"What does he want?" Savannah asked.
"I’m not allowed to say, Miss Quinn."
"It’s past midnight."
"I know," Leo replied. "But it’s your only chance."
That arrogant jerk!
"Fine!" Savannah said. "Give me a minute."
She stepped back inside, grabbed her coat, and quickly typed Mia a message.
Going to the Locke estate. Ansel wants to talk tonight. If I don’t return...you know where to find me.
The rain pounded the windshield all the way out of the city. Leo drove in silence while Savannah watched the rain hammer the car windows.
The moment the highway appeared, her chest tightened.
Seeing the road where she had died in the rain brought back the same memories once again. Her whole body began to tremble. She dug her nails into her palm to calm herself, closing her eyes.
"Miss Quinn? Are you okay?" Leo asked, looking at her through the mirror.
Savannah opened her eyes and nodded.
"I’m fine."
He didn’t say anything more. But a moment later, he quietly turned the heater up.
"The drive is cold this time of the year," he said, not looking at her.
Leo took her straight to Ansel’s study without wasting any time. Ansel stood behind his desk and began to speak immediately.
"I don’t like to talk in riddles...so I’ll ask you straight," he began. "Tell me...why are you helping me? What do you actually want?"
"You already know what I want."
"Marriage?"
Savannah nodded firmly.
"Why? What changed so suddenly?"
Savannah gave him a hollow smile.
"I’m just being practical, Mr. Locke," Savannah replied. "You need to marry me in less than sixty days or your uncle takes everything. And I need something only your family name can give me."
"Then name your price," he chuckled. "Since everything has one."
"Five percent of Locke Group shares with no interference from anyone."
Ansel raised his eyebrows in interest.
"I need full legal, physical, and financial protection from my family. Anyone who comes after me should be answerable to the Lockes."
"That’s quite a list...for a woman who swore she’d rather marry a dog than a man who thinks marriage can be bought."
"I know," Savannah agreed.
"Then tell me...why the sudden change of the heart? Why are you willing to sell yourself now?"
"I’m not selling myself, Ansel," she replied, taking a step towards him. "I’m using what you need to get what I need. Your uncle has been stealing from your company for years. I have the first piece of evidence against him. The five percent is my price for helping you bring him down."
"Still...five percent is a lot," he said.
Savannah laughed at his words.
"I didn’t know the great Ansel Locke was such a miser," she smiled. "Your uncle has been bleeding your company for years through routes you haven’t been able to find out. What’s five percent compared to that? Now calculate what it’s worth if I’m right."
His expression changed a little as he understood the woman standing in front of him was much more than the gold digger he believed her to be.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he slid a folder towards her across the desk. Savannah picked it up and began to read.
"Separate bedrooms. No touching outside public appearances. No interviews, no leaks, no explanations to anyone. Divorce in an year. The contract terms are confidential and stay between us," Ansel explained while she read the terms. "You will not contact my uncle, my board, or my grandmother without my knowledge. And you will not use the Locke name against me."
"Fine!" Savannah agreed, still reading the contract.
"There is one more clause that isn’t mentioned in the contract," he said.
"What is it?" Savannah asked, looking up at him.
"My grandma’s birthday banquet is coming soon. Every influential person in the city will be there along with the press," he said coldly. "At the end of the toast, you will stand and apologize to me for the slap publicly."
Savannah’s hands froze on the folder.
"You want to humiliate me?"
"No. I want an apology," Ansel replied, casually. "I want things even between us even before we get married."
Say yes. It doesn’t matter as long as I marry him. But I promise... I will make you pay back my every humiliation with interest.
"Done," she agreed.
"No conditions?" Ansel asked, surprised.
Savannah smiled and shook her head.
"Now... can you ask your lawyers to draft a contract? We are already running out of time."
Ansel immediately called his lawyers to draft a contract with all conditions and clauses. It took them two hours to make the contract ready. During that time, both Ansel and Savannah stayed in his study, sitting across from each other but without talking. They pretended as if the other person didn’t exist.
After two hours, Leo entered the study with the final contract and handed it over to Ansel. Ansel read the contract and gave it to Savannah.
"Read everything carefully before signing," he said.
Savannah took the folder and read the contract twice. She read every sub-clause, every condition, and confidentiality terms. Ansel watched her the entire time.
He was waiting for her to hesitate, to look nervous. Anything that could prove she was still hiding something.
But Savannah had spent an entire lifetime learning what happens when someone trusts the wrong people. She had died once because she had been too desperate to be loved. She would never make that mistake again.
She picked up the pen and signed her name without any hesitation. Then she slid the folder back across the desk.
"There," she said. "You finally bought yourself a wife."
Ansel picked up the contract and looked at her signature for several seconds.
"Congratulations," he said dryly. "Your dream of becoming a Locke is finally coming true."
Savannah scoffed.
"Good bye. I’ll see you at the banquet," she said and turned to leave.
But Ansel’s voice stopped her.
"Miss Quinn."
She turned back.
Ansel was standing behind his desk with the contract still in his hand. His face was cold once again.
"One more thing," he said. "Until the banquet or until I say otherwise, nothing changes in public. No one can know we are about to get married...especially your family. Do you understand?"
Savannah moved her head and looked at the garden from the window.
Ansel Locke is mine. He has always been mine.
She almost smiled.
"Perfectly," she said and turned to leave but then stopped. "By the way, Mr. Locke, thank you."
"For what?" Ansel asked, confused.
"Because this might be the first term of this contract I’m actually going to enjoy."