My Contract Love Story

"Whatever I want to know about my parents I can find out myself" she retorted and he chuckled at her. He truly admired her courage and naivety, thinking she would be able to find out about her parents so easily.

"My dear..." he drawled, running his hands through her hair playfully.

"Be my guest. You would be dead at the first try. Your Aunty Smith knows this very well, your case is not as simple as you think it is" he continued. Her fiery gaze tugged at his heart string wildly, he liked her little acts of defiance even though she is a shivering leaf.

"I am the only one that can guarantee your safety. You can only walk naively around this world for long but they are lurking in the shadows, waiting for you.

Once you step out of your shell, trust me your head would be in your hands. But don't take it from me though, find out for yourself how long you can survive out there" he drawled, gesturing for her to leave.

Ashleigh was filled with fear at this point, she looked at Mr. Cagliari as he strolled to his office chair, signalling he was done with the conversation, his lawyer followed suit standing up to reach for the papers. She then looked at her aunt who looked slumped on the chair, as if admitting defeat. As the lawyer was about grabbing the last paper on the floor she quickly grasped his hand. Her other hand grabbed her light coloured uniform tightly in desperation as she looked straight at Mr Cagliari who was on the phone calling his secretary to come in and escort them out.

"Where do I need to sign?"

**********************************

TWO WEEKS AGO

"Boss, I have news about Ashleigh Hartman" Turner stood behind his boss, after ensuring the door was closed properly.

Adrian turned to face him, seeing as he came at this time of the night despite asking him to retire already it must be important. Adrian had asked Turner while he was in America to investigate more on Ashleigh's background and since then he had not heard anything about it.

"Sir we tried contacting the orphanage where she was raised in, and we got to know that the only information they had about her was given by the person who dropped her there" he reported, moving to give him the tablet where the details where held.

"The caretakers in charge said they had no idea of who the person was, as they were just employed seven years ago, the older caretakers have retired to live in the a hidden old age home funded by the organization funding the orphanage" Adrian scrolled through the information puzzled.

The orphanage should at least have information on the people who drop children in the orphanage home matter how small, the current people employed have only limited information about her while the ones who do have gone into retirement.

"We were able to cajole them to going through the old archives of information which they spent days doing until this past week where they found a DNA test result from their records..... Her ancestry is 95% Italian" he stated, making Adrian freeze for a moment. Looking at the test results he saw the words in bold: ITALIAN.

"Not only that sir, Her blood type has been tested to be one of the rarest types, but the records on her blood type has been stashed away by the senior caretaker. We made the journey to find the caretaker who had the blood type information and she told us the full story"

"She said they had met a man outside the orphanage home at the time who was severely injured, but clutching a baby wrapped in a shawl tightly, she was only a few days old. He refused in letting any of them touch the baby so they let him in to tend to his wounds, for the next few days they struggled communicating with him as he spoke only Italian but they were able to contact a translator. He said that his last mission was to ensure that the child was safe, he handed them over to them and told them to give her a name; only telling her date of birth. He told them not to tell a soul of the event of the days and then he left despite their pleading to stay a few more days. She said they later received news of his death" Adrian was deep in thought at this point, the identity of this Ashleigh seemed to be a bit troublesome.

"Did she tell you the name of the man?" He spoke up after a while.

"Lumiere was his name sir" he replied, leaving him deep in thought. He seemed to have heard of that name but recall when exactly. He needed to find out more about this name, and where her blood can be traced to. Reaching for his phone, he called his uncle.

"I'm sorry for calling this late but I'm working on something and I need to make some enquiries" he stated.

"No problem Adrian, what can I assist you with?"

"Have you heard of the name Lumiere?" his uncle remained silent for a while on the phone. Pulling himself together, he quickly asked.

"Why do you ask?" He questioned silently, his voice somewhat reluctant. Adrian's curiosity was heightened, his mind running in circles to try and put the pieces together.

"Son, Lumiere is the late steward of the Rossi family" his uncle mentioned and mind instantly clicked. He remembered he was five years old visiting his grandfather one Christmas when the news came of the murder of Lumiere, the head steward of the Rossi family. He recalled vividly as his grandfather shooed him away from the study to receive those guests but he still stubbornly placed his eyes through the peephole and listened closely.

"The story of the Rossi family was probably the most tragic one, they were one of the most affluent families in Italy until the only daughter fell in love with the son a mafia crew. This broke out a cold war between the two families and they were soon eliminated, leaving only Lumiere and the new-born with the mafia on their heels. It was later reported that the both were found and killed abroad. All this happened when you were still a child so you won't have any knowledge on this" he detailed, leaving Adrian speechless.

