Page 257 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 6
She sighed and set the contract down on my desk. “You don’t mean that, sugar tits.”
“Yes, I do. And seriously, don’t call me that.”
She just stared at me, a smile slowly spreading across her face. “Oh. This is about Brooklyn, isn’t it?”
When I had a problem, why did everyone always just assume it was because of Brooklyn? “No.”
“So you’re not still in love with her?”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t even know how to answer that anymore. “It’s not about Brooklyn. She’s dead.”
Poppy raised her eyebrows. She looked genuinely shocked by my response. “Fascinating.”
“What are you talking about, Poppy?”
“You’re spending all this time protecting your friends and family. It’s a little ironic. Since they don’t seem to have your best interests in mind in the slightest.”
What the hell was she talking about? My friends had my best interests in mind. She was growing more delusional by the day.
“Darling,” she said. “I’m the only one that’s going to put you first. Forever and always. As soon as we walk down the aisle that is.”
I grabbed a pen from my desk and handed it to her. “Sign it.”
She looked around. “I don’t see a marriage certificate anywhere.”
“Sign the contract I faxed you.”
She pouted. “But there’s a whole section about how it terminates our original arrangement. Signing this would mean we are no longer together. That’ll have to be taken out.”
“That’s what the whole contract is for.”
“Oh, is it?” She picked up the stack of papers again. “I thought it was to make sure I wouldn’t blow up any of your friends, family, or acquaintances. Especially someone named Nigel who you hold near and dear to your heart?”
What?I grabbed the documents from her. She’d already highlighted a few sections. And I saw Nigel’s name highlighted in bright yellow under a ‘near and dear’ clause. When had he added that in? I swear it hadn’t been in the original he’d shown me.
“I think what we both want is that cute little redhead to remain safe. So let’s forget about the contract and just move forward with an engagement.”
“Poppy…”
“And speaking of our pending engagement…why haven’t you signed the relationship contract that Uncle Richard sent over?”
“Because I don’t want to be in a relationship. Hencethiscontract.”
“Well, give me some more time to look it over. I’ll need to make quite a few amendments. But in the meantime, go ahead and sign the relationship contract.”
Did she think she was negotiating with a toddler? “I’m not signing another relationship contract,” I said.
“What do you meananother?” Her confident smile finally faltered.
“Mr. Pruitt made me sign one when I was dating Brooklyn. I’m not signing another damned thing.”
“You have one with Brooklyn?”
“Had. Ihadone with Brooklyn.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I think I need to have a talk with my uncle.”
“He doesn’t need to be involved in this.”
