Chapter 3

Three more months. That’s all I had left of this fiasco. Three more months and I would be married to a woman I didn’t even remotely like. But then I could finally be rid of the stupid planning. The idiotic ruse of being the attentive fiancé who cared what flowers were chosen to line the aisle or if they should match the centerpieces on the tables. Being called to eat cake just for Jennifer to decide she hated them all and they needed to go back to square one with the flavors.

“You okay, man?” Jason placed a hand on my shoulder.

I looked at him, worry was written all over his face again. “I’m fine.” Taking a drink from the dry bourbon I ordered, I looked back at the five women huddled around a table dissecting the plating, silverware, flower arrangements, and color choices.

“Have you been…”

“I said I’m fine, Jason.” I snapped at him. “Go do your job and quit bothering me.”

His hand left my shoulder and I sighed. Rubbing my eyes, I moved to pinch the bridge of my nose. Every so often, Jennifer would call me over and ask my opinion on something. I’d do my best to give a thoughtful and caring answer, making the girls with her giggle and whisper. After about an hour, I walked over to the gaggle of women, plastering a smile on my face.

“Darling, I need to go back to work. I trust your judgement in all things. I’ll be sure to send a gift later for your hard work.”

Jennifer looked annoyed for a moment, but when I said I would send something to make up for it her eyes lit up. “Of course! Have a wonderful day, sweetie. I’ll send you photos of the final choices.”

I kissed her forehead and nodded. “I look forward to seeing them. Ladies, have a wonderful day.”

Turning, I heard them screaming and giggling behind me. I motioned Hayden forward and he followed me quickly.

“Sir, your brother called. He was wanting to speak to you about…”

“I don’t care. Cancel all my meetings for today. I won’t be taking any more calls. Jason, take me home. The rest of you, scatter. I don’t want to see your mugs until tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir” resounded throughout the group of the bodyguards.

I strode toward the exit of the wedding shop and Jason hurried to open the door for me. Not waiting, I opened the back seat of the car and got in. Jason rushed around and got into the driver’s seat. As soon as he buckled himself in, he took off down the road.

“Everything alright?”

“Headache,” is all I replied to him.

I thought about going to the bar, but the smell of cigars and male cologne was enough to make me want to go home now. Luckily, Jason didn’t ask anything else while we drove back. Jennifer started to blow up my phone with pictures and requests. My mother also thought to chime in that I wasn’t being an attentive fiancé because I refused to spend another three hours with her.

My mother’s marriage wasn’t even an arranged marriage. My grandfather cared about his kids and honestly, I don’t know how my father turned out the way he did. To be fair, my mother was his second wife. Our mom, Aiden and I’s birth mother, died of cancer when we were young. That might have been the start of our father’s decline into this idiotic charade of playing the part of billionaire asshole, but his marriage to his second wife was definitely the nail in the coffin.

They wanted to set Adrian up with an arranged marriage as well since, for some reason, my father dismissed his knowledge and intuition when it came to business. Part of the deal for my arrangement was that Adrian was not to be set up. Adrian would be allowed to do what he wanted in life. I loved my brother and I was already set down this path, I didn’t need him to follow.

Funny enough, he married a year ago to a beautiful soul. Nicole was not from our world, but adjusted beautifully. She was thoughtful and kept my brother in his place when he needed to be. I wondered if I still needed to go through with this stupid marriage. At this point though, I was in too far and too deep. We would be getting a hefty lift from her parents and the joint effort of the two companies would skyrocket us from the number one spot to where not a single business could touch our success.

“Is the board meeting this weekend?”

Jason pulled into the parking lot of the penthouse. I nodded, knowing he was looking back at me in the rearview mirror.

“What is their next plan?”

I shrugged. “I think they are waiting for the marriage and the merger between the two companies before trying to throw their weight around.”

Jason nodded. The board had been angry at the decision to go legal. All of the old men that sat on the board had skeletons in their closet. Each of them had dirt on the other because of some illegal business that they had worked on or with. I didn’t have that. I had nothing in my closet, minus the blank 6 months of memories I was missing and the playboy I was before the accident. Most of that was out in the open and I didn’t have any illegal dealings behind closed doors that they could use. I’d forced the company to out of the mafia and illegal activities when I took over as CEO. A decision I was not going to change, and neither was Adrian.

“Head out, Jason. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You too, man. Try to get some rest.”

I waved at him as I got out of the car. Getting into the elevator, I scanned my phone on the pad and the elevator started to rise to my floor. With a ding, the doors opened. The hallway had large potted plants and two beautiful works of art on the wall. No one got to appreciate them unless they were coming into my apartment, but it was better than walking down the hallway to my door with it being stark. Punching in the nine-digit code, the door unlocked and I opened it.

