Chapter 12. Little Contract

When she eventually made it to the bedroom, she was a nervous wreck and sank onto the bed, still feeling a little queasy. She felt like her 10-round fight with a heavyweight boxer had just ended, but she also had the impression that she had gained some ground and that he had paid attention to her. She picked up the phone receiver from its cradle on the nightstand because she felt the need to talk to someone about what had just happened. However, she was shocked to hear ringing on the other end. As she was about to put the phone down, she realized Anthony was on the downstairs extension when the ringing abruptly stopped.

Her eyes widened in surprise as her father's voice pierced hers and said, "Micheal Clark "

She was shocked to learn that Anthony had actually called her father voluntarily because they did not get along. She hesitated before switching the receiver because she was more than a little curious, but that moment of hesitation was enough to keep her glued to the phone.

Elizabeth's fingers clenched around the phone as he began, "Your daughter wants a divorce.".

Her father astonished her with his reply, "What are you talking about? Divorce is not an option and you know that.".

Anthony said, his voice as dry as the summer desert. "I am aware of that, but it would seem that she is not. Doesn't she know about the agreement"

What agreement? Elizabeth thought to herself.

Micheal Clark scoffed mockingly, "Of course not.". If I had proposed, she would not have married you"

Theresa clenched her teeth as her father mocked , "The little idiot was in love with you!"

She tried to fight off the nausea by wrapping her free arm around her midriff. Anthony made no comment in response to her father's mocking comment.

"I assumed she was aware, that she had agreed to sell herself into this marriage in exchange for your cruel little contract" After a lengthy pause,

he finally exclaimed, "you know daddies little pet!"

"Would you have changed your mind if you had known you were marrying an idiot who believed you you to be her every fantasy come true?"

Finally, Anthony asked slowly, "And she doesn't know what the terms of our agreement are?'

"I figured she'd eventually learn about them from you, though."

"Are you telling me that she married me believing that I was in love with her?" Anthony asked in an almost disbelieving matters

Her father snorted at his response, "Of course," and Elizabeth could almost hear the careless shrug in his tone.

"And you simply let her to think that?"

"I realize she made a ridiculous assumption, but it worked to our advantage" Her father said with a chuckle "It was like watching a nieve puppy fall in love with a pitbull. However, I highly doubt she would have married you otherwise"

"There is no such thing as 'played into our hands,' Micheal. I'm just another victim of your disgusting plan"

"Anthony, please stop with the self righteous babble" My father scoffed. "Considering how much you profited from this deal, it seems hypocritical. Also, it would not have changed the outcome even if you had been aware of Elizabeth's expectations"

Anthony suddenly roared angrily, "She's your daughter! That should mean something to you!"

"Yes, that does mean something. It means she could finally be of some use to me. So you'd better keep her content, make her pregnant, and get her to stop talking about divorce. If your marriage ends before I get what I want, you know what you stand to lose"

"I had a life before this absurd arrangement. and I would like to get back to it at some point," Anthony finally said

Elizabeth bit her lip hard to keep from crying at the realization that her husband had always thought of their marriage as something outside of his real life! She had never met his family, all of whom lived in California. He made an two-week long visits to them every other month without bothering to invite her along. She was only his "temporary" and unwanted wife, so it goes without saying that he had never wanted them to meet her.

"Well, you know what it would take to escape, and I'm surprised that it's taken you so long to do that." He father chided.

Anthony stayed silent before He finally answered, "You know we had a setback, it's been hard to recover from that!".

Elizabeth's hand, which was already gripping the receiver tightly against her ear, furrowed in concentration.

She made an effort to understand their conversation.

If the conversation was anything to go by, it had something to do with a shared business interest. If it meant she could leave sooner, she would do anything to assist Anthony in achieving his goals. When she was liberated, she would leave them both and never look back.

"Yes." Elizabeth's father muttered, "That damned girl can't do anything right, can she? "

Elizabeths 's head shot up when she realized they were referring to her. She utterly failed at the one task you'd expect the woman to be able to complete. She almost collapsed from pain when she realized what they had been talking about in such dry, legal terms

Oh God

she cried inwardly as tears trailed her face.