Chapter Five
>THE ENEMY'S OFFER
...The Mental Prison, Muse's Cell
The walls of the prison cell closed in on Muse as she sat hunched on the floor.
She was on the floor because the mattress there was rid with bedbugs.
Her hands were wrapped around her knees as she stared with lifeless eyes.
It has been three weeks since she had been arrested and the harsh reality of her state was finally sinking in.
The medical report that she has crumpled in her trembling hands told a story that she wasn't even ready to face.
"Rare autoimmune condition," the doctor had diagnosised her. "And it also requires immediate and ongoing treatment."
The prison doctor had delivered the news with clinical detachment.
Muse was made to understand that without proper medication and specialist care she had maybe about six months to live.
The treatment would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars—amounts that she didn't have and never would.
Muse laughed.
It was a bitter sound because even if she got out of prison, who would help her?
The Vitales had made it clear that she was nothing to them as of now.
They had all moved on without any second thoughts while probably wishing that she would just somehow disappear.
"Maybe this is how it should end," she said and let the paper fall to the floor.
The sound of clanging metal echoed, coming from down the corridor.
Muse did not look up.
She was used to the sound of the footsteps of guards who barely glanced her way.
But this time, the heavy footsteps stopped just outside her cell door.
She instantly looked up as the guard jingled keys and unlocked her cell door.
"You have a visitor," he said and stepped aside to reveal a well dressed man.
The young handsome man was tall and commanding with sharp eyes that seemed to see right through people.
He was wearing a tailored designer black suit with leather shoes.
His dark hair was slicked back, and even his shoes gleamed in the dull light.
"Muse," he said in a soft voice that sounded like music to her ears.
"Who are you?" she asked him with raised brows.
The man gave her a charming smile. "I am Pierre Donovan."
Muse's eyes widened in shock at the mention of his name.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Pierre Donovan?
The self made billionaire and the ruthless business rival of the Vitale family?
What could he possibly want with her?
"What are you doing here?" she asked him with quirked brows.
Pierre stepped inside.
His eyes swept over the dirty cell. "This is no place for a lady like you."
Muse furrowed her brows at him.
"Why are you here? I doubt you came here out of the goodness of your heart."
Pierre had heard a lot about Muse.
She was the adopted daughter who had been usurped by her sister.
The headlines had painted her the bad lady who had wanted her sister dead.
But as he stared at her now, he begged to differ.
"Yes, you are right," he answered smoothly. "I came here with an offer."
"What kind of offer?" She hissed sharply.
Pierre studied her for a moment.
She looked nothing like the polished Vitale socialite with her messy hair.
Her clothes were prison-issued and there were dark circles under her eyes.
"I want to offer you a way out of these prison bars Muse," he said simply.
Muse's eyes narrowed into slits before she burst into a mirthless laughter.
"A way out?" She snapped. "Unless you are planning to break me out of here, I don't think there is one Mr man."
"Actually, there is."
Muse eyed him suspiciously.
"I can get you out of here legally with all the charges dropped," he said.
"I am not interested," she simply said and looked away from him.
"I know you are dying," he said.
Her breath hitched in her throat as her surprised eyes rose swiftly to meet his.
"I will provide full medical coverage for your condition Muse with a chance to make the people who destroyed you pay."
Her heart pounded in her chest.
"What's the catch?"
He couldn't be here handing all these to her on a golden platter without a need.
He needed something from her.
"I need you to become my wife," Pierre said to her without hesitation.
Her eyes widened as she stared at him.
"You must be joking."
"Do I look like someone who jokes about business deals?" He drawled.
"Then, you must be insane."
Pierre threw his head back and laughed.
It was a sight and a sound that Muse didn't know someone could love.
"I am not. You marry me and I give you everything you need to start over."
"This is insane."
She shook her head.
"Why would you want to marry me?" She asked as she rose to her feet.
She could not sit still any longer.
"I am a convicted criminal with a medical condition that is going to bankrupt anyone who even tries to help me."
Pierre took a step forward.
Muse watched his hands slide into his pocket as a smirk curved his lips.
"Well, not me, Muse," he said.
Suddenly Muse found it hard to breath in the thick tension surrounding them.
She swallowed softly.
"Take my hand Muse," he said. "This is too good to be true and you know."
She shook her head, stepping back.
"If it is too good to be true, then it most definitely isn't," she said to him.
Pierre raised a questioning brow at her.
"I am your only option Muse."
She forced a smile.
"No you are not. I have my family."
Pierre employed everything inside if him to not laugh at her statement.
"The family who has abandoned you? Last I heard, you were disowned publicly."
Muse clenched her fists.
"It is just until they find the truth!" Muse snapped in spite. She did not appreciate this stranger digging at her wounds.
"Do you honestly think that they will ever take you back?" He mused.
"They will, I am family."
Her voice shook with anger.
Pierre couldn't hold it in any longer as he finally laughed at her in amusement.
He had not heard the bit about the adopted daughter being stubbornly foolish.
He took a step closer to her. His gaze met hers and she glared at him.
"Family? Is that what you call the people who discarded you the instant there was a better option?" He inquired.
There was something about him being in the private space that made her uneasy.
He came closer still.
Her heart rate skyrocketed swiftly and she struggled to breath through it all.
"Accept my help Muse because they will never ever take you back."
Her nostrils flared as rage rushed through every part of her trembling frame.
"I do not need your help."
"I expected you to be stubborn but not foolish. You will only destroy yourself by staying here and clinging to the false hope that can not keep you going."
"And what makes you think that I would trust you?" Muse snapped.
He was getting on her nerves with the grating suggestions.
"Because I am not like them Muse," he told her as his expression softened.
She swallowed the thick lump that suddenly formed deep inside of her throat.
"Sign the papers Muse, and I will keep you safe and bring you revenge served cold on a golden platter," he said with surety.
She shook her head.
"You are my family's enemy Pierre."
"Are you speaking of the family who abandoned you and put you here?"
"They are still mine!"
The laughter that rang out next was filled with disbelief and amusement.
He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out folded pieces of papers.
Muse watched him closely.
"Look here Muse," he began, "these papers are not a choice," he warned her.
Muse's chest tightened.
"You will sign them and you will belong to me. Because I might be your enemy, but I am still your salvation."