ANNALYN
I definitely was not expecting this gorgeous stranger to accept my marriage proposal so easily, but I felt a wave of relief when he did.
This was good. I needed to move fast and get married as soon as possible, in order to throw Catherina and her evil daughter off my inheritance.
The man was staring at his phone as he typed rapidly, and I chose that moment to stare at him for a long, long moment.
He hadn't stated his condition yet, but I was pretty sure I would be able to handle it. After all, once I got all of my inheritance, I would be able to pay him any amount he wanted.
When he seemed to have stopped typing, I spoke.
"Come on, let's go."
His eyebrows shot up with surprised.
"You really are serious about going to my house?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Not now, at least. Now that you've decided to marry me, I think it's best if we do it now. The wedding, I mean," I explained.
Adrian sighed silently and rubbed his temples.
"You just got out of the hospital. I am not at risk of running away. Why not rest for a few days and let's talk about the wedding later?" he suggested.
I shook my head frantically, my mind going back to Warren and Sophia. They already made their move. I had to make mine too, and let them know that I would not back down easily.
The inheritance was my right.
"That won't work. I have no idea what Sophia and that jerk are planning to do now that they thought I was dead, but I need to stop them. And the only way I can do that is to get married. Let's just go to the courthouse, please."
My words had some sort of desperation embedded in them, and my voice was slightly shaky.
Adrian was silent for a while before he spoke.
"Fine. We will go to the courthouse. But we can't go like this. You, at least. You need to change. Look presentable."
I looked down at myself. He was right. In my haste to leave the hospital, I hadn't bothered to change clothes. I was still in my hospital slip, and the rest of my things hadn't survived the car crash.
And I didn't want to go back home. Not with the possibility of running into my cruel step sister and her greedy mother.
Before I could say anything to that effect though, Adrian spoke.
"Don't worry. I got it covered. Let's go," he stated simply. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but before I could find words to ask him what he meant, my new husband to be had started the car already and was driving.
His expression was solemn — somber, in fact — as he drove.
I had a very crazy urge to start speaking, but I had no words to say. So automatically, my thoughts wandered back to my situation.
Marrying Adrian, a man I knew from nowhere, might end up being something I would regret later in the nearest future, but I had no choice.
Time was running out of me so fast, and he was my only option. At least he wasn't terrible to look at.
And even if he turned out to be some sort of creep, I just had to endure him for a year.
Twelve months.
I had survived worse for longer periods.
I was so distracted, so lost in my head, that I didn't notice that we had gotten to our destination. Adrian had driven us to a small, but very exquisite store.
"Why are we here?" I asked as he helped me down.
"To clean you up and get a wedding dress, of course."
I nodded. Right. He did told me that he had taken care of it. I guess this was his way of trying to reassure me that he wasn't entirely terrible for a stranger.
The store was empty, but the dresses were so beautiful. I gasped as I saw one beauty after the other, and my eyes watered at how lovely everything looked.
For some reason, it reminded me of my father. He had always loved me in pretty dresses, and he used to buy them for me a lot.
If he was still alive, then I would not be in this situation.
I cleaned up the wound on my forehead and chose a simple wedding dress. There was a stylist available who helped me with my hair, and with a touch of simple makeup, I was done.
I felt pretty as I stared at myself in the mirror, and when I walked out to where Adrian was waiting for me, I expected a compliment.
But that man just glanced at me and gestured for me to get into the car without another word. I felt a stab of disappointment.
The least he could do was tell me I cleaned up nice. But then, it doesn't really matter, right?
I mean, I was the one forcing him into getting married with me. I wasn't paying him to give me compliments.
As we drove closer to the courthouse though, I began to feel nervous.
My heart thundered in my chest, and I could feel my blood as it pounded in my veins.
News about my marriage would be out almost immediately after the wedding, and that would alert Sophie and her mother that I was still alive.
The war would become more dangerous then, because I was as sure as hell that they would do anything and everything to ruin this marriage as soon as possible.
But I would fight back. All I had to do was hold on for a year and get settled into my inheritance.
Then Catherina and her blood sucking daughter would have no other choice that to rot in hell.
Adrian parked the car in the parking lot of the courthouse and turned to face me.
"Any chance you're rethinking your decision?" he asked.
I took a deep breath and faced him.
"Come on, let's go get married," I responded and was about to get out of the car when he placed his hand on my wrist.
"Beautiful," he muttered as he raked his eyes over my face. My breath caught in my chest, and I wasn't given a chance to speak before he got out of the car.
I shook my head to dislodge the fog in my head and got out after him.
The entire ceremony didn't take long. All we had to do was find a legal official to preceed over the entire thing, sign papers and take some pictures.
Adrian signed our wedding documents without a moment of hesitation, but my hands shook when it was my turn.
I trembled as I stepped forward, and the registrar cleared her throat when I was taking too long.
Adrian placed a small hand on my back to steady me, and the gesture grounded me a little.
My heart leaped with a fierce hope as his gaze settled on mine, and I managed to sign the document.
That was it. I was done. Married. To a total stranger.
I was about to say something Adrian's phone rang. He glanced at me before he picked up, and my curiosity flared.
He listened to the person on the other end of the call for a few minutes and hung up without saying a word.
Then he turned to face me.
"The Press just arrived," he stated simply.
The press. I wanted to ask what they were here for before I remembered that I told him I wanted to announce my marriage to the world, therefore throwing Sophia and her mother off balance.
I nodded.
"See you later then?" He asked as he walked past me, making for the back door.
I smile and nodded, then watched him leave me to deal with the press. I also wanted everyone to wonder about the identity of my husband.
It would be good for publicity, and would make my step mother and her daughter more anxious.
As long as they didn't know who he was, they wouldn't try to sabotage me through him.
So I walked out with my head up high.