Lana Castroff
After more than a week investigating all the products, we found no acid on every single product that we launched that day. It was weird for us to see. We did get the medical records of Phoenix's employees for it and they really contains acid inside that product.
I was more than confuse at this point. I even asked my team to check it again but the result was the same.
I walked to Phoenix's office building and his secretary led me his office. I brought the files with me and I saw him having all his lawyers ready. I guess I should have brought my lawyers but let's just see.
I walked in and Phoenix turned to me. He gestured me to sit on the sofa beside him. I took a deep breath and walked towards him. I met his lawyers already and they greeted me politely.
"Ms. Castroff, we already have the exact amount for the settlement." One of the three lawyers said. I nodded and gestured him to continue.
"We want 1 million euros for this." He said and I was not surprise. We're talking about Phoenix Sterling, a businessman and a billionaire who always deal with this things on a daily basis.
"I paid for their hospital fees, I gave them more money for the damage and that cost around fifty thousand euros. I know that your company can't operate well without your employees but one million is too high." I said trying to negotiate with him.
He was about to say something but his phone rang from his pocket. When he saw who the caller ID was, he immediately asked his lawyers to go. He turned off his phone instead and he turned to me.
"Play along and I'll reduce the settlement." He said and as he finished his sentence, someone bursted the door open. Phoenix immediately held my hands tight when I saw 2 women walking into the office.
"Pho-" I'm assuming the woman who is in her 50s is his mother.
"Mother, what are you doing here with Lorena?" Phoenix asked.
"Mrs. Sterling." I smiled to her politely and she rolled her eyes at me. Well that's rude.
"We're having lunch together, Phoenix. Don't tell me that you forgot." She said ignoring me and Phoenix nodded.
"Meet my girlfriend, Lana Castroff. This is my mother and my friend, Lorena." Phoenix introduced me to them.
"I'll be waiting for you at the lobby, we're going to have lunch together." His mother immediately left the room leaving us alone. I pulled my hand away from him and he sighed.
"Stay here for ten minutes before leaving my office. I'll contact you later on." He said and he walked out from the office. I sighed and sat down on the sofa. I have to wait for a solid ten minutes before going out and I don't know why I have to wait.
I took out my phone to check my emails when the door bursts open revealing Adrian. He was surprised to see me in Phoenix's office.
"Hi.." He said as he walked to me giving me a light hug.
"Hi."
"Where's Phoenix?" He asked as he sat on the sofa across me.
"He went out with his mother and his friend, Lorena." I said and Adrian raised his eyebrows.
"That's a definition of a shit show." He chuckled but I didn't respond anything. I checked my watch to see if it's already 10 minutes or not.
"You're waiting for him?" He asked and I shook my head.
"He asked me to wait here for 10 minutes before leaving his office."
"She's planning to marry him with Lorena again." Adrian sighed and I shrugged. I don't really care about other people's business.
"Are you free now?" Adrian asked.
"Why?"
"I was wondering if you want to grab lunch together." He smiled to me and I nodded. "Sure." I got up from the sofa and he walked to the door opening it for me.
"Thankyou."
He forced me to get into his car and his chauffer can take my car to the restaurant. He asked me what I kind of food I like and don't like. Adrian is really sweet and no wonder he got his playboy title, he knew how to pleased a woman.
"What did his mother say when she saw you?" Adrian asked as he stopped on the red light.
"She didn't say anything, I mean Phoenix introduced me as his girlfriend." I said and Adrian turned to me with his mouth wide open completely confused.
"He.. oh no.."
"What? What's wrong?" I asked because his reaction seemed like I'm in a big trouble.
"Did he ask you to be his girlfriend that second only or.. for the rest of.. I don't know..?" He started to drive again.
"That second only, why would I date a guy like him? Even though it's a fake relationship." I chuckled and Adrian laughed.
"I agree, he's such an ass." I laughed more because of his statement and Adrian suddenly gave me his phone.
"We can hang out sometimes, Lana. You're kinda cool." He said and I took his phone from him typing in my phone number.
"You're pretty cool too, I thought you will act like Phoenix since you both are friends."
"No way, Phoenix is an ass. As for me, I have ass." He smirked and I laughed. The tone that he use was pretty much joking around.
"He's a mama's boy huh?" I asked curiously.
"He's not but the only thing that his family wanted was for him to settle down and give them grandkids." That's surprising.
"Where's the fun is that? Settling down? In this young bachelor age?" I laughed at his statement because his own siblings were already settle down except him so I bet he got the same shit from his family about settling down.
"I mean.. if you already meet the right person, why not?"
"That's true but seeing my family act so stupid makes me not wanting to fall in love. I don't want to look dumb and follow my wife everywhere. I don't want to turn myself into a possessive maniac." He hissed and I laughed.
