Chapter 7 The Proposal

• JAVIER
• My name is Javier Gonzalez.
• And I’m addicted to power, money, and sex.
• The latter is what got me into trouble.
• My weakness was used against me.
• Like any guy I love sex and like many women, my Isabella used it as a powerful tool. Women knew better than men just how the act of coitus could be used to wrap a man around your little finger and bring him to his knees, and the pitiful fool would happily lap up whatever crumbs she felt generous enough to throw at him.
• It all started with Adam in the Garden of Eden and carried on from generation to generation, From presidents to men of the cloth, CEOs to celebrities, all men great and small. Sex was a weakness that even the most powerful men hadn’t been able to resist. She would be so skilled and knew her way around a man’s anatomy like the back of her hand. When she knew how to pleasure him until he spoke another language...until he could barely think…that all he could think about was possessing her-burying himself inside her-taking her…owning her…and getting lost in her warmth and softness...
• He was gone.
• That’s when she knew she had you right where she wanted you. You were desahuciado. Esta perdido. A goner.
• She owned you no matter what lies you told yourself and everybody else. She had you by the cojones.
• You belonged to her. Mind, body, and soul. And bank account. Your money became her money and you'd spend it all to put a smile on her vindictive face.
• No matter what she did to you, you would take it. Turn a blind eye, make excuses for her irrational behavior… block it out, throw money at it if you had to. You would do and say anything just to keep her. You’d do just about anything not to lose her.
• Isabelle possessed the skills of a professional hooker. Her extensive knowledge and experience on how to invoke desire in a man, which buttons to press and drive him mad with lust surpassed that of a commercial sex worker in Thailand. If you want to know how I know let’s just say I have enough experience to comment on the subject.
• She knew that I was powerless when it came to her. She’d turned me into lunático. There was nothing I could deny her, I gave her everything she wanted, and even what she didn’t want. I gave her my all to her. Whatever I owned was hers, including my heart and soul, and she knew it and wielded it as a weapon.
• After six months of dating, I proposed. Truthfully, she bought the ring, presented it to me and practically strong-armed me to go on one knee. This is how it went, you can make your own conclusions, yes?
• One fateful day, she put on the most alluring perfume, barely there lingerie that left nothing to the imagination, and waited for me to come home from work. That alone, was enough of a distraction. I couldn’t think straight when I saw her creamy, satin flesh begging for my touch. She already had me eating out of her hand before she presented her case.
• “Darling...mon amour,” she purred. “I’ve missed you all day…” she kissed me passionately as she began to strip me of my clothes as well as my dignity. Then she was on me and I was in her and an earthquake wouldn’t have stopped me.
• In the heat of the moment, just as my eyes were rolling into the back of my head and she was riding me like a stallion, she whispered, flashing a huge diamond ring in my face. “I got a ring,” she purred. “Is there something you want to ask me, darling?”
• Need I say more?
• Didn’t think so.
• Somehow, it all went to hell from there.
• I don’t know how long she was sleeping with my brother behind my back. It must have been months.
• I came home early one day, and there they were, on our bed, going at it like rabbits. Coincidentally, she had told me it was that time of the month all week and I believed her.
• More the fool me.
• To her credit, she said she only did it for purely reproductive purposes, after my family told her my seed was as good as water, while my brother’s was the one that would keep the family name going.
• "I want a baby, Javier!!" She wailed. "You have denied me the one thing that I really want only to find out from your brother that you had a vasectomy!"
• "Well, he lied!" But that was irrelevant. The damage was done and she should have known better. "Why didn't you ask me instead of going behind my back?! Why did you have to use trickery to have children when I told you I never wanted children!" Well, at least there was one thing I didn't give her and it felt like my saving grace.
• "And what was the reason?!" She threw a hairbrush at me and I ducked. "It made sense when your brother told me the truth. You were never going to give me a baby!"
• "And you thought it would be better to connive with my family?!"
• "They did it for the family's honor!"
