Chapter 1
Ivory
“Ma’am, you can’t go in there!“ Axel’s secretary, Klin says running after me as he tries to stop me from barging into Axel’s office but I don’t give into his pleas.
Even if I was strongly aware of the fact that interrupting Axel while he worked could get Klin fired, I didn’t give a shit at this moment.
Bursting through Axel’s office door, I find my husband seated behind his desk with his desk telephone over his ears.
Slamming the divorce papers on his desk, I snarled. “Sign it“
Axel’s gaze moves from me to his secretary—who already well believed today was the last day of work.
“Excuse us, Klin“ Axel commands. Returning back to his phone call, he says. “I’m sorry, Mr Monroe but I’ll have to call you back some other time. My wife just paid me a visit“
Hanging up, Axel glanced down at the papers in my hand. “What are those?“
“Divorce papers“
“And I should sign them because?“
I scoffed in disbelief, “Are you going to pretend as if you can’t remember that we had a deal in the first place? I get married to you because you need a wife for a year. After that, we get divorced“
“Oh, it’s been over a year already? I didn’t know you’ve been keeping track of time“
“I have“
Because back then I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into when Axel Muller, one of the biggest conglomerates in town and a multimillionaire approached me with a deal I couldn’t resist.
At that time, I was just a worker at a washed up restaurant. The salary they paid me was barely enough to eat a proper meal in a day.
I had to always chime in my monthly salary to pay the house rent since I was living with my parents or paying my siblings tuition fee.
In short, the money never lasted. So when Axel Muller approached me with a contract marriage to be his wife for a year in exchange for 90k$, I’d embraced the idea—at the expense that we’d get divorced after a year.
The past year as Axel Muller’s wife hasn’t been a bed of roses. I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do because the press always had their eyes on me. It was restraining to the point that I missed my freedom. My life before this marriage.
So, I counted down to this very day; the day our contract marriage comes to an end.
“I see no reason to deny you off this divorce since we clearly had a deal“ He says. “But, do you remember section 2B of our contract?“
Section what now? I didn’t even read the contract at that time.
“Of course, I do“ I lied.
“Then you do understand why I can’t sign these divorce papers, right?“
I blinked, confused. “No. I don’t understand. Walk me through section 2B again, will you?“
“Section 2B clearly stated that our contract becomes null and void when one party falls in love with the other“ He clearly explains. “Thus, I can’t sign those divorce papers“
My frown deepened. That made no sense.
“But I’m not in love with you“
“True but I am“
“What?“ I chuckled, “That’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard“
It was really hard to believe. Ever since Axel and I got married, yes we did move into a martial home together to make our marriage seem “believable” to the press and his family.
But within the four walls of our marital home, we were still nothing but strangers. We slept in separate bedroom, ate breakfast at different times because he always had to leave home early for work and by the time he was back, I’d already slept off.
We lived the past one year of our lives together barely saying a word to eachother and to be honest, I preferred it that way.
Because if we’d gotten closer—even just a little bit, I might not have been able to carry out my divorce plan.
Axel shrugs, “As ridiculous as it sounds, it was on the contract“
“Are you saying you scammed me?“ I questioned, taken aback by the turnout of events. “I mean why is it called a contract marriage if I can’t get out of it?“
“Yiu can get out of it“
“How?“
“If I fall out of love with you, that is“
I let out a low groan of frustration. “You’re impossible. Do you hear yourself right now, Axel? For the past one year of our marriage, this conversation is probably the longest we’ve ever had“
Then, something hit me. Axel had mentioned that the only way to get out of this marriage was to get him to “fall out of love with me”
Should I just work towards doing that? I could totally get on Axel’s nerve if I put my mind into it since this conversation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Yes. I’ll do that instead. Getting Axel to divorce me? This was going to be as easy as stealing candy from a baby.
“You know what, Axel? On second thought, I’m sorry for interrupting your work“ I apologized. “You were having an important call earlier right? You should get back to it. I’ll just be leaving“
He quirked his brow, surprised at my sudden change in character. “What about the divorce? Don’t you want me to sign those papers anymore?“
“These papers?“ I asked, waving the divorce paper in the air and tearing it apart—even though it hurts me to do so. “There’s no need for that anymore. Do have a good day at work, honey“
Strolling out of Axel’s office, I pulled out my phone and called the first reporter whose name appeared at the top of my contact list.
He picked up almost immediately.
“Is this reporter Kim for daily news?“ I asked.
“This is he. May I know who is calling?“
“No, you may not but I have news that might intrest you“ I say. “I just saw Axel Muller’s wife stroll into a stripper’s club. If I were you, I’d get down there as fast as possible“