The Ashleigh Hartman, the girl in America currently cleaning a floor of his building maybe the heiress to the Rossi family that was declared dead for over twenty years now.

"What happened after that uncle?"

"Well, the Rossi family businesses and estate was been handed over to a management firm who they closely worked with and the deeds of ownership has been placed in their care. Her mafia father had tried claiming the business a few times under the rights of marriage but was unsuccessful at each attempt" he concluded, and Adrian thanked him and bade him goodnight. He then gave an order to his secretary to contact his private lawyer, as this matter will be taken carefully.

NOW

He currently sat facing Ashleigh as the lawyer read the terms of the marriage contract loudly: "This Marriage Contract (the "Agreement") is made and entered into as of the [Date] by and between [Mr. Adrian Cagliari] , the first party, and [Miss Ashleigh Hartman] the second party." "WHEREAS, the First Party desires to marry the Second Party, and the Second Party desires to marry the First Party; and WHEREAS, the parties desire to enter into a binding agreement to govern their marriage, including the terms of their financial arrangement and the division of their assets in the event of divorce" "NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants contained herein, the parties agree as follows:

1. Marriage: The parties agree to marry each other on xx day, xx month, xx year

2. Financial Arrangement. During the marriage, the parties shall maintain separate financial accounts and shall be solely responsible for their own debts and obligations. However, the first party has takes on complete responsibility of the following expenses: • Housing • Utilities • Food • Household expenses • Academic expenses • Childcare expenses (if applicable)

3.. Division of Assets. In the event of divorce, the parties agree to divide their assets as follows: • Each party shall retain all property that they owned prior to the marriage. • All property acquired during the marriage shall be divided equally between the parties.

4. Premarital Agreement. The parties acknowledge that they have entered into a "Premarital Agreement", which shall govern the division of their assets in the event of divorce. The parties agree that the terms of the Premarital Agreement shall supersede any conflicting terms of this Agreement.

5. Amendment. This agreement may be amended only by a writing signed by both parties.

6. Severability. This agreement will be deemed severable under the conditions of infidelity.

7. Entire Agreement. This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications, representations, or agreements, whether oral or written.

8. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state.

9. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the date first written above." [Signature] [Party 1 Name] [Signature] [Party 2 Name]

he finished, placing a pen in front of her. Ashleigh held the pen, looking at her aunt who nodded affirmatively and turned to examine Mr Cagliari who was watching her.

"You promise to tell me about my birth parents?" she asked once more, and he nodded calmly.

She then picked up the pen and signed on the dotted lines, handing over to her aunt to sign as well. The lawyer then passed the papers to Adrian who signed as well and he signed as a witness.

"So in the presence of both witnesses, I declare Ashleigh and Adrian Cagliari husband and wife. Congratulations to both of you" he announced as they all stood up and began shaking hands.

In all this Ashleigh stood helplessly, looking at her aunt who smiled at Adrian warmly like he isn't the bad guy here. She has finally given in and married this man so she can find out about her parents, it sounds somewhat pathetic that she has to sell her rights away to know who her father and mother is.

"Mrs. Cagliari" Adrian drawled, strolling lazily to stand by her side. He looked at her sad face and held her chin to face him.

"Call me Adrian" he whispered in a smoky tone, his eyes gripping her soul. Ashleigh had not imagined that she would ever stand at a 6 feet distance to this man, but she is now staring at this man up close. She pushed him away and stepped back, withe everything that happened in the past hour she needed time to let it soak in.

"If we are done here, I will be taking my leave" she put out, leaving the office immediately with a loud bang on the door.

Mrs Smith pleaded for Mr Cagliari not to be annoyed at her, he just laughed dismissingly.

"Aunt, there's no need to worry. Just inform Ashleigh that we will be going for the marriage certificate tomorrow morning and from there we will discuss living arrangements" she thanked him and turned to leave the office as well.

Adrian stood for a while staring at the door before returning to his work. Ashleigh went back to her assigned work space to continue from where she stopped. This time her break was over at this time but with what just happened, she had no appetite to eat. Grabbing the cleaning equipment from the store room, she trudged to the empty offices and began cleaning the offices.

She was angry, upset and had a million things on her mind so she chose to focus all that chaotic energy into her work, at least she will finish fast and be able to clock out earlier. She went about her work quietly; not noticing someone entering the office and walking up to her.