My Secretive Fragile Wife

Chapter 4 A Marriage Only in Name

Though it was a question, it was obvious that Dylan wouldn't take no for an answer.

Emily nodded. He obviously had something to say to her.

Well, so did she.

Mason shot Emily a warning look and said, "You'd better control yourself."

He didn't want Emily to offend Dylan before even marrying him. Judging from Dylan's iciness, he wasn't satisfied with Emily, but for Mason, being able to latch onto the Clay family would definitely help with his business.

There was no way he'd want Emily to ruin this marriage.

Emily pretended not to catch his look and followed Jacob out.

She knew exactly what Mason was up to. How could he be so confident that she'd help him after marrying Dylan?

Did he think that she would, just because he was her father?

Had he ever thought of her as his daughter? Did he even know what she'd been through for the past 8 years?

As Emily's thoughts drifted, she suddenly ran into something hard. Snapping out of her reverie, she raised her head and found herself face to face with Dylan's chest. He was looking down at her.

As expected, he could stand.

In other words, she'd guessed correctly.

Emily's hair stood on end at his stare. She forced herself to stay calm as she looked up at him. "You were pretending to be lame, weren't you?"

Dylan narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly displeased at someone seeing through his disguise. He said, "Why do you want to marry me despite knowing that I'm lame? What is it about me that you want? My riches?"

Emily felt like an icy fist was clenching around her heart, to the point that she was finding it hard to breathe. However, she still pretended to be calm and said, "Mr. Clay, this marriage was agreed upon when I was 2 years old. Could I have known what riches were at such a young age and forced our mothers to agree to this?"

She paused, then continued, "You were 10 when I was 2, right? That makes you 8 years older than me. It's not like I'm complaining about you being old."

Dylan couldn't help sneering to himself. Not only was she good with her words, she even had a sharp wit and tongue!

...

Him, old?

The atmosphere was tense.

Dylan and Emily's gazes met, but neither of them was willing to back down.

Emily's hands slowly balled into fists. Her only purpose for marrying Dylan was so that Mason would keep up his end of the bargain and return all of Ellen's belongings to them.

She didn't want to make an enemy out of Dylan. She softened her tone and said, "Mr. Clay, I know you don't want to marry me. Look, we don't have to do things this way."

She deliberately stopped to look at his expression. It was subtle, but she still managed to catch it.

"Let's make a deal, Mr. Clay," Emily said. It wasn't as if she really wanted to marry him. All she wanted was to come back here so that she could get back everything that belonged to her and Ellen.

Dylan chuckled, seemingly amused. Did she want to make a deal with him? How ludicrous.

Emily gulped, so nervous that she broke out into a cold sweat. Dylan was very tall and she had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. "I know that you were pretending to be lame so that the Davis family would call this whole thing off, but I have my reasons for agreeing to this."

This piqued Dylan's interest.

"What do you want?" Since this was a deal, there had to be certain conditions.

"I need a month. We just need to be married for a month, then we can get divorced." A month was enough for her to get everything back. After that, they could get divorced.

Dylan frowned. "That's the deal that you want?"

"Yes, we have to get married. Out of respect for our mothers, neither of us can break a promise that they made, but it's only natural for us to get divorced after realising that we're incompatible with each other. That way, we won't be breaking any promises. At the same time, you don't have to spend the rest of your life with someone that you don't love. You don't have anything to lose."

At this point, Emily slowed down a little. "I would think that you have someone you love, don't you? That's why you're doing all of this to make the Davis family call off this engagement."

Dylan's face suddenly darkened, and he said angrily, "You're unexpectedly clever."

Yes, he wanted to take responsibility for Brianna. Her awkwardness and toleration from that night had moved him.

Dylan's gaze fell on Emily. He saw through her calm act immediately. "And what's in it for you?"

He didn't think that she'd only have his interests in mind.

Emily's heart jolted. She couldn't possibly tell him it was for her mother's belongings.

However, he wouldn't believe her if she didn't give him a reason.

"My mother values this engagement very much, and she's not in the best of health. I don't want to let her down." As Emily spoke, her eyes darted around because she was lying. Ellen didn't want her to go near the Clay family at all.

For some reason, Dylan's tone became eerily threatening. He seemed to be seeing right through her. "Is that so?"

Emily felt like his gaze was as sharp as a laser. She was just about to break down when his phone rang.

Dylan glanced at her and took out his phone. His gaze softened when he saw who was calling and turned to answer the phone. Before that, something seemed to occur to him and he turned back around. "Since it's only for a month, there's no need for us to have a ceremony."

Emily had no choice but to agree. "Okay."

On the 12th of August, Jacob came to pick her up.

They didn't have a wedding or a ceremony. All they did was get their marriage registered.

Emily wasn't too affected by this because she knew that this was merely a deal.

If not for their mothers' promise, they probably wouldn't even have anything to do with each other.

Soon, they arrived at a villa.

Under the sun, the huge stone building seemed domineering.

"Go on in." Jacob gestured for her to enter the villa.

He wasn't enthusiastic nor sycophantic, merely professional and business-like. He probably knew that she and Dylan were only getting married as part of a deal.

She wasn't truly Dylan's wife.

Although the villa was huge, there was only one servant inside. Jacob didn't even introduce them. He left after leading her into the villa.

Emily felt a little uncomfortable.

"This is the Young Master's room. I'm Aunt Layla, and I'm in charge of taking care of him. You can call me that, too." Aunt Layla said as she led Emily to the bedroom. "Just let me know if you need anything."

A month wasn't a long time, and Emily had brought her own necessities. Though she probably wouldn't need to ask Aunt Layla for anything, she still thanked her.

Aunt Layla opened the bedroom door and turned to look at Emily. She seemed to have something to say but merely sighed. "Young Master might not be back tonight. It's Miss Rose's birthday today."

Though they hadn't had a wedding, Emily was still Dylan's wife in name. This was their wedding night, yet Dylan was spending it with some other woman. Aunt Layla felt sorry for Emily. If things were like this on her first day as Dylan's wife, wouldn't things only get worse from now on?