Losing Pieces of Me

by Briner, Rose

  “Not really, no. I was hoping I had more time before I had to bring up heavier subjects with you,” he says as he rests his elbows against the table and fixes his gaze on me.

  My eyes search his as he stares back at me. “I don’t understand what you mean,” I finally tell him.

  “LookMireya, I really like you. I know we only just met, but I’m running out of options and you about to lose your home actually makes this all work out perfectly.”

  Seriously? How can me losing my home make anything perfect? This guy is off his rocker.

  I give him a look as I stand and start to walk away from the table. His voice stops me and has me coming back to sit down at the table.

  “Now wait a minute, I’m not done yet. I have a proposition for you.”

  “Out with it then,” I gesture at him when I sit back down at the table. Maybe if I allow him to make his proposal, he’ll let me get back to what I was doing.

  “You know I own an investment firm, right?” I nod at him, I don’t see what that has to do with anything. “Well, I’ve been receiving a lot of pressure from my mother and the board to find a suitable wife and they’ve told me if I don’t find one within the next two months, they are going to vote me out. So I’m in quite a bit of a pickle.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” I tell him genuinely. “But I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

  “See, that’s the thing, this is perfect. You need a place to live and I need a wife who I can actually get along with. So here’s the deal, I’ll give you twenty thousand dollars cash if you will stay married to me for three months. You get the money, I get to keep my company.”

  I can see he’s thought a lot about this, what I don’t understand is why me?

  “Don’t you have someone else you can ask? Surely you must have a friend or an admirer that would jump at the chance to marry you.”

  He sighs and stands from his chair so he can pace back and forth, “See that’s the thing, Mireya. I can’t just pick up the phone and call someone up and tell them I want them to be my fake wife. It has to be someone who can keep my secret and move in with me. She’d have to be poised and understand that this is strictly a business arrangement. If I asked anyone else they would probably think this would be their opportunity to gain some of my fortune or trap me into staying married to them. I don’t think you would do that, you’re too nice of a girl.”

  “I don’t know,” I tell him. I’ve already made my decision, that would be more than enough money to find my sister and perhaps being a member of their family would allow me to get closer to Hayden. Hopefully I can find my sister before the three months are up. The thing is this though, I can’t seem to eager to marry him so I’m going to have to pretend that I need time to think about it.

  “Come on, Mireya, we need one another,” he begs, kneeling before me.

  He’s right, we do need one another, more than he will ever know.

  “Let me think about it for a few days,” I finally tell him.

  He smiles up at me like he knows he’s already won and in a way he has because little does he know I’m going to agree.

  “I’ll be back in a week, I have some business I need to attend to out in Seattle, I’ll come back to see you when I get home. Can I at least have your number so we can continue to get to know one another?”

  I write it down and hand him the piece of paper.

  “I’ll see you in a few days,” he replies, kissing me on the cheek before he leaves the apartment and sending me back to packing up the remainder of my belongings.

  I already have my answer and if we do get married it would be a business arrangement, so why is he so concerned about getting to know me?

  “I’ll find you Katrina, even if I have to marry one of them to get to you,” I say to the empty apartment.

  I will find her one way or another. I just hope when I do find her, it’s not already too late.

  Chapter Seven

  Not even half a day goes by before I receive the first text from Jayden.

  Jayden: Have you thought about my proposal?

  Me: I have, but I have some questions

  Jayden: Of course you do, ask away

  I don’t respond right away after that, I decide that I need to sit and think about all the things I want to ask him. Obviously I want to know where we will be moving to. I also want to know if I’ll be receiving a wardrobe, since Jayden must have parties and dinners he has to attend. I can’t exactly show up looking like a poor girl from New York, even though that’s exactly what I am. But more than anything, I want to know if this marriage will include us having to be intimate or if just handholding and kissing will be necessary in front of everyone.

  I don’t think I could fake it if we were to be intimate with one another. I’ve never had sex or had a man touch me in a sexual way so I wouldn’t even begin to know the first thing about faking it. I bite my lip for a really long time, staring down at my phone trying to think of what I want to ask. Then I sit there for a long time after I’ve typed the text trying to get up the courage to hit send. Finally, I just do it.

  Me: Where would we be moving to?

  He answers the text right away, leaving me wondering if he’s just sitting around waiting for me to text him or if he has some assistant that’s answering for him or something. God, I hope it’s not an assistant because it will probably be some hot blonde that wants to get rid of me.

  Jayden: Cove Neck. Not too far from where you are at now. That going to be an issue?

  Seriously, why would that be an issue? When thinking about all the other things I have to right now, moving to another city is going to be the least of my worries.

  Me: No, just curious, that’s all. Sounds like a nice place, I’ll have to look it up.

  He doesn’t need to know I have no intention of looking it up.

  Jayden: Any other questions?

  Me: What would our marriage actually entail? Are you going to want me to attend events with you and hold your hand?

