My Billionaire Husband

That evening, Tristan got back earlier than usual while Kate was watching TV in the living room.

The fat cat was leaning against her, and when it heard the sound, it jumped down from the couch and ran to meet him with its fat body shaking.

Laura also walked out of the kitchen to ask if he had already had dinner or if he needed dessert.

Tristan declined.

He walked to the couch and sat down. On the TV screen, there was an endless prairie, and a flock of baboons was moving around. He smiled and asked, "You liked this program?"

Kate didn't look at him but just nodded.

Tristan didn't mind her ignoring him or perhaps had gotten used to her way. He loosened his tie and lay back on the couch. Then he found the person beside him was sitting in a strange position, with her back up straight and her hands on the l.a.p, like a student who was punished by a teacher.

He suddenly became curious about what kind of environment she grew up in.

Laura brought a pot of tea and teacups. She poured a cup for Tristan, and then she was dismissed to get some rest.

So the living room was left to two people, a cat and a flock of baboons.

The cat was trying to jump up on the couch but failed a couple of times. Kate reached her hands out to help it, and Tristan disapproved. "You should let it try by itself. You see how fat it is now."

"It was what you did to make it how fat it was now," Kate protested inside.

The cat sniffed between the two people and finally made up its mind and rested its big head on Lucy's l.a.p.

Looking at the cat's bottom facing him and the complacent long tail swaying in front of him, Tristan was a little jealous.

"Ha. It seems you are liked by animals."

"Indeed, I am."

Kate squinted at Tristan and scanned him. He was drinking tea and seemed not to realize the deeper meaning of her words.

Tristan swallowed the tea and ignored her implication.

As if the cat heard what they said, it turned its head to him and started to scratch him on the crotch.

"Stop it, Lucy."

Tristan pulled away from its claws. The cat had become active lately, which was quite annoying.

His eyes happened to meet Kate's surprised or shocked eyes. He reacted and explained naturally, "Its name is Lucy. Do you know the Lucy of Peanuts? Charlie Brown, Snoopy?"

Kate nodded, but she didn't know what relation the cat had with that cartoon character.

Lucy squinted and licked her claws. Either she didn't know her cartoon counterpart, or she didn't think that it deserved to have the same name as her.

But Tristan sank into meditation because of what he said. When he brought her home, she had said it reminded her of Lucy of Peanuts. He didn't see any resemblance between the two, but he said then why not just called it Lucy.

The memory was buried for a long time and what was sweet only brought him a bitter feeling when recalled of it. Lucy and the person are sitting beside him now, what a coincidence!

Kate didn't know what Tristan was thinking. She was focusing on the TV, but then the scene shocked her: A male baboon walked to the back of a female baboon and started the activity of creating their offspring in public…She turned off the TV immediately.

It was the third day she had been here. Except for the first night when he had performed that morbid examination of her body, Tristan didn't do anything too much. He only sometimes put his hand on her waist. She didn't want the baboons to give him any ideas.

She stole a look at Tristan and found him tilting his head, rubbing his temples with his fingers, and seeming not to detect her action. It was lucky.

After a while, Kate asked, "Where is the phone?"

He looked over and pretended not to understand her. "Which phone?"

Kate bit her lips. "My cell phone."

"Oh, I threw that away."

How could he throw away something of significance to her?

"Where did you throw it?"

"You could try looking for it in the sea. Maybe you can find it."

Kate could not hold her temper back and raised her voice.

"How could you do that?"

Kate regretted that she put her SIM card in the phone and hadn't kept it hidden. It was Jimmy's phone. Even if she could not return it to him, she still wanted to keep it. But Tristan threw it away!

Kate couldn't make sense of this person, and she was no match for him in a fight. She could only avoid seeing him, so she stood up.

"Wait a minute. Come with me to the study." Tristan stood up and walked upstairs ahead of her.

***

The study wasn't locked, but Kate had not been into it.

She scanned the room. There was a huge bookshelf covering a whole side of the wall from the floor to the ceiling, which gave the room a magnificent feeling.

As with other things in this house, nothing was special, a grand dark desk, a set of leather couches, and a half person height plant with profuse leaves.

Tristan pointed at the couch and said, "Sit."

And then he took out a doc.u.ment and said, "Sign this."

Kate was startled. "What is this?"

He didn't say but motioned her to read it herself.

Kate opened it and read just a few lines and couldn't suppress her feeling. It was an employment contract by form, but it was, in fact, a sales agreement, and she was the commodity.

She was astonished that this ugly and shady relationship could be put down in black and white with a marked price.

And to top everything, the term was three years!

She could not sit still there.

Tristan sat lazily onto another couch and looked at her reaction.

"Can I refuse?" Kate asked.

"No." He said this with a straight face but added casually, "Three years. You not only can pay the debts but also earn a large sum. It is worth your while."

Kate scowled, "I cannot sign this."

Tristan squinted and said, "Why not?"

"This is selling my body."

"You have already sold it."

This made Kate speechless.

"You can have what you want if you sign the contract. Do you want to sacrifice it for free?"

His tone carried sarcasm. And then he turned serious.

"Don't talk about fairness with me. It doesn't exist in my dictionary. It is trade. We each get what we need. Even if you don't sign, nothing will be changed. You will get what you deserve, no more, no less."

"Then why bother to sign?" Kate said.

"Because I want you to."

Tristan paused a little and added, "This will make you realize your identity and avoid doing something unbecoming, which could lead to an unnecessary loss."

And then he put the pen into her hand and grabbed it tightly.

Kate still could not sign her name.

She had accepted the relations they had now, but to sign it on paper, it was different. This n.a.k.e.d trade of money and fresh, she could not accept it. And for three years!

3 years…

Tristan didn't press her anymore. He stroked her hand and talked casually, "Well, I heard from Ed that he saw your brother at LACC today."

Kate, startled, raised her head and said with fresh horror, "What did you do to him?"

He patted the back of her hand and said, "Don't get nervous. Ed just dropped by to see his girlfriend. He met your brother and said hello to him."

But he turned his tone. "What a coincidence. The campus was quite big. It was amazing that he met Max, wasn't it?"

Kate knew he was threatening her.

She ground her teeth and signed her name. Her trembling hand revealed her feelings in the signature.

Tristan took the pen and paper from her and signed his name in a bold scrawl.

Looking at the two signatures on the paper, Kate was in a trance. She was bound with this person who popped up in her life and would have to share three years of her life with him. It was unbearable even just to imagine it.

She felt her heart was dead. "Can I go out now?"

Tristan nodded.

When she reached the door, she heard him say, "Well, if nothing special happens, you will live here all the time. And you can tell Laura if you need anything."

"Or me." He added.

Kate's hand was on the handle of the door, and she made a hardly audible sound as a reply and walked out.

When she saw the fat cat again, she squatted down and asked, "Are you with them?"

Lucy meowed as a reply and wanted to climb to Kate's arms, but she dodged it and declared to the cat, "I hate you. And I hate your name!"

In his study, Tristan was still sitting on the couch. He looked at the paper and took out a cell phone from his pocket. Red…He frowned. Ed had bought it. What a waste. Obviously, white is more suitable for the girl.

It contained the SIM card that had been switched from the other cell phone.

Five missed calls…all from the same person.

Tristan said the name in his heart.

Jimmy.

Jimmy.