Chapter 11

Lana's POV

The ride back home was quiet.

I saw blue on a call, pacing back and forth in the living room, something serious had happened.

God knew I couldn't take one more bad news.

It was enough already!

I mean… Can I just have a day out of all this?

I sighed again, for like the millionth time that day since my encounter with Michael, as I sat at the table waiting for her to finish her call.

Sometimes she'd look at me and a small line would form between her brows.

I didn't know if it was out of worry, or confusion

I just tried to act calm, but I knew I was damn terrible at that.

I'm the last person on earth who would notice an issue was up and act calm.

Anyone who looked at me even from a mile away would see it clearly from my face that I had something on my plate to deal with.

And I guess right now I couldn't control the look of fear written bodily on my face.

“That won't be a problem. Thank you, Mr. Carlson” she ended the call.

“What's the matter now? You sounded serious on the phone”.

“Nothing serious” she gave a deep sigh, “ turns out we are depth free”.

“Ohhh” I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. “Just that…?”

“Urhmmmm, yeah!!!” She turned to look at me. “Is there something else?”

“No…. Like I saw you pacing around and the phone call sounded quite serious. I… I was already thinking something was up”

“Earlier he had called and said we had an issue, so I had to let you know. And just minutes before you came, I got a call from him…. Saying all our debt was cleared. And he didn't know how it happened…… which leaves me with one conclusion, it has to be you!”

She stood without a smile on her face.

“Blue…. Everything is complicated”

“Look Lana you either tell me everything or I'm leaving your ass alone with this whole thing!”

“You can't be serious?”

“You can watch me!”.

She picked up her phone and was about to leave.

I couldn't just let her go like that, blue had been in this whole issue since it started.

Standing with me through it all.

Through all my tears.

All the insults from people online, she stood defending my name.

I could as well just tell her everything. I was sure she would understand.

“Wait!!! I wasn't supposed to let anyone in on this. Everything ended, because I signed a contract with the CEO of MIG groups Adrian Que”

“What?!” Yes, that was the dramatic blue.

“Wait-what?!” She turned around, her face white, as though every drop of blood had been drained from it. “How? Why? When did this happen? No—no, that’s not possible. You’re lying. Tell me you’re lying.”

“I'm not. He made me sign a confidentiality agreement. No third person”.

She paused.

I could see she held her breath without even telling me she did.

Her eyes searched my face for something- anything- that would tell her I was lying just to undo what she heard.

“What was this contract about?” She finally said after almost three minutes of silence and staring.

“I'm to be his wife-for a while tho. And…. I'm going to live with him.”

“Lana…..” It was obvious from her tone that she was tired and didn't know what else to do or say even. “Did you think about it before signing it?”

“He's a chill guy….. at least from the little time I've been with him”

The tension that was on her shoulders seemed to loosen up a little.

“Besides, it's all your fault,” I said, puffing my cheeks pretending to be mad at her.

“Me?!” She asked, shocked.

“Yes. If only you had brought me home that night and not let a stranger take me to his penthouse, then maybe this whole thing wouldn't have happened”.

“Was he the one?!” now her mouth was wide open

“Spoiler alert, Yes he is and I have to bear the consequence”

Immediately the bell rang, then there was knock to follow.

I and blue exchanged looks before I went to check who it was at the door.

Adrian's driver stood at the door with a package in his hands.

There were two boxes.

One was red and the other was a dark blue box.

The driver stood tall, expression neutral as always.

“Good evening, ma’am,” he said politely. “Sir asked me to give you this.”

“Oohh….”

Sir.

That word alone made my stomach flip a million times.

“For me?” I asked. Of course I knew it was for me, but you won't blame me.

I just became speechless beyond words

“Yes, ma’am.”

I took the boxes from him carefully, like fragile glasses which they were to me.

I didn't care, maybe others could just see cardboards and velvet but these were things worth my entire savings in the bank and even more.

That was not small at all.

They weren’t even that heavy, but my hands suddenly felt weak.

“Thank you,” that was the only thing I could think of to say.

He gave a small nod and walked away without another word.

I closed the door slowly.

Blue was already halfway across the living room before I even turned around.

“What is that?” she whisper-yelled, as if the boxes could hear her.

“I don’t know,” I said, but within me I knew.

We both looked down at them.

One was wrapped in a deep red box with a subtle gold ribbon around it.

While the other was a dark navy-blue box,

I was not going to lie, they both looked sleek and expensive.

We didn’t even pretend to act mature.

We literally gasped.

“Oh my God,” Blue held my arm. “Open it. Open it right now.”

“You’re acting like it’s yours.”

“It is ours. Emotionally.”

I laughed for the first time that day. A real laugh.

The kind that came out without permission.

We rushed to the couch and sat down with both of our legs crossed like two little girls about to open birthday presents.

“Which one first?” she asked dramatically.

“The red one,” I said.

“Of course. Red is always dramatic.”

I untied the ribbon slowly, as my fingers trembled.

Inside there was a dress.

A blue dress.

Not just blue. It was a rich midnight-blue satin that shimmered under the light like the night sky after rain.

The neckline dipped in a daring V line, with the back completely open except for delicate crisscross straps.

Everything looked sinful.

“No way.” Blue let out the loudest gasp I had ever heard from her.

I swallowed.

It was sexy.

Not cheap-sexy.

Dangerous-sexy.

And underneath the dress there was a tissue paper.

“Lana…” Blue’s voice dropped to a whisper.

A matching lingerie set.

Deep wine-red lace. Soft. Intricate.

The kind that made you feel powerful just by looking at it.

Setting the mood immediately.

I could feel my face turning red from embarrassment sitting across blue.

She was going to tease me non stop after today.

“He has good taste,” Blue muttered, wiggling her eyebrow up and down as she fake fanned herself.

There was this tiny envelope I found tucked into the fold of the dress.

My heart skipped as I took it out and opened it carefully.

Dress up. I’ll pick you up by 8 pm sharp.

— A.Q.

That was it.

No smiley face. No explanation.

Just a command.

Blue screamed.

“He is insane. INSANE. Who does this?!”