Chapter 509 A Marriage Built on Terms

Chapter 509: Chapter 509 A Marriage Built on Terms

Diana wondered if she’d misheard him.

She stared at Sebastian in disbelief.

He was looking at her with an impeccable smile, but she didn’t mistake it for friendliness. To her, it was the smile of a tiger waiting to pounce.

Who proposed marriage to a woman they’d known for less than two months?

“...Sponsor, did you take the wrong medication?”

She was almost tempted to feel his forehead to see if he had a fever. Perhaps he’d lost his mind.

The word sponsor made Sebastian’s eyebrows rise ever so slightly.

Leaning back in his chair, he looked perfectly relaxed. “I haven’t taken the wrong medication. I’m not sleepwalking, and I’m not having some kind of episode. I’m perfectly rational and fully aware of what I’m saying.”

“Do you like me?”

Diana blurted out the question, then laughed at herself.

What a ridiculous thought.

She might have been working for him, but that didn’t mean she was easy to deal with. She had a temper, and when someone crossed her, she wasn’t above giving them a taste of their own medicine.

Sebastian had already experienced that firsthand.

“Do you have to like someone to marry them?” he countered.

“Of course—”

Diana stopped herself.

Liam immediately came to mind.

They’d loved each other deeply when they got together. Their relationship had once been everything she could have hoped for. And look where that had led her.

So what did love really guarantee in a marriage?

“I’m not sure,” Sebastian said thoughtfully.

He seemed determined to be straightforward about the matter.

“If you want a marriage based on mutual affection, we can work toward that. But I should be honest with you. I’ve never had any expectations of romance, nor do I have any experience with it. As you’ve probably noticed, I don’t even like people getting too close to me.”

In other words, he’d never been in a relationship, let alone had some unforgettable first love he couldn’t move on from.

He also had no tolerance for infidelity or any other betrayal of marital vows.

“If we get married, I can guarantee that I’ll remain faithful to you. And I won’t just make a verbal promise. We can put everything in writing and draw up a legally binding agreement.”

Diana felt as though she still hadn’t fully woken up that morning.

She was actually sitting across from a man who was calmly outlining the terms of a marriage proposal.

And he was doing it like they were negotiating a business deal.

She couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of it all.

“Mr. Ellington, why do you want to marry me?”

“Because Dami loves you. He sees you as a mother figure, and he’s become more attached to you than he’s ever been to anyone else.” Sebastian’s expression grew serious. “He’s my sister’s only child, and I want to give him the best possible chance to thrive. I know this proposal is sudden, so I’ll give you time to think about it.”

He looked directly at her.

“Miss Sinclair, I understand that I’m asking a great deal of you. I also heard what you said on the phone. You don’t believe in love. As it happens, neither do I.”

He paused before continuing.

“I may not be able to offer you a marriage filled with deep affection from the beginning, but I can offer you a partnership built on mutual benefit.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“If you agree to marry me, we’ll be committing to a life together. You’ll receive half my assets, and we’ll draw up an agreement that clearly defines our respective rights and responsibilities. I can offer you financial security, substantial benefits, and unwavering loyalty.”

Diana was stunned.

Sebastian wasn’t bluffing. This was simply how he approached things.

Growing up, he’d watched his parents love each other deeply. His father was a decisive, formidable man, but he never raised his voice at his wife. He deferred to her on countless matters and treated her with a consideration that never seemed to fade.

Even in their fifties, the two were still devoted to each other, making everyone around them envious.

Their relationship had shaped Sebastian’s views on love.

He’d seen what the best kind of love looked like, and that was precisely why he refused to settle for anything less.

He knew how rare that kind of connection was. Finding someone with whom he could share such a bond seemed almost impossible.

So he’d always preferred to remain single rather than enter a relationship that fell short of his expectations.

But Dami’s circumstances had changed things.

For the boy’s sake, Sebastian was willing to consider a marriage of convenience.

To him, marriage meant that two people became a team. Even if they didn’t begin with romantic feelings, they could still choose to be faithful, responsible, and committed to one another.

That was what marriage meant to him.

Diana was, naturally, taken aback.

A man she’d known for less than two months was offering her absolute loyalty—and half his fortune—without even blinking.

