PAPER VOWS Novel Chapter 10

I don’t know how I feel about trending. I don’t want people in my business. I have seen the stories that journalists make up, and I don’t know if I will be able to handle that. On the other hand, I want to be with Dante. I want to be his woman, and I want him to learn to love me how I want to be loved. Would it be a bad thing to want him, be with him and not his fame? I am not even celebrity material.

Dante takes my hands and says, “Talk to me. What is on your mind?”

“You are a billionaire, Dante.”

“You don’t date billionaires?” he asks, and I laugh. He doesn’t join in, meaning it’s not a joke to him. It’s not every day a hot billionaire approaches a stranger with a marriage proposal and doesn’t want a prenup.

“Why me Dante? I am just plain Jade. I don’t even have anything to offer you.”

He says, “You have yourself. As I said, I want a woman by myside and chose you. I wish I could say you can still say no, but we slept together now, so that doesn’t count. You are mine now.”

“This is a lot to take in.”

“I know, but as I said, this is your life now. Better embrace it,” he says. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

He leads us to where we eat. As we walk there, he tells me that Anne will give me a tour of the house later in the day. He also mentions that I don’t have to move in with him right away, after all, we are not yet married, but he voices out how it would make him happy if I moved in with him sooner. He is so good with words, I have to say. He knows what to say and when to say it.

“What did your family say about you being in the paper?” I ask Dante as he pulls a chair for me to sit. I thought I was going to get just my fruit salad, but these people cooked a feast.

“I’m an adult, they can say what they want and think what they want. But my little brother Denzel did call and said he would like to meet you. It doesn’t have to be now, though – whenever you are ready. What did your family say?”

I answer, “Giselle is shocked that you are a billionaire. I still haven’t replied to my parents. I will see them in person.”

“If you need me to step in and say something, I will. We are doing this together – we are equals.”

“We are not, I am not a billionaire,” I say and chuckle, but this always serious man doesn’t get the joke.

“You could be one too if we get married.”

“It’s a joke, geez, Mr Lyon,” I sip on my juice, looking at all the food in front of us. What do these people do with all this food that they cook? I clear my throat and say to Dante, “What happens to the leftover food if I may ask?”

“The house staff eats it.”

“How many people do you have in total?” I ask. I bet he has a lot of people. This is a big house; it must take a lot of people to keep it clean.

“Just ten.”

Just ten like it’s nothing. I can barely survive on my own, and he happens to have just ten people who work in his house. “What do they do?”

“Four cleaners, one cook and his assistant who keeps the kitchen clean, fridge and cupboards stocked, two security guards at the gate, then we have Elis and Anne.”

“Elis and Anne said the other day was their first day, why?” I am very curious.

“They are for you. Anne will help you with all you need, and Elis will drive you everywhere you want to go and keep an eye on you.”

“You hired them before I said yes. How are they for me?” I ask him. Did he know I was going to say yes?

“Eat, Jade.”

He didn’t say Jade Marshal. I ask, “Did you know I was going to say yes?”

“Honestly, no, but I hired them anyway.”

“You are a strange man, Mr Lyon,” I push back my chair and stand, stretching myself. “I am going to go shower.”

“I thought we agreed to shower together.”

“Let’s…” I don’t even get to finish my sentence; someone barges into the room. It’s a woman who looks like she is in her late twenties.

“Dante Lyon!” she furiously strides towards us. She doesn’t look happy, but she looks cute in the white dress she is wearing. Her afro also look nice.

“Don’t yell in my house,” Dantes answers, looking unbothered.

“What is this?” she tosses a newspaper in front of Dante, spilling his coffee. I don’t know why he is having coffee in this heat – I had juice. And is she going to ignore me like I am not in the room? I don’t miss the picture of Dante and me dancing on the front page. How did these people manage to take such clear pictures when we were in a private session?

“That’s a newspaper,” Dante answers. I see he is blunt with everyone. Dante then says, “Meet Jade, she is my woman. Jade Marshal, this is my little sister Rose.”

“I don’t care who she is. You are all over the media. What is going on? Is this all real or a fling?” she says, totally ignoring me.

“You will not disrespect my woman, Rose. Be a good girl and greet her politely,” Dante utters firmly.

I see Rose rolling her eyes, then she says to me, “Hello, Jade.”

“Hi, Rose,” I greet back. What else can I say?

Dante gets off the chair and says, “Jade and I are going to bathe. You could have just texted everything you said. I don’t understand why you are here.”

“You have never trended with a woman. I just want some clarity,” Rose says, this time calmer.

Dante answers, “I am a forty-two-year-old grown man. I don’t answer to you. And I was going to introduce her to the family, but you are just forward.”

Dante takes my hands, and we leave the room. As we walk to his bedroom, I ask what that was about. He answers, “Rose has a loose screw in the head. Don’t mind her.”

“She sounds upset that we are together.”

“She is more upset that I have someone in my life because she was trying to match me with another woman,” he answers, opens the door to his bedroom, and I walk in first. The bed is now done, the clothes on the floor picked up. A dress has been laid out on the bed – for me, I guess.

“Are you with me so you avoid being matched with another woman?” I ask him.

“I thought I told you why I want you to marry me.”

I fold my arms and say, “The last thing I want is your sister hating me. The next thing I am not good enough for her brother, and she makes my life a living hell.”

“Are you a novel reader? Fiction novel reader to be precise?”

“Yes, so?” What has that to do with all this?

“It explains a lot, let’s go shower,” he says as he walks to the bathroom first.

My phone vibrates a couple of times. I pick it up, it’s five more pictures from Giselle. Can she please let me rest? I don’t know why they are bringing up my old pictures. Can’t I sue them for using my pictures without my permission? I read the headlines on the posts. These are Twitter posts.

‘How long has Jade Marshall been sleeping Dante Lyon?’

‘Cute couple of the week, Jade Marshal and Dante Lyon.’ It has only been a couple of hours. How are we the cutest couple of the week?

‘Jade Marshal, a former SP Fashions employee, could be the next big thing in GoldenRock.’

I put my phone down and walk to the bathroom. “Dante!”

He closes the shower tap, “Yes.”

“How come my photos are all over the media, and all that’s trending is your name? Even the pictures from last night show more of me, and just your hands or shoulder?” I ask, arms folded and all.

“Maybe it’s because I do not have a digital footprint. No one has photos of me. People know not to put my photo anywhere on the media.”

“Did you know we were going to trend?” I ask him. He has to have known.

“I knew.”

“What are you up to?” I ask. He opens the shower door and pulls me. I am still in his shirt.

“I wasn’t entirely truthful with you. I didn’t only choose you for the reasons I told you. I chose you because I needed someone to trend on my behalf.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“To me it does,” he then pulls me closer, making the shirt wetter. He starts unbuttoning it and says, “You will be as famous as me. When out there, you represent me. When people see you, they see me.”

“In other words, I am going to be a trophy wife, a pretty thing next to you.”

“No, no Jade Marshal. You are going to be my wife, my equal and my cover life,” he removes the shirt off me and tosses it out of the shower.

“Cover life?”

“You heard that right,” he opens the shower and lets the water pour on us.

(Happy new week can I get 100shares on this chapter. Our viewes are dropping)