Chapter 2 The Strangers Demand

Evelyn's POV. 

Our finances didn't just fall apart. Dad invested everything in a fake company, took loans we couldn't repay, and left me standing here as collateral.

“Please sit, Miss Voss,” he offered.

“I'm Attorney Andrew Max,” he introduced. 

“Go through it. Ask questions if you need to,” he said, slipping a document to me 

I didn't move, not until the papers touched my knuckles. I glanced over at the papers, and a scoff escaped my lips. I lifted my eyes, tried to speak, but no words came. 

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath before responding to him. “Can you please explain this? Why must I get married to the stranger in this contract?” 

The attorney's gaze darkened. “You want to save your family? Then you have to agree to a marriage with my client.” 

“And who the hell is your client?” I shot back. 

“You’ll find out when you sign the contract. His name was mentioned at the end of the contract. That’s enough,” he said clearly. 

Adrian Kane. My supposed husband. 

What kind of man wouldn't even show up here to ask a lady to marry him? 

Marriage needs a lot of deliberation. Dates, outings, kisses, and a lot of other things that should come before walking down the aisle, but here they want me to marry a stranger by just signing a mere piece of paperwork. 

“Look, I can't do this. My father told me I had to see you, but I wasn't expecting you to propose marriage like it's something trivial,” I said, clenching my jaw. 

“Your father agreed to this,” Andrew uttered. 

My brows shot up. I flipped the papers, but couldn’t find anything. 

“And I don't agree to whatever this is,” I said sharply, standing up from my seat. “I'm not getting married. Period!” 

“We will find another way to solve our problems. Thanks for your time,” I added, and turned to leave, but his voice made me halt mid-steps. 

“If you don't…” he paused, his voice menacingly dangerous. “...then your sister will” 

I snapped my gaze back to him, my eyes narrowed, my chest tightened. 

What sort of a prank is this? 

I took two steps back and placed my hands on the table, then looked him straight in the eye. 

“Mr. Attorney.”

“I just said we won't be needing your help and that of your client's anymore, thank you,” I spat each word with gritted teeth. 

He chuckled, making me blink as nothing was funny at the moment. 

“You don't have a choice, it's already been decided,” he said. 

He picked the papers, flipping through pages until he found what he was looking for. 

The page with my Dad's seal on it. My legs buckled, but I’d checked them before… and there was nothing. 

Now… where did this come from?

Dad really gave one of us out for marriage. 

“Im…Impossible!”  I muttered in disbelief

The attorney's voice rose again. “All we need is the bride's signature, and it does not matter who it is. You or Eva. The choice is yours.” 

My body shook with terror. These people have us at the tip of their fingers. 

“My phone,” I searched my body, then it dawned on me that I had left the house in such a hurry that I didn’t take anything else aside from the wallet in my pocket. 

I needed to call Dad because he needs to provide a solution to this drama. Anything apart from this marriage. 

The attorney spoke again, as if he could read what was on my mind. “You don't have an option, Miss Voss. Your father also thought this through before he agreed to marry you or your sister off.” 

I could decide not to marry this unknown man, but… Eva would be forced to get married instead. I couldn't allow that. 

With a deep breath, I took my seat in front of the attorney. 

I picked the papers up and checked through them again, listening as he explained. 

“This union is simple, Miss Voss.” He said. “You live with my client, show up as his wife, and he cleans your family's mess.” 

“There's no hidden contract attached, so read through and sign,” he said. 

At the moment, I had no options. If I don't sign, then in two days, news of our family's crashing name will fill the media. 

“I'll sign,” I blurted. 

He handed a pen over to me, and without hesitation, I signed the papers. 

My hand trembled as I passed the papers back to him because it felt like I'd just signed my life away. 

“We'll update Mr. Voss, Miss Evelyn,” he said. “I'll let him know what my client wants to do next.” 

Then the meeting ended. 

I was taken back home by the same car that had brought me. 

Back home, only Dad was in the sitting room, seated on one of the tagged sofas. 

“I heard you signed,” he said. 

There's no point in fighting him, no point in asking him obvious questions. 

He did it because he had to. That was the only option he could find. 

“Yes, I signed,” I replied. 

Dad stood up, his frame towering over me. “I just got a call from Andrew. You need to pack your things now.”  

My throat went dry. “Pack my things? And go where?” I asked with widened eyes

“To your husband's house, Evelyn,” he said calmly. 

“We are not even married yet!”  

His dangerous gaze landed on me, and he sighed. 

“If that's how Adrian Kane says it's done, then that's how it's done.”