The Call Boy I Met in Paris – Episode 9
“Holy fuck, Sophie. You got married to a stranger.” Kendall stared at the marriage certificate on Sophie’s desk, then at Sophie, as if repetition might somehow make the decision more reasonable.
Sophie leaned back in her chair and rubbed the tension from her temples. “Yes, Kendall. You asked me three times already.” After the confrontation at her father’s house, she lacked the energy to perform regret for anyone else.
“And like I said, I fake-married him so I can inherit my mother’s company.” Calling it fake helped Sophie preserve a necessary distance from the ring on her finger. Legally, nothing about the marriage was false, but its purpose had been negotiated before vows were signed.
Kendall lowered herself into the chair across from the desk. “Marriage is still a huge deal.” As Sophie’s assistant and closest friend, she understood the deadline, but understanding did not make the speed of the arrangement less alarming.
“What was I supposed to do? Marry Derek?” Sophie asked. The name alone restored the anger she had carried since discovering his affair with Stella.
Kendall considered the alternative and grimaced. “You’re right. Anyone is better than Derek.” Her loyalty quickly overtook her shock. “Have no mercy for cheaters.”
The support loosened something in Sophie’s chest. Kendall might question her choices, but she never demanded that Sophie sacrifice herself for appearances. That distinction made the office feel safer than the home Sophie had just abandoned.
“So how did you meet this Justin Lake?” Kendall asked. Curiosity brightened her face, and Sophie immediately remembered waking beneath a hotel sheet.
Two thousand should cover it? Her own mortifying voice replayed in her mind. Sophie glanced away before the heat in her cheeks could reveal too much. “I’d rather not say.”
Kendall narrowed her eyes. “Okay. What does he do for a living?” It should have been an easier question, but Sophie pictured Justin at the hotel and the construction site.
“I’d rather not answer that one either.” She knew how the truth would sound, especially when she was not entirely sure what his work involved. The ambiguity only made Kendall lean farther across the desk.
“You’ve got to give me something,” Kendall complained. A secret husband with no history and no occupation was too suspicious even by Sophie’s standards.
“The point is, I’m paying him ten thousand dollars a month to play my husband for a couple of months,” Sophie explained. She said it briskly, presenting the marriage as an ordinary temporary contract.
Kendall blinked. “Wait. You’re paying him ten grand?” Her concern transformed into personal offense with remarkable speed.
“Then we get divorced,” Sophie continued, ignoring the strange discomfort the word caused. That had been the agreement, and a clean ending was the only reason she had been able to make it.
Kendall placed a hand over her chest. “I’m your assistant. Why is his salary higher than mine?” She had endured Tony’s calls, Stella’s schemes, and Sophie’s impossible calendar without receiving husband-level compensation.
Despite herself, Sophie laughed. The sound surprised them both after the morning she had survived. “Because you’re not required to sleep beside me and fool my entire family.”
“I want a raise,” Kendall declared. Her expression remained solemn, though amusement tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“A raise?” Sophie echoed. Kendall nodded without hesitation, and Sophie surrendered with a weary smile. “Okay.”
Outside Sophie’s office, another man had begun asking questions about the marriage. While Kendall celebrated her victory, Derek gave an investigator a single name—Justin Lake—and ordered him to uncover the stranger Sophie had chosen over him.