Families like the Ellingtons, whose wealth had lasted for generations, were usually meticulous about protecting their assets. Prenuptial agreements could run to hundreds of pages, spelling out exactly what each person owned and what they stood to lose.

Among the wealthy and powerful, marriage was often as much a financial calculation as a personal commitment.

Yet Sebastian was offering her half his assets outright.

It was almost absurdly straightforward.

“Your proposal really is rather sudden,” Diana said, still struggling to process it. “And you’re being far too blunt about the whole thing.”

Even if she no longer believed in love, that didn’t mean she would marry just anyone.

Besides, she’d learned her lesson the hard way. She’d spent years loving Liam, only to have that love end in devastating betrayal.

How could she possibly agree to a whirlwind marriage with Sebastian after knowing him for less than two months?

“Since you don’t believe in love, being careful about choosing a partner doesn’t guarantee a happy ending, either,” Sebastian said. “So why put all your hopes in something as elusive and unpredictable as love? We should talk about what actually matters: financial security, emotional fulfillment, responsibility, and loyalty. Those are the foundations of a healthy marriage. Love is only one part of it.”

He tapped his fingertips against the tabletop.

Love could grow over time.

But not everyone possessed the other qualities a good marriage required, and not everyone was willing to uphold them.

Sebastian, however, was confident he could.

That was how he’d been raised.

Diana felt deeply unsettled. Her thoughts were in turmoil.

She’d never heard anyone talk about marriage this way, yet she couldn’t deny that some of what Sebastian said made sense.

Her marriage to Liam had once been filled with passionate, all-consuming love. She’d believed their feelings for each other were strong enough to overcome anything.

In the end, that belief had crumbled. She’d been left with heartbreak and nothing to show for all the years she’d invested in him.

Sebastian’s words had struck a nerve.

Diana suddenly looked up at him.

“So, if you marry me, you’ll try to develop feelings for me and fulfill your responsibilities as a husband?” She hesitated, then added, “And what about your OCD? Aren’t you the one who can barely stand people touching you?”

“If we’re married, physical intimacy would also be part of my responsibilities as a husband.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, as though he saw no reason to dance around the subject.

“What if I told you I’d been married before?”

Diana didn’t bother concealing her past.

She knew how particular Sebastian was about physical cleanliness. She’d assumed he must be just as strict about a partner’s personal history and emotional boundaries. Surely, a man like him would want someone whose past was entirely uncomplicated.

Sure enough, Sebastian’s brow furrowed slightly.

He hadn’t considered that possibility.

But his surprise lasted only a moment.

“Have you misunderstood something?”

“What?”

Sebastian lifted his chin slightly as he regarded her.

“My standards of cleanliness are rules I impose on myself. They aren’t judgments I make about other people, and I don’t expect everyone else to live by them. I hold myself to those standards, not you.”

Diana’s mouth fell open.

For a moment, she couldn’t find a response.

She’d genuinely never met a man like him.

Sebastian held himself to remarkably strict standards, yet he wasn’t a rigid, judgmental old-fashioned man. If anything, he seemed more perceptive than most people.

He understood the difference between setting boundaries for himself and imposing those boundaries on someone else.

And that was a rare quality.

People were often quick to make excuses for themselves while holding everyone else to a different standard. That was how so many people ended up crossing lines they knew they shouldn’t cross.

Sebastian, however, seemed to operate by a different set of rules.

He was challenging assumptions Diana hadn’t even realized she’d made.

As he watched her expression change, Sebastian found himself reflecting on his own feelings.

He couldn’t quite explain what was happening inside him.

Most of their recent interactions had involved him observing her from the sidelines, yet her energy and vitality had made a deeper impression on him than he’d expected.

He’d even caught himself wondering what might happen if they spent more time together.

Perhaps he really would fall in love with her.

He didn’t understand romance, but he understood himself.

That was why he felt no internal conflict about proposing marriage to her.

Somewhere beneath his careful reasoning, perhaps he was allowing himself to take a chance.

After all, his parents’ marriage had begun as an arranged match, and their relationship had developed into a lasting love story. Their bond had grown stronger with time.

Sebastian believed that commitment, responsibility, and a willingness to nurture a relationship had played a significant role in that outcome.

And if there was one thing he trusted himself to do, it was remain completely faithful to the person he married.

No matter the circumstances. No matter how much time passed.

That, at least, was a promise he knew he could keep.