares will end up with nothing. Together with Meredith, your mother, we will be in the minority if you already mentioned marrying her. Of course, you can leave everything as it is. You and your mother own the controlling stake, your mother runs the firm, but, sweetie, what’s happening now, something you don’t want to delve into, says one thing — whoever is buying shares will stop only when the controlling stake is in his hands. Or when all his attempts become pointless.”

“Why can’t you buy the shares and get the controlling stake?” I frown. That seems more logical; why does he need me?

“It’s clear you’re not into finance, but you can count to a hundred, I assume?” he says in a patronizing tone. “If you and your mother together have fifty-one percent, how can I get the controlling stake, even if I manage to buy the rest?”

Thinking for a second, I fall silent because something obvious is spinning in my head. And then the realization hits me!

“By marrying my mother!”

“Not that simple, sweetheart,” he shakes his head. “A significant part of the shares has already fallen into someone else's hands. I’ll try to enlighten you a bit on this matter so you understand how business works, but you can forget about your design.”

“I don’t want any enlightenment,” I grumble because he speaks so confidently as if the matter is already settled, and I will indeed become his wife, and he will get the shares he needs.

“In that case, we return to the beginning of the conversation: you and I will marry, I’ll run the business with your mother, and you live to your heart's content. Within reason, of course.”

Well, how am I supposed to live to my heart's content as his wife?

“How do you not understand? I don’t want to be with you… God, I can’t even imagine myself with you… in one bed,” I blurt out, blushing.

And he laughs again before stunning me with a skeptical raise of his eyebrow:

“Who told you that I want to? We’ll have an arranged marriage. When everything settles down, the moment I return the money I spent on paying off your debts, we’ll divorce and go our separate ways.”

An arranged marriage? Is he serious? But… It's still a marriage. And what will William be then, a lover, if everything goes the way I dream? He’ll hardly be pleased.

“Do you have something with my mother?” I continue to embarrass myself with indiscreet questions, but if he reacts quite calmly to my straightforwardness, then why not take the risk?

However, Christopher looks genuinely surprised. It seems I was wrong in my assumptions.

“Besides friendship and respect in memory of your father, we have nothing else connecting us.”

That’s good. Probably. Because all of this looks strange. In general, everything seems strange, even though this man can be very convincing.

“I need to think,” I tell him, not hurrying to refuse this time. And indeed, there must be some way out.

“Think. But not for too long. You need to give an answer before you and your mother inherit.”

And there’s not much time left…