"Well.. I can't wait to see you going through that."
"In my second life, Lana. You'll see me like that in your second life."
Phoenix SterlingI really hate it when my parents tried to set me up with the woman of their choice. I don't understand why they really want me to settle down as soon as possible when I'm only 26 years old. I'm the youngest out of the Illicit and why am I supposed to be the first one to settle down.I don't want to settle down.After I asked my chauffeur to send Lorena back to the hotel, I decided to have a word with my mother."You know now that I have a girlfriend so could you please stop trying to set me up with Lorena?" I asked her and she drank her tea slowly."Mother, I really like Lana and you can't treat her coldly like what you did in my office. She's my girlfriend so you shouldn't act like that."
Lana CastroffI walked into Phoenix's office with his secretary and she asked me if I want tea or coffee. I told her the water will be just fine and she told me to wait for Phoenix for about 5 minutes because he's still in a meeting. I sat down on the sofa and laid back for a second.I'm really tired of dealing with all of this alone. When will my father comeback because I'm ready to kill him for leaving me in the middle of something like this.I bet he's with her again.The door opened and Phoenix entered the room with his secretary. His secretary gave me a bottle of cold water and Phoenix asked her to leave us both alone."Ms. Castroff.. I have a proposition for you." I raised my eyebrows when he said that.
Phoenix Sterling"But on one condition.." She said as she took a step back and sat down on the sofa."What?""Let me stay in your house but with seperate rooms." I raised my eyebrows completely amused by her condition."That's easy, I will gladly grant your wish.""You want to pleased your parents and I want to pissed off mine. I hope you can cooperate with me when it comes to that." That made me wonder if she hates her parents."No one can know that we're married and don't even wear the wedding rings on a daily basis except when we're meeting our families." She said and I nodded."That's easy for sure. Anything else?"
Lana CastroffI brought the last box into Phoenix's penthouse and put it in my bedroom. I looked at all the boxes and stretched my arms out because it's been a tiring day moving in from my house to his penthouse.Phoenix's penthouse has two floors and he even has a private pool on the second floor which is amazing. I can't believe he's living alone in this penthouse and manages not to feel lonely most of the time.I agreed to get married to him because I want to pissed of my father. I bet one though percent on it that he will be mad at me. I'm tired of him having an affair with my own mother who already got married with her commoner boyfriend.My father must be somewhere in Europe with my mother and his secretary just informed me that he will be back by the time I'
Phoenix SterlingWe purposely came kinda late to Maldives because we don't want to deal with people before the party. We arrived about 2 hours before the wedding and we both were busy preparing ourselves for it."Ready?" I was fixing my tie when she came out from the bathroom looking so beautiful in her cream cocktail dress. She smiled at me and turned her body around."What do you think?" She asked."You look beautiful." I said because she did take my breath away. She grabbed her small clutch and she pointed at the door. "Let's go?""Yeah." I said and I checked myself one more time at the mirror before going out. I turned to her and asked her to link her arms to mine. She linked her arm and we walked to the venue together.
Lana CastroffI might not looked that nervous but I was dying inside. I was dying because of his touch, his kisses and the way he always pulled my body to his. My brain stopped functioning from time to time.I looked at myself at the mirror and looked down to see the wedding ring. Phoenix asked me to wear it tonight for the after party, he's going to go for it. He already told his parents and they were excited. They demanded a big wedding and I really hate the idea when we're not even real.I slipped the ring into my ring finger and looked at the mirror again. I walked out from the bathroom and tried to look for Phoenix."Phoenix." I called him."Yeah?" I heard him coming in from outside.
Phoenix SterlingMy alert went off when I saw Eric sitting next to Lana. I kept my eyes on her when she was talking to him. It seemed like she introduced herself as my wife to him because she showed him the ring.I never liked Eric. He's the type of guy who always want what other people have. Technically since Lana was married to me, she's mine, even though we both know it's pure an agreement."Jealous?" Lorenzo whispered to my ear and I turned to him shaking my head. "Jealous is not my thing, Lorenzo. She loves me too much to cheat." I said proudly and he pointed at Lana. I turned my head and saw them exchanging phone numbers."Let them be, she's always overly friendly." I said and Lorenzo laughed."Don't tell me that you
Lana CastroffI walked out from the bathroom and I saw Phoenix already sleeping on the bed. He made a line with the pillows so I could sleep on the bed too without being touch by him. I closed the bathroom door slowly and decided to go out to the porch that's facing the sea to read a book instead of going to sleep right away.Phoenix didn't even change his clothes. He must be so tired.I walked out to the porch with my book and started reading. I love reading and hearing the sea at the same time. It's really calming. My eyes started to get heavy and I ended up falling asleep."Lana.." I opened my eyes slowly."Hmm?""Get up and let's have breakfast. My parents already waiting for us