Rachel leaned back in her seat, her fingers circling the edge of her glass wine as she looked Nicholas dead in the eye.
"There's a man in my life," she repeated her words, letting the words hang in the air.
Nicholas's expression shifted, his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. The confident smirk he had on his face since her arrival, changed just for a second. He set his own wine glass down quietly.
"A man," he repeated her words, the words tasting bitter on his tongue.
Rachel couldn't miss the way his shoulders stiffened or how his gaze sharpened with suspicion. She slowly brought her glass to her lips, sipping her wine, hiding her smirk behind the rim of her glass. She loved every second of discomfort she brought to him.
"Yes," she replied to him, as she set the glass down, "Someone who matters to me."
Nicholas clenched his hands under the table, he wanted to demand who the man was, how long she had been seeing him or what kind of relationship they had. But he said nothing.
Not giving her the satisfaction.
Rachel tilted her head slightly, her mind dancing with amusement.
She had struck a nerve and she knew it.
Nicholas finally let out air, sighing quietly, and forced his expression back into usual confident look, "Very well," he said quietly.
The waiter returned with the menu in his hand and a polite smile on his face, "May I take your order now?"
Rachel didn't hesitate. "Yes, I'll have the herb crusted sea bass with the truffle risotto, please," she said, closing the menu gently and handing it back.
The waiter nodded and turned to Nicholas, "And for you, sir?"
Nicholas raised one hand casually towards the waiter, his gaze still fixed on the glass before him, "I'm fine."
The waiter hesitated a moment and then gave a slight bow. "Very well. I'll bring your order shortly."
As he walked away, Rachel turned to Nicholas, lifting a brow, "Not eating?"
"I've had enough for tonight," Nicholas replies, his words laced with two meanings.
The waiter returned with Rachel's order almost immediately, carefully placing the dish in front of her. The aroma of the herb crusted sea bass and truffle risotto filled the air, making Nicholas almost wish he ordered one for himself.
Rachel thanked the waiter with a nod and began eating.
He couldn't take his eyes off her as she ate. He thought to himself, she looked like a queen eating at a royalty banquet.
She wasn't just eating, she was performing and she knew he was watching and she made sure he saw just how far she was, from that broken girl she used to be.
Nicholas cleared his throat, bringing his voice lower now, "Rachel….."
She didn't look up at him right away.
"There was something you said to me years ago," he continued, carefully watching her face, "At my wedding you mentioned…..you were pregnant."
Her fork paused mid air, anger filling her mind as she relieved that day in an instant.
He studied her reaction, looking for guilt or truth in her expression. "Were you for real or just another of your dramas to ruin the day?"
Rachel leaned back into her seat with an unreadable expression looking at Nicholas.
"I aborted the baby shortly after you humiliated me that day." she replied to him. her voice calm with forced sadness.
Nicholas blinked at the words. They landed heavier than she had expected it would.
Rachel saw the flicker of emotion cross his face. The shock first and then something she couldn't quite figure out. And just as it comes it leaves, Nicholas masking it quickly.
"It was the only choice I had," she added to her lie, "I was alone and ruined in the eyes of everyone who mattered to me and my display made sure of that."
Nicholas didn't respond immediately, his jaw tightened but he remained silent.
Rachel picked up her fork again. Not out of hunger, rather to put an end to the te sed moment.
"Let's not pretend to mourn something you didn't even believe in," she adds as she brings her fork with food to her mouth, "You've always been good at pretending, Nicholas, Let's keep it that way."
Rachel stabbed another piece of her food, her eyes never leaving Nicholas. She saw it all written on his face, the slight drop of his gaze, the tensed jaw, the way his fingers tightened around his glass.
That was pain, real pain and she loved how every word hurt him.
It was cruel or maybe even petty, but after everything he had put her through,
He deserved it. Every bit of it.
Yet as she watched him sit, drowned in his own silence. Her Guilt, sharp and sudden, pressed into her. She immediately looks away.
The bitter truth was that she didn't feel entirely proud of how good it felt to watch him suffer, when it was all a lie.
Rachel leaned back in her seat, her eyes now focusing on her almost finished food, "I have one non negotiable condition."
Nicholas arched a brow, straightening himself on his chair, motioning for her to go on.
She dropped her fork and folded her arms, "Our marriage or whatever this is, won't interfere with my current relationship with my boyfriend and If that is a problem, then the deal is off."
Nicholas's face darkens in anger as her words sink in, "You can't be serious," he said, keeping his voice low and calm.
Rachel met his glare with a shrug, lifting her refilled glass of wine to her lips, "I'm dead serious."
"You want to marry me and keep another man on the other side?" he asked, his jaw clenched.
"I want to marry you on my terms," she replies sharply, "You wanted a contract marriage and this is also part of my contract and If my relationship and intimacy with him are interrupted, I'll walk away."
Nicholas leaned back in his chair, anger in his eyes, but Rachel leaned in closer with a smirk on her face,
"What is your choice, Mr. Grey?"