Page 36 of Boss's Fake Wife

In fact, I didn’t trust him at all.

He was simply another man trying to use me for his gain, although his reasoning didn’t make much sense either. For all I knew, there was something more going on here that I couldn’t see.

“So.” He cocked his head. “Are you going to marry me or what?”

“Do I have a choice?” I repeated the question with even more bitterness seeping into my tone.

“You do,” he responded. “But whether or not you make the right choice is a whole other thing.”

I stretched my neck because I felt like there was a knot forming there that I just couldn’t reach. Or maybe it was the feeling of entrapment, like the walls were closing in on me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Fine.”

“Fine what?” he said, and the smile that tickled the corner of his lips told me that he knew exactly what I meant. He just wanted to hear me say the words because he was a bastard who liked to gloat.

“I said, fine, I’ll marry you.”

“Excellent choice,” he murmured, then took another bite of his burger before nodding at my plate. “Eat. I don’t want you to faint on the way.”

“On the way to where?”

“To go and sign the marriage license,” he says.

My heart raced.Now?Today?“We’re doing that today?”

“Yes,” Chris replied with a shrug. “No point in waiting. We might as well dot the I’s and cross the T’s and get everything over with.”

“But…” I sputtered. Despite what I said, it was far too soon. I wasn’t ready to follow through on my word yet. I didn’t even fully understand what was going on and thought I would have more time to contemplate or figure out any other way out of this predicament I found myself in.

But that was probably exactly what he didn’t want. Hence why he was rushing me.

“Don’t I need some time?” I asked, trying to think of an excuse to buy some time. “Do courts even do same-day marriage licenses? Plus, I still need to get my IDs, and I don’t know where I put it—”

“Right here,” Chris said cheerfully, reaching into his pocket and tossing the items on the table. “These are all we need. Well, those things and a witness. But Ferro and Doper would be more than happy to play the part.”

He gestured at the men sitting at the table opposite us. They’d been discussing something but stopped the second the two of us looked over. As if Ferro knew we were talking about him, he saluted.

I glanced away without acknowledging the greeting, still irritated with how the man foiled my escape plan back in the storage deposit box.

“Come on,” Chris said encouragingly. “Eat.”

“I said I’m not hungry,”I replied stubbornly.

“You’re clearly lying. Now, you’re going to take at least one bite of that burger, or I’m going to make you. Your choice.”

The look in his eyes told me it was more of an order than a request and that he would be all too happy to punish me if I didn’t obey.

Anger at the injustice of the situation spread through me. He thought he could just boss me around, didn’t he?

Well, I’d never been submissive, and I didn’t plan on starting now.

I did what he asked, but I took my damn time with it. First, I reached for a knife and fork and started cutting the burger into tiny bite-size pieces. Chris frowned when he saw what I was doing, and even Ferro looked over in horror like I was desecrating something sacred. Ignoring them, I kept chopping until it was all mashed on my plate, and the bread was indistinguishable from the meat.

Only then did I take a forkful of mash and stick it in my mouth, happy to have at least defied him in this way.

But then I instantly regretted it. Because I had to admit, the burger did taste pretty good, and it probably would have tasted even better had I not destroyed it.

Plus, now that my stomach had gotten the slightest hint of sustenance, it began to twist and hurt as if begging for more.

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