*DWAYNE'S POV*
"Look here ladies, I don't know who you think you are but you cannot come to my office and begin to make outrageous demands,"Dwayne said. "I have had too many people come here and make false claims in attempts to ruin my life and career." He seemed visibly shaken up.
"But this is not an outrageous demand. It's right here on paper. Grow up, Dwayne. Mistakes happen and as adults we have to learn to be accountable for our actions." Marietta told him with a motherly tone in her voice.
Dwayne sighed and turned his back to them, facing the window that overlooked the busy streets of Washington, "I will need to discuss this with my team. We will get back to you." He said, bringing the meeting to an abrupt end.
On the drive back home, Dwayne could barely keep his focus. He could not help but feel as though this was just a plot to tie him down. He had had problematic relationships with women and so his heart was completely shut off from trusting anyone.
His mind flashed back to his last relationship, which was three years ago, that ended drastically when he caught his ex-fiancé, Petra McKay, cheating on him with his biggest rival, Damon Malloy. That was the height of betrayal for him.
He remembered how hurt and broken he felt inside. From then, he made a vow to himself to never trust anyone fully and since then, he had become a notorious playboy.
He snapped out of his deep thoughts and pulled out his phone and scrolled on his contact list before clicking on his secretary's number and calling it.
On the other end, his secretary's voice chirped cheerfully into his ear, "Hello, Mr Stryker! Did you forget something at the office?"
"Hi Juliette. I did not forget anything in the office. I need you to schedule a meeting with the press and publicity team." Jordan said with eerie calmness, rubbing his temples with his hands in an effort to calm the headache that threatened to split his head in two.
There was a brief pause —she was checking his schedule for tomorrow— and then she said, "But you have an important meeting with the head of Omega Airlines tomorrow. Should I postpone it?"
"The meeting with the publicity team is more important right now. Just reschedule the Omega meeting to next week." He suggested.
"Okay, Mr Stryker. I've set up a meeting with the publicity team for twelve pm tomorrow. Is there anything else, boss?" She inquired.
"That will be all, Juliette. Thank you." He said dryly and hung up the phone.
For the rest of the ride, he shut his eyes and tried to sleep. When he got home, he soaked in a warm bath and went about his night routine as usual.
The next day, he got to the office before the meeting time and tried to get some work done.
Once it was meeting time, he headed to the board room where the publicity team was already waiting for him. Greetings were exchanged and he sat down.
"So I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I might have gotten a woman pregnant…" He explained how everything had happened and asked what could be done to salvage the situation.
"…I don't want to seem like an irresponsible person and have a child out of wedlock." He closed his explanation.
Dwayne and his team brainstormed for almost four hours and finally concluded on a plan that was both fool-proof and served the interests of the parties involved.
He really did not want to go through with the plan but it was the only way forward that did not involve his image being tarnished.
After the meeting, Dwayne had his secretary reach out to Jennifer and ask that she came to the head office the next day. Almost as if time flew by, the next day was here.
Jennie and her mother went to the head office without Hope this time because she had to go to work. As soon as they got to Jordan's office, he sat them down and hit them with the news.
"A contract marriage?! What in the world is that? And why would I even marry somebody I don't like?" Jennie sounded so outraged.
"That is the only way I'm going to accept this pregnancy. And to keep the circumstances of this pregnancy away from the public eye, this is what we have to do." Dwayne explained.
He began to explain the conditions that came with the contract, "You will be allowed to date after the birth of our child, secretly of course. We don't want people to think that my "wife" is sleeping around, do we?" He asked mockingly.
He continued, "We will be having our fake marriage ceremony two weeks from now, before you start showing heavily. The contract is going to last six years, after which we will have a fake divorce. We will share custody of our child. If you have any questions, a copy of the contract will be sent to you via email." He wrapped up his explanation.
"I'm guessing we will have to live together too." Jennie sounded downcast.
"You guessed right, Jennifer." He said as he stood from his chair and began to pace around the room. "We will have to live together and you cannot break any of the contract terms, if not, you'll pay a very heavy fine and we all know you don't have that kind of money."
She shot him a look of disgust, "You have no right to talk to me like that. I am so sick of you." She spat out.
"Well, hold on tight because you are stuck with me for the next 6 years. The contract will be sent to your email. Go home and start preparing to move in with me, wife." He said smugly.
Jennifer humphed at him and walked out of the office, hand in hand with her mother.
That night, news of Dwayne Stryker's sudden wedding began to spread like wildfire. All the tabloids and blogs were all over the story like ants on sugar.
Everyone wondered why he was getting married so soon and who the mystery bride was.
************
Meanwhile, in a perfectly furnished condo in Bellevue, Petra McKay was soaking in her evening bath when her phone pinged. She picked it up and her eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
She jumped up out of the bath, almost slipping on the bath bubbles, "Dwayne is getting married?!" She screamed.