  He doesn’t answer right away and that’s when I start to think he’s changed his mind. I can’t afford for him to change his mind. Not only do I have no place to go right now, but he’s my one ticket to get closer to Hayden and Katrina. Although, clearly they aren’t together right now unless he’s hiding her somewhere. Which is completely possible at this point.

  Jayden: We will be just like a real married couple, just minus the love part of it. We’ll go out to dinner, see my family, and do anything else you want to do. I can’t promise certain things, but I can make you happy and make it well worth your while.

  God, I hate that he makes it sound like I’m some sort of gold digger. All the more reason to keep my eye on the prize and remind myself that I am doing this for my sister. I shouldn’t even care what he thinks about me right now. Yet I do, and that bothers me.

  Eye on the prize, Mireya. You need that money to find Katrina.

  I always knew what my answer would be even before this conversation. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would accept his proposal and marry him. I can put my life on hold for a couple of months, get that money, find my sister, and then find a man who will marry me for real and love me forever. Not a bad plan.

  Me: Yes

  Jayden: Yes what? I can’t see you right now, so be a little bit more specific

  Me: Yes, I will marry you

  I throw my phone down and ignore it after that afraid of what his response will be. I instead get up and start to pack up the last of my things. What little dishes I have in here mean a lot to me. They were one of the first things I purchased when we moved to New York so I don’t plan on getting rid of them anytime soon.

  I hear my phone vibrating like crazy from across the room, but I ignore it. I don’t want to read what he wrote. He probably has a million questions about why I’ve agreed to marry him so quickly. I can’t tell him the truth, I don’t even think I can ever come clean and tell him that after the first night we met that she n
ever came home.

  A banging at the door has me nearly dropping the pile of plates in my hands on the floor. I look over at the small clock in the corner and see that the time is really late. I grab my baseball bat in the corner by the door and hold it in one hand as I brace myself to answer the door.

  “Who is it?” I ask, trying to sound more confident than I feel right now.

  “It’s me, open the damn door,” that’s Jayden’s voice on the other side of the door and he sounds agitated.

  My shoulders sag in relief when I realize it’s not someone coming here to kidnap me or kick me out, so I put the bat down in the same spot and unlock the door. The second I unlock it, Jayden pushes it open and steps inside, closing the door behind him. He didn’t even wait for me to open the door, clearly he has an issue with patience.

  “Why aren’t you answering the phone?” he asks, pacing to the other side of the room and then turning to face me. Why he feels the need to put so much space between us is beyond me.

  “I was packing,” I reply, gesturing towards the plates on the table. “I couldn’t hold the phone at the same time.”

  His shoulders relax a little when I tell him this. What did he think? That I told him I would marry him and then changed my mind? I just didn’t want to deal with his questions and his reaction right away.

  Wait a second, I thought he was in Seattle.

  “When did you get back?” I ask, crossing my hands over my chest and relaxing back against the door as I stare him down.

  Clearly he cut that trip short if he’s standing here before me. Plus, how did he get over here so quickly? I wonder if he’s been sitting outside my apartment this entire time.

  “I’ve been back for a while. I went to Seattle, but only got about a third of my work done before I had to come back. You see, I had to come back to be closer to you.”

  I don’t know if I should be flattered right now that he wanted to be closer to me or if I should feel worried that he’s becoming a stalker. How ironic would that be if he was stalking me after I just finished stalking him?

  “I have a lot of enemies, Mireya. I need you to understand that going into this. I haven’t hurt anyone or anything, but just the fact that I own my own company and have a lot of money has made me a target and some people will do anything they can to hurt me. Even if that means hurting those around me that they think I’m close to. Which is why I kept trying to contact you,” he says coming closer to me. “Did you mean what you said? That you’ll marry me, I mean,” he stops before me, his eyes searching mine.

  I force myself to look away from him. This is probably one of the strategies he uses to get his clients to agree to whatever he wants, make them forget what they were thinking by crowding their personal space.

  I nod my head, bringing my face back around so I’m looking at him once more. “I never say things unless I mean them.”

  He surprises me by pulling me into a hug and kissing my forehead. I’m a little shocked by the intimacy of the gesture.

  “We need to get this moving then. I’ll help you finish packing up and then we’re leaving. I’ll have someone pick up the boxes and take them to storage. Do you have a bag already packed? If not, I suggest you get one ready now,” he says, walking across the room and resuming what I was doing before he showed up.

  “Why the hurry, if you don’t mind me asking?” I ask him slowly, while watching him shove the rest of my plates in the box before moving on to the next one.

  “I’m about to show up with a wife that no one knew about. I’m not even dating right now, so everyone is going to automatically be suspicious of us. The goal is to leave the country, get married, move in together so we can get to know one another, and then appear to be madly in love.