• To avoid embarrassment, my mother, father, and brother took it upon themselves to enlighten the love of my life, that all her efforts of snagging me would be futile if she couldn’t produce an heir. Since she had their blessing, they collectively plotted and schemed behind my back, and before long, a miracle happened.
• She was pregnant.
• I never questioned how it happened-I was so overwhelmed with joy. Although the doctor told me I had a low sperm count and told me the chances of me impregnating anyone were next to nothing. I thought we had somehow overcome the odds.
• The truth came out on a fateful day when I caught my brother riding my fiancée like a limited edition Harley Davidson, and he dared to throw it in my face. That’s when I re-arranged his.
• “You told us that you had a vasectomy!" He defended. Well, I lied, to get them off my back. "I was doing you a favor!” he sneered as he staggered out of my bedroom, nursing his broken nose. “You were going to bring shame to the family name!”
• As if what he did wasn’t disgraceful. Let’s just say I helped him hurry down the stairs quicker.
• Which brings us back here.
• I asked Rayne to marry me because the wedding was supposed to happen this weekend, you see. I needed it to go on as planned-I would not suffer or go through this humiliation.
• Rechazado.
• I refused.
• I could not stand the stares of pity. The press gloated every opportunity they got. That Delilah and my brother got their happy ending. I would not allow it.
• I was Javier Gonzalez! ¡Maldito sea!
• Rayne was innocent in all of this, of course, but she was exactly what I needed. She was at the right place at the right time. She was like an answered prayer and I would reward her very generously for her efforts. I would make it my life’s mission she never lived in poverty or lack another day of her life as long as I was alive. That was my promise to her, one I intended to keep.
• “You want to marry me for revenge??!” She blinked in bewilderment. "Are you crazy??"
• “It’s a good enough reason. no?”
• ’You’re unbelievable!”
• I really didn’t want to go this route but she left me with no choice. “Listen, mi pequeña, it’s the only way,” I urged. “It will work to our advantage. Especially for you.”
• “Me?!”
• “Yes,” I said. “No judge is going to grant you custody of a minor when you don’t have a leg to stand on.”
• “That’s why I asked you to buy me a house-”
• “But you have no job, querida. No form of income,” I pressed my case. “How are you ever going to survive? How will you take care of both you and your sister? Even more, you’re going back to college?” I was tearing down her defenses. Attacking all her weak points. I’m el malvado. Evil incarnate. I know. "You're barely scraping by with your scholarship and working two jobs at a diner and the library."
• “I will find a better job-”
• “But who will stay home with your sister, hmm?”
• “I’ll work something out-”
• “You can’t possibly tell that to the judge, sweetheart,” I lifted my hand and laid it against her cheek. “But if you were my wife-with my influence, my name, and the power associated with it, standing behind you, no judge would dare refuse you. We would have a strong case don’t you see, Rayne? Let me help you?” Most women would have jumped at this opportunity. But then again Rayne Stevens wasn’t most women. She asked for a burger and milkshake when she could have had caviar and champagne.
• “I don’t know…” She knitted her brows and chewed her lip. “You’re really making this hard.”
• “Let me make it easy?” Cupping her face, I kissed her until she was breathless. “Say yes,” I coerced in between kisses. “You will be free to have your own life. I won’t even look at another woman. I will be good to you, Rayne Stevens. I swear it on my life.” I continued to rain kisses on Rayne, tearing down her defenses. “Please. mi amor. Do it for your sister…” I could already smell the victory. This was going to be a home run.
• “Okay...okay…” she acquiesced reluctantly. “I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”
• “Perfect.” My smile was victorious. “You won’t regret this.”
• “Oh, I think I already do…” She pinched her nose and groaned. “What am I doing?”
• “Let’s celebrate, yes?” I smiled and told the steward to bring a bottle of champagne and hoped this celebration wasn’t being done prematurely.
• There was a chance that she could change her mind. There was no way I was going to let that happen.