Turning, I hit the pad that locked the door. Normally, I would leave the door open since you would need a key or authorization to get off the elevator at my floor. But today I didn’t want to be disturbed. Only two other people have access to the penthouse when I locked it down: Jason and Adrian. Outside of that not even my father could barge his way into my home.

Slipping out of my suit, I unbuttoned my shirt and tossed it over the back of the couch. Pouring myself a drink, I walked out onto the balcony and looked out over the city. It wasn’t as loud this high up and the wind was calming. My arms rested on the railing as I took a sip. It felt empty. I used to love this view. Love this city. Love the life I had but ever since the accident, everything changed. A piece of me was missing, six months of me. I knew I had been running from being CEO. Before I had recovered fully, my father threw me to the wolves of the board and made me CEO of the Anderson and A. Wright Group. Not long after that, the announcement of my engagement to Jennifer was splashed across every media outlet.

Finishing my drink, I placed the glass on the kitchen counter and headed up the stairs to my bed. Unbuckling my belt and stepping out of my pants, I pulled on some sweats and flopped on the bed. The sheets were silk and cool. Closing my eyes, I tried to remember the last time I just laid in bed in the middle of the afternoon. Years? At least two. A quick nap wouldn’t hurt and I could get up with my laptop to finish off the report for tomorrow’s meeting. My body became heavy after just a couple minutes and I felt sleep take over. 

- 

 My eyes widened as I watched the six black SUVs pull up. I grabbed the woman next to me, who also held me close. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, it was muffled but my eyes were focused on the men pouring out of the vehicles. Their guns raised and a few of them shot into the air, scattering the people in the surrounding area. Four of them were trained directly on the two of us, stalking toward us with a purpose.

“Mr. Anderson Jr., it’s funny you come to our territory after what your old man did.” One of the men said, a thick Italian accent almost making his words incomprehensible.

“I don’t have anything to do with my father’s company. We didn’t do anything.” I pulled the woman closer to me.

The man laughed. His face was blurry as were the rest of their faces, almost like a washed-out watercolor painting.

“I don’t give a fuck what you have done. I need your old man to understand that he can’t mess with the Italian Mafia and get away with it. He needs to learn and we are gonna teach him by killing his first born.”

The man held up the gun and I backed up a few steps, taking the woman with me.

“Z, bargain. Do something, say something.”

I looked down at the woman in my arms. Her face was blurry, but her voice rang with a determination and courage that was failing me.

“I can get what you want. What you want most.” I looked at the four men who stood far too close for comfort with the guns in their hands. “I can help. With one phone call, I can make New York yours. Taking over the Irish and even the American mafia. I know you have been battling them in order to gain ground. We can give it to you, my father and I. He overstepped his bounds, fine. But I’m next in line for CEO, I’m the heir and I can give you the East.”

The four of them looked back and forth between themselves and the two in the center started to laugh.

“Kid, not bad. I thought you said you weren’t in your father’s business?”

“I’m not. I don’t want the damn role, but I won’t have a choice. Not after…” I looked down at the woman in my arms and I smiled. “I will step up and I will take over to protect what is mine.”

Shaking his head, one of the men stepped up and pointed the gun at me. “Sorry, kid, can’t trust yah. Nice try, though.” 

For a moment, the blur of his face sharpened and I saw the smirk on his face. The gun went off and the girl screamed my name. I felt myself being pushed back and falling to the ground. My arms grabbed the woman, who was now in front of me, and I felt the force of the bullet hit us both. Blood splattered everywhere and my head slammed against the concrete ground. Bright stars filled my vision and I heard ringing along with the sounds of sirens in the background.

“Fuck. Let’s go. Pack it up.”

You could hear the men pile in the SUVs and tires screeching as they pulled away. Once my vision cleared, I looked at the woman laying on my chest with her entire right side covered in blood. I pulled her head toward me.

“Love…love…please…” I called to her, feeling the tears that had streamed down her face. She wasn’t responding though. “Love! Please no! God, please no!” I screamed, trying to sit up. Clutching her body to me, I pulled her close and rocked her back and forth in my arms.

“No, no, no, no, no. Love, please…you can’t leave me…not now.” I looked around but the world seemed to slow. The police pulled up and got out of their vehicles. The people that had scattered when the guns shot off were now crowding the area again. Looking back down, I moved hair out of her face.

“Someone help me! Help her! Please!” I buried my face in her neck as I pulled her close. “Save her…please…” Tears streamed down my face and I started sobbing. “Save her…”