  “Is that something you think you can handle? I need to know before we go into this because there won’t be any going back. I warn you, if this doesn’t end up working, you won’t receive a dime,” he says this so casually like he’s discussing what we’re going to be having for dinner tonight.

  He’s not even looking at me right now, but if he was looking at me, he would notice how much his words sting. There’s no need to threaten me, he doesn’t even know me well enough to know whether or not this will end up working out or not.

  “I’m going to go and get my things ready,” I tell him as I make my way towards my room at the back of the apartment.

  “Oh, one other thing,” I turn back towards him. “Don’t threaten me again, Jayden or I’ll tell everyone that this is all fake. You don’t know me, it would be nice if you got to know me before you started passing judgment.”

  He opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but I just simply shake my head no and turn back towards my room and walk away. His threatening me doesn’t make me want to change my mind, but it does remind me that these men are rich and powerful and I’ll have to stay on top of my game or this will never work.

  As I pack my bag and get the last of the things I was saving in the bathroom, I can’t seem to wrap my head around what is about to happen. I’m about to marry the brother of the man my sister was last seen with. A man I don’t really know and one that could make or break me. I’ve never been in a relationship before and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that my first relationship would not only be a fake one, but would be with a billionaire who is offering me twenty grand to make it happen.

  “I’m ready,” I declare, walking back into the living room. I’m not sure what to do or if he’s ready to go, so I just kind of awkwardly stand there in the hallway with my bag in front of me and stare back at him with wide eyes.

  “Great, let’s get this show on the road then.”

  There’s no hesitation on his part, as he drags me towards the door and out of the apartment. I look behind me at my old home one last time. I have this feeling I’ll never see this place ever again.

  Chapter Eight

  “Relax, Mireya, you look perfect. I know this probably isn’t what you had in mind for your wedding, but it has to be this way.”

  I bring my eyes up to meet him for the first time since I walked into the chapel. He thinks I’m upset because of the fact that we’re in Mexico, about to get married, and at that with no family or friends that I know. It has nothing to do with any of that. I still can’t believe I’m standing here in a beautiful chapel with the ocean in the background. This might be the one and only time I ever get married, so I am trying to soak everything in and remain calm standing next to this handsome man.

  I know that a real relationship between us would never be possible, we come from two completely different worlds. For one, he had a private jet take us here the second we left the apartment. He said it was best that we leave before anyone spots us together and we end up in the paper. I can’t figure out if the reason is because he doesn’t want to be photographed with me because I’m not pretty enough to be next to him or because everyone that is pressuring him would find it odd that he’s with someone like me. I didn’t dare ask him that question, though. On top of that, he talks in a well-educated manner and uses big words when he’s talking to other people while I just use simple words. Then there’s the biggest thing of all, he seems to always be working. In the car, on the plane, and even now looking over at him, he’s on that damn phone of his. If we were actually getting married for real, I would’ve thrown that shit out into the ocean so we could have some quality time together. Luckily, this is a fake wedding.

  There was lots of paperwork and rules that needed to be gone over before we got here too. He brought his lawyer on the plane with us. He made me sign a nondisclosure agreement stating that I would never tell anyone that this isn’t a real wedding. There were words in there about suing me if I told anyone and not receiving any money as well, believe me he doesn’t have to worry about me telling anyone the truth, I need that money in a really bad way.

  Oh, and of course, don’t forget the prenuptial agreement. I expected it, but it still upset me a little when I saw
it. I didn’t want to sign it, I wanted to rip it up and throw it in his face, but I didn’t do that. Number one because I need him and number two because I understand where he’s coming from, I bet someone took advantage of him. I guess I didn’t get the shit end of the stick though, because all it said was that I don’t get anything when we divorce other than twenty thousand in cash and whatever I’ve collected in material belongings. It doesn’t say I won’t have access to money if I need it, simply that when we get a divorce I don’t get half of everything in the way other couples do.

  “You ready?” I turn to the sound of a voice behind us. The priest is ready to marry us.

  “Yes,” Jayden replies when I fail to say anything. I do, however politely smile at him and nod.

  Jayden goes in first and I take a few moments before I blow out the breath I’ve been holding and follow him inside. There’s nobody waiting inside, no rows of family and friends smiling as I make my way down the aisle, there’s no wedding party standing at the front of the church, and for sure, there’s no loving groom standing there waiting for me. The only people in the church are the priest, Jayden, and a couple that agreed to be our witness. Oh yes, and the lawyer, the lawyer seems to follow us everywhere we go.

  I am a little sad that this is the wedding I am going to receive. I always promised myself that I would marry for love and the fact that everything in my life has been complete shit up until this point is starting to weigh heavily on me. This behavior isn’t like me, if I didn’t need Jayden to help me find my sister, I wouldn’t be doing this. I guess that’s how I can look at this entire thing, right? This is all to save my sister.

  Before I even realize it, I’m standing next to Jayden and the priest is pronouncing us man and wife.