The Billionaire's Contract Bride

2: 2

When I woke the next morning, Keith was already out of bed.

I stepped out of the bedroom to find him at the dining table, reading a financial report while he waited for me to eat.

He was frowning, as if the numbers on the page troubled him.

I sat down across from him and pushed back the urge to ask about the marriage alliance.

When he saw me, he set aside what he'd been reading and bent his head to his breakfast.

No small talk, no real conversation, no explanation of any kind.

After a long silence, I finally couldn't help myself. "Do you have work later?"

He nodded and said, flatly,

"Things have been busy lately."

I nodded and said nothing.

All these years, I'd been everything a kept bird in a gilded cage should be. Sweet, obedient, never prying into his work.

And yet now I heard myself ask, "Is it because of the Chandler business?"

He seemed a little surprised. He looked up at me. "What is it?"

Before I could answer, he went on, "Once this stretch is behind us, everything will be settled, and you—"

Right. The three years were up. Everything was meant to go back to the way it was before, and I was meant to leave.

He seemed to keep talking, but I couldn't catch a single word of it. Before he finished, I stood. "I've got filming later. I'll head out first."

Even after I got to set, Keith's words were still turning over in my head.

My timing was badly off today. A simple scene took take after take.

We ran it over and over until the director finally couldn't stand it and let out an irritated sigh.

"Take a break. We'll shoot someone else first."

I knew he hadn't lost his temper not out of any regard for me, but because of the man behind me.

I was sitting off to the side, staring at nothing, when a ripple went through the crew.

"Oh my God, are you seeing this? Keith Stephens just walked in with Yuki Chandler."

"Why would the two of them come here?"

"You don't know? Stephens is this show's biggest investor. Probably here to check on things and get in some couple time while he's at it."

That was when I noticed people glancing my way.

"That leading lady of ours, isn't she the one who was supposedly with Mr. Stephens? How'd she end up out in the cold?"

"This is the industry. You still don't get it? It's just for fun. Who knows how many people he's run through. When he actually marries, he'll pick someone who matches him."

I lowered my eyes, not wanting to dwell on what they said.

While I sat there blank, a woman came and stood in front of me, her voice sweet in my ears.

"You're Lois, aren't you? I love watching your shows."

"I remember one you did a while back... the one where the lead girl does whatever it takes to marry into money, right? Your acting's so good. It didn't look like acting at all."

I lifted my head and met a pair of sweet, innocent eyes.

Keith stood beside her, holding an umbrella over her. He frowned, but said nothing.

He didn't explain what they were to each other, and he didn't stop her plain, open malice either.

I wasn't surprised. In all these years, Keith had never made our relationship public in front of anyone, never once introduced me to a soul.

A few times the media had caught us in the same frame, and he'd buried every one of those photos clean.

But with Yuki, he could let the engagement news fly everywhere, let anyone speculate in broad daylight.

I forced out a smile, made an excuse about needing to reshoot a scene, and turned and walked away.

The director had clearly seen all of that too, and, as if certain now that the marriage-alliance story was real, his attitude flipped a hundred and eighty degrees on the spot.

"Are you sleepwalking? I want a choked-up sob, not some corpse gasping for its last breath!"

"Don't play dumb when you know exactly what I mean. Why do you think this production keeps you around? No leverage, then keep your head down and do your job!"

The director went on cursing, but not a word of it landed. My head was full of the image of Keith holding that umbrella over her.

Choked up? I really was about to cry.

Every time I told myself this was just a relationship where each of us took what we needed, Keith would give me some extra illusion to cling to.

But the world's verdict, and his own attitude, told me I had no right to think any of it.

I only wanted to know what, in his eyes, I even was.