Page 21 of Deal with Mr. Cruel

“If you’re not going to sell it, then it will be Nico who suffers. You know the draft is coming up. I can easily drop him—”

“No,” said Mae sharply. She looked up at him with defiance. “You’re diabolical.”

Jonas let her words pierce him before brushing it off. He simply shrugged.

“Tell your lawyer to email mine,” said Mae, standing from her chair and walking out of his office. Clearly the conversation was over.

Nico was her weak spot and Jonas knew exactly how to use it to his advantage. He imagined the look on Nico’s face when they made their announcement. Would it be shock? Disgust? Anger? Probably all three. Jonas couldn’t help but smile. As much as Nico was Mae’s weakness, she was just as much his. She was all hereallyhad, and Jonas was about to take her away from him. Now Nico would know how it felt to come second, just like Jonas did with his father.

As if that wasn’t satisfying enough, Braydon would be there, too. Jonas could gently rub it in his face that he, in fact, does have a life outside of work, and it’s with his own personal assistant. The old man will think he’s losing it. As for the rest of the office, he imagined they would be happy for them. This whirlwind romance would show there is a different side to Jonas. He would show he is different from his father. At least, for show. Maybe they would respect him more as a hard-working and doting husband.

There could be other benefits to this arrangement. Jonas hadn’t been with a woman in a while. Well, not in a serious way. There had been one-night stands. Nothing special. He was a man with needs, after all. He didn’t have to work very hard at it, being one of the most successful bachelors in Boston. One-night stands were easy. There were norealemotions. No ties. When the night was over, he was back to focusing on what was important. Work.

The truth was, he hadn’t had anything serious since Mae. After ending things with her, he refused to let anyone get too close again. It was too complicated. Too messy. Plus, no one really compared to her. Even though he kept denying there was anything serious to begin with, they were now about to take the most serious step.

He wondered, but highly doubted, if any of their old chemistry would come back to the surface. Dirty thoughts popped into his mind, and he laughed to himself. There was no way Mae would let him get close to her in that way again. He would have to get his needs met on the side. There wasn’t anything an NDA couldn’t cover up. Mae would understand. She already thought he was awful. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was unfaithful to their fake marriage. What was it she had called him? Diabolical. If she already thought it, why try to be anything different?

After working through all the thoughts in his head, Jonas finally fell asleep knowing his plan was going accordingly. He slept most of the day and night, peaceful and content. He could get used to these weekends off.

The next two days were busy in the office, preparing for the draft and the upcoming charity festival. He had been holed up in his office with meetings. He had barely seen Mae and she made no acknowledgement that she had received the agreement from his lawyer. Everything almost seemed normal. Like he hadn’t asked her to marry him. Had she decided to back out? If she did, his whole plan would be foiled. She had to know it would not be a wise decision with the upcoming draft. He could replace Nico easily with an up and comer. Sure, he would receive a lot of backlash for it from everyone, including the city of Boston, but he was the owner. He had the final say.

That evening, he was working late, looking through the final picks Braydon had brought to him. Usually, Mae was the one who swiftly dropped papers off without a word, as that was her job as Braydon’s personal assistant. She was avoiding him more than usual. Jonas was now convinced that Mae had backed out. He sighed and stood from his desk, walking toward the mirrored bar in the corner of his office. He pulled down a bottle of vodka and poured a generous glass, feeling his throat burn from the first sip.

What was his new plan? Would he follow through with making Nico’s life hell? He never thought he would actually have to go through with it. Yet, Jonas was a man of his word and needed to be taken seriously, even if it hurt Mae. He placed his glass on the counter and pressed his fingers to his temples. He had to think.

Suddenly, he heard a light knock on the door. He thought everyone had gone home already.

“Wendy, I thought you had gone home,” he said, still facing the bar.

He heard the door slowly swing open. “It’s not Wendy.”

Jonas spun around and saw Mae standing there. She had a smile on her face. He felt his stomach drop. Not only was she here in his office, but she was smiling? This was unexpected. What was going on? He felt like a bomb was about to be dropped.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he said.

“We had an agreement, didn’t we?” she asked, holding up papers.

The agreement. He nodded. Jonas tried to fight the satisfaction he was feeling because he wanted to come off cool and confident. He casually took a sip of his drink before pouring a splash more.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked, motioning to the liquor on the shelves. “I have wine chilling as well.”

“No, thank you. I’m strictly here on business,” she said, holding her hand up before taking a seat in front of his desk. She crossed her legs and smoothed out her dress. She looked good.

Jonas took a seat at his desk, across from her.

“I take it everything looked all right?” he asked, nodding toward the papers she had placed on his desk.

“Yes. My lawyer and I went through everything yesterday morning. You were very specific.”

“You have to be in these agreements.”

“Right. Because these agreements are the norm,” she said sarcastically.

“I think you’d be surprised. Hollywood is full of marriages that are for show.”

“Well, should we sign it?” Mae asked, trying to hide her hesitation.

“Ladies first,” said Jonas, grabbing a pen from his desk and sliding it over to her.

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