The Tie That Binds: A Marriage of Convenience Novel

The atmosphere is tense when we walk into the office the next morning. Linda, Luke and Jake are all staring at us looking either shocked or concerned. Daniel and I glance at each other, neither one of us sure what’s going on.

Luke suddenly jumps into action and walks towards Daniel, his hand curled into a fist. He swings and Daniel evades the hit easily. Luke is thin and puny compared to Daniel, so how he thought he’d get a hit in at all is beyond me. He grabs Luke’s wrist and twists it behind him. Luke yelps in pain and I jump away from the two of them.

Linda grabs my hand and pulls me behind her as she grabs her phone with trembling hands. “I — you better stay away from Alyssa. I’m going to call the police,” she says, her voice shaking. Daniel and I stare at each other in confusion. He lets go of Luke and holds his hands up in surrender.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?” he asks, his brows furrowed. Jake walks up to him and pushes against his chest. He fails to move Daniel and he shoves harder. I rush to get between them, but Luke grabs me before I reach them. He wraps his arms around me protectively, as if to shield me from Daniel. I push him away and stare at my colleagues, completely baffled.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on here?” I snap.

Linda looks at me with tears in her eyes. “We know, Alyssa. We know what he did to you. I’m sorry we didn’t realise sooner.”

I stare at her, unsure of what she’s talking about. She bursts out crying and I panic. “I didn’t know,” she sobs. “I should’ve been there for you.”

I grab her shoulders gently and pat her hair. “Sweetie, you need to explain to me what exactly you’re talking about,” I tell her, my voice soft. She sniffs and nods her head.

“This morning all my things were rearranged. The cleaners usually leave everything in the same spot, so I thought maybe someone stole something. I called security and used my credentials as an executive office member to access the security feed for our floor. And that’s when I saw… I saw what he did to you.”

I glance behind her as things start to click. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. There’s a small window on her screen with last night’s security feed. It’s paused on the exact moment that Daniel spanks me. My ass is on full display and my skirt is pooled around my waist. My cheeks redden to a deep crimson and I jump to close the window entirely. I close my eyes and bury my hands in my face, not realising that that just makes it look like I’m distraught.

“I’m sorry,” Linda says again. She hugs me and I pull away, moving towards Daniel. The look in his eyes breaks my heart. He looks devastated and I can see him overthinking the situation. He’s probably wondering if he was too rough on me or whether he might have hurt me. Judging by our team’s reactions, it seems like he violated me in the worst way. His expression tells me he’s starting to wonder if he might have.

“Are you okay?” I ask Daniel. He takes a step away from me as soon as I take a step towards him, and my heart breaks even further.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair before turning back to Linda. “Did you actually watch that video? Because I was enjoying the hell out of that…”

She looks startled, and a hint of unease enters her eyes. “I — you don’t have to stand up for him. We all have your back, Alyssa.”

I sigh and look up at the ceiling. “Linda… Daniel and I are dating. What you saw on the security feed was entirely consensual. Hell, if that video had sound you’d know I enjoyed the hell out of it.”

She looks startled as understanding slowly begins to dawn on her. I roll my eyes and walk up to Daniel. Without hesitating, I throw my arms around him and pull him in for a kiss. He stands there, frozen, but I kiss him nonetheless. “Don’t you think for a second that I didn’t want that as much as you did,” I whisper.

He relaxes into me and gently brushes my hair out of my face. “I forgot about the cameras, baby. I never should’ve exposed you like that. I never should’ve let anyone see your body like that.”

I chuckle and rise to my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek before turning back to my colleagues.

“Get the hell back to work, you absolute morons.”

Everyone stares at us with wide eyes before they finally get back to work. As Linda walks towards her desk, Daniel calls her into his office. He sends me a reassuring smile when I glance at them. I’m worried he’ll reprimand her when all she did was worry about me.

The atmosphere in the office is tense as we all try to work despite the embarrassment. Eventually Luke clears his throat and looks at me. “That guy… the guy you said you were dating and that you were giggling about… it was the boss?”

I can’t hide the guilt I suddenly feel and look down as I nod at him. Maybe I should’ve been honest with them from the start.

“Ah… I see. I guess that makes sense,” he murmurs. Jake looks at me with eyes filled with regret and disbelief. I’ve been ignoring the way he’s been looking at me, and I’ve made sure to never spend time with him if I don’t have to. He, in return, has respected my wishes, but it’s clear that he’s distraught now. I guess he does see me as his ex-girlfriend, and finding out I’m dating Daniel is probably uncomfortable.

The morning goes by painfully slow and the silence is pressing. Just as I’m about to escape under the guise of lunch, my messaging system pops up with thirty different chats. I frown as I try my best to figure out what could have possibly happened. Almost everyone I have a close enough working relationship with has messaged me.

I click on the link in the first message and gasp as the website opens on my screen. Photos of Daniel and I in Singapore are all over the tabloids. How did they even manage to take these? Some of them are close ups of us making out in the pool, while others show us holding hands as we walk through the streets.

Hold your heart, ladies. Daniel Devereaux might soon be off the market entirely! It seems that Alyssa Moriani has stolen the Casanova’s heart. Not only is Alyssa the late Charles Moriani’s only daughter, she is also DM Consultancy’s largest shareholder and a bona fide heiress. It makes us wonder who wears the pants in that relationship… Our sources tell us that Alyssa and Daniel have known each other all their lives and have worked together for at least the last four years.

After some digging, we found out that the two have been living together in Daniel Devereaux’s luxurious penthouse. It’s no wonder that our favourite heartthrob hasn’t been seen in public in months now. We can totally imagine what the two lovebirds have been getting up to in their home. To our knowledge, this is the first time Daniel Devereaux has lived with a woman. By our calculations, the two have been keeping their relationship under wraps for months now. It’s unclear when they started dating, but our source confirmed the two visited a prestigious jewellery store whilst on their romantic getaway. Is that wedding bells we hear?

I stare at the countless articles about us in disbelief. Some of them contain in-depth background information about me, while others are mostly speculation. Either way, it’s an invasion of privacy I’ve never had to deal with before. I’m not as much in the spotlight as Daniel and Dominic. I rarely attend high profile social gatherings like they do, so I’ve never had to deal with paparazzi before. I sit back, completely shellshocked.

Daniel walks out of his office and immediately throws his arms around me. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “We can sue, if you want.”

I shake my head. “It’d be too complicated, and it’ll only fuel their interest more. I’ll deal with it.”

Daniel kisses my cheek gently, neither one of us realising that we’re shocking our team members more than the articles possibly could. Daniel leans over me and opens the countless messages I’ve received. Most of them are tinged with hurt and betrayal. Most of the people I’ve worked closely with are wondering why I never told them my real name more than they care about whether Daniel and I are truly dating. “They’re just surprised, honey,” Daniel murmurs. “Take a moment to decide how you’d like to reply, but keep in mind that you don’t owe anyone an explanation. What your name is shouldn’t matter, and for so long it hasn’t.”

I nod, and Daniel tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “There’s one more thing, babe. The lobby is swarming with paparazzi. We can either face them now, or we can take the heli to our apartment. I think the latter might be best for today. It’ll give us some time to decide how to respond to this.”

I smile and kiss him. “I agree, but there’s no real need to think about it. Just get your spokesperson to draft a statement confirming our relationship and asking for privacy. I don’t think we need to do more than that.”

Daniel looks at me in wonder and grins to himself, looking oddly smug. “You’re fine with it then?”

I glance at Linda’s empty desk and chuckle. “Hmm, shout it to the whole world, baby. I’m yours.”