I smile condescendingly. “Good. I’d usually have someone sign an NDA, but if there is anyone else who has just as much to lose by this going public, it’d be you.”
“Get to the point where I have to clean up a rich man’s mess. Go on, I know it’s coming. What is it? Found yourself in a sex scandal? No, too boring for a guy like you. Has to do with money. Maybe a little embezzling or money laundering? What’s your poison, Stonehaven?” She pushes back, and my God, now is not the time to admire the woman.
“Trust me, Luisa. If I had a poison, it would be you. Since I can’t seem to help myself from drowning in it.” I pause as I watch her take a smaller sip this time, her eyes never leaving mine. “Very well. I’ll save you the sob story and get to the point. My father and I have never gotten along. A few years back, afterI made my money on my own, a true thorn in my father’s side, by the way, he bet he could acquire a company quicker and more efficiently than I could.”
“You said this story would be quick, but all I’m hearing is that you have daddy issues. If the next sentence out of your mouth is close to ‘I’m self-made, but I took a one-million-dollar loan from my dad to do it,’ I’m out of here.”
“Retract your claws unless you plan on leaving marks down my back, Luisa.” Her jaw drops slightly, and I take it as my cue to continue. “I was foolish, and in my haste, I didn’t do my due diligence. What I put up for the bet wasn’t mine to give. And to ensure my father wouldn’t play dirty, I made sure to move that asset into my grandfather’s name, another man I no longer had a relationship with, although he seemed like the lesser evil at the time. Needless to say, I had no idea my father was sleeping with the wife of the CEO of the very company we were vying for and therefore had insider information. The asset has remained in my grandfather’s name since then. Once he passed, I went to the reading of his will to see if he would give it back. First, he gave me this team, which I had no interest in keeping and was planning on immediately selling off to whoever wanted to bore themselves with this sport. But then the asset was offered back, but only as long as I accomplished at least one of the two proposed terms.”
She waves me on. “Well, what are they?”
“One, I keep the team and lead them to a World Series game in their first season. They didn’t have to win the World Series, just make it. Something they would have accomplished had they won tonight.”
I can see the wheels start turning in her pretty little head, and I know she’s connecting the dots as to why I was so furious earlier.
Not my brightest moment, but we all have flaws, don’t we?
“This team can’t be over.” She stands abruptly, not bothering to step back and leave appropriate space between us. “This is my first season as a general manager. Hell, I’m the first woman general manager ever. If this team goes down the drain, so does my career.” She digs her hands into the tight bun on her head, and my hand twitches to let her hair down once and for all. “It’ll fuck my career and that of any other woman who’s working her ass off to get a respectable position in the sports industry. Me going down is a clear message that I’ve failed and that there is no space for women in professional sports.” She shakes her head, her spine straightening, resolve in her voice. “No. Not an option. What was the second term?”
Well, this one’s the real kicker.
“I get married.”
“Excuse me?”
“For a year, I have to be a married man. With no public scandals and no claims of infidelity made against me.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Perfect. Call up one of your brainless bimbos and give them an offer they can’t refuse. Have them sign an NDA, and you’re golden.”
I take a sip of my drink as she starts to pace back and forth. “You see, that’s where things get dicey. Because I thought about it immediately after I heard the will. But I’m not allowed to get any prenuptial agreements. Meaning, that once our one year is up, if my dashing bride decided to take half of my entire net worth, she’d be well within her rights to do so. And I’m sorry to say that I’m not keen on giving away five billion dollars to a, what did you call it? Ah, yes, brainless bimbo.”
Her eyes widen. “You’re worth five billion dollars?”
“No, that’s the half I’d have to part with. Please keep up, sweetheart.”
Her mouth snaps shut as her mind spins, her eyes looking like the slot machines in Vegas, spinning to land on the winning solution.
She goes rigid, and for a moment, I worry that she’s going to pass out.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I’ll do it.”
“And what exactly are you offering to do, Luisa? You don’t leave a man with a mind like mine to go off and assume.”
She comes to stand in front of me, face stoic as she says, “I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, that five billion sounded nice enough to sweeten the deal, I bet.”
She scoffs. “Is it a stupid amount of money? Yes. Should there even be a singular human walking around the Earth with that kind of cash at their disposal? No. But that’s not what I’m after.” She takes a step closer, and I drop my arms. “This might look a little different from your point of view with all the zeros in your bank account, but I am self-made too. I have worked tirelessly to carve a path not only for myself, but for the women coming up behind me. So believe me when I say I’ll marry you, and when the clock runs out on our sham marriage, I’ll happily walk away without a cent of your money, because I’d get to keep what I brought into it.”
“Hmm, and what’s that?”
“My integrity.”
Silence.
We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity.
