Love Reduced to Zero, No Need to Meet Again novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Two Terms

Eli hands Cora a contract that gives her everything and sets two terms, while Porter's office tells the press she is on medical leave and her mother and sister arrive in the lobby with the cameras.

Eli Draper's office took up the whole top corner of the tower.

His assistant had already taken my team down to the ninth floor.

Nine empty benches were waiting there, with their names taped to the doors.

I hadn't given anyone those names.

"Sit," Eli said. "Please."

I stayed standing.

"You said yes to my conditions on the phone. I'd like them in writing."

"They're in writing."

He slid a folder across the desk.

The contract was twelve pages long.

The first page said that all work, notebooks and patents produced by Dr. Cora Fairbank belonged to Dr. Cora Fairbank.

Draper Biotech held a license to use them and nothing more.

I read the page twice.

"This is the kind of contract a lawyer hands a CEO to talk him out of," I said.

"My lawyer tried."

"Who drew it up?"

"I did. Five years ago." He tapped the corner of the page. "I only changed the date."

I looked at him.

He looked back, steady and unhurried, and I could not find the angle in it.

"Why?" I asked. "You've never met me."

"I read your first paper on nerve repair in my second year of rehab," he said.

"It was the only research that ever made me think I would walk."

That was all he said about it.

"And if I want to leave one day?" I asked.

"Then you leave with everything on the first page."

I sat down.

"There are two things I want from you in return," Eli said.

"Of course there are."

"The first is public, and you can refuse it."

He said it flatly, so I waited.

"Porter Ellsworth will tell Boston that his wife ran off to a rival's bed. He'll say it by dinner."

"I would like you to be seen at two of his family's events, on my arm, before he can make it stick."

"Two events," I said. "On your arm."

"In public only. In private I won't touch you, and you won't owe me anything."

"That's the least romantic offer I've ever had."

"It's the safest one."

For a second I almost laughed. It was the first time in a day.

"And the second?"

"Neither of us asks about the past. Not my accident, not my family's deal with yours, not your marriage."

"Not unless you decide to."

I thought about my marriage, and I thought about the deal.

I had no wish to talk about either.

"Fine," I said. "That suits me."

I took the pen off his desk and signed every page.

When I looked up he was looking at my left hand.

The skin on my ring finger was still pale where the band had been.

"What?"

"Nothing." He cleared his throat. "Would you like coffee?"

"No coffee," I said. "Water, if you have it."

He poured it himself.

My phone buzzed on his desk.

It was my lawyer. The papers had been delivered to Ellsworth Capital at 11:52.

"They signed for it at the front desk," he said. "Mr. Ellsworth's secretary. She said he wasn't taking visitors."

"Good."

"And Cora. Have you seen the news?"

I hadn't.

Eli's assistant knocked and came in without waiting, carrying a tablet.

She turned it toward me.

The headline was from a business site I'd never read.

ELLSWORTH CEO'S WIFE ON MEDICAL LEAVE AFTER "EXHAUSTION."

Under it was a statement in Porter's name.

It said his wife, Dr. Cora Ellsworth, had been under unbearable pressure and was resting at home.

The family asked for privacy and prayers.

There was a photo of us from our wedding.

I read it all the way to the end.

"Prayers," I said.

"He's moving fast," Eli said.

"He's telling everyone I've lost my mind. That way nothing I say about him counts."

My hands were cold, so I put them flat on the desk.

"I could answer it," I said. "I have screenshots."

"You'll answer it," Eli said. "But you'll pick the room."

"Why?"

"Because he's picked the story, and you're about to pick the stage. It's better if the audience is already sitting down."

I looked at him for a long moment.

I did not like how much I agreed.

The assistant cleared her throat.

"Mr. Draper, there's something else. The press is in the lobby."

"How many?"

"Four crews. They say Mr. Ellsworth's office sent them a tip."

"I want to see them," I said.

"There's more," the assistant said. She hesitated.

"Two women are with them. They say they're Dr. Fairbank's family."

I stood.

"My mother," I said. "And my sister."

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