Chapter 1 - Meeting

Receiving a meeting message from my family is probably the worst thing I could wish upon myself. The moment I got that message I knew something was wrong and I tried my best to come up with an excuse nott go but there was none that I could possibly use, especially with a father like mine.

We grew up with the rule that family comes first before anything and we all swore to do whatever it takes to take care of and be there for our family. Whatever it takes.

I sat in silence, looking out the window as the driver drove me to the mansion, the mansion that I haven’t been to in years. I tried my best to keep myself away from the family business as much as I could but I couldn’t keep running away forever. At the end of the day, we are family.

The driver pulled in front of the doors, letting me go out before he headed to the parking lot. As I walked into the mansion, I met eyes with my older brother Hunter, who’s face lit up when he saw me.

I smiled and jogged towards him and hugged him, I haven’t seen him in almost a year now, I try my best to call him as often as I could though.

“How are you kiddo?” He asked.

“Good, alive, living” I shrugged with a short smile “What about you?”

“Good, alive, living” He mocked.

“Rin! Woah I thought you won’t make it” My other brother Jax called, jogging towards me from the stairs “You have always been so creative with your excuses” He added, opening his arms for a hug.

I wraped my arms around him with a smile, mumbling out a response “Dad didn’t exactly give me a chance to make an excuse this time you see”

The three of us headed to the sitting room, where most of the family meetings happen and sat there to catch up. We are only 4 in our family, our mother passed away years ago, I never really got the chance to know her like my two brothers did as I was only 3 when she passed.

We chatted about our lives and all that we have been up to over the years until our father walks into the room pulling all our attentions. I got up and gave him a hug before anyone else did as I’m the one who hasn’t seen him the longest compared to everyone else here.

“I thought you had forgotten about me,” He joked.

“Come on Papa, how could I” I smiled, walking him to his seat. After he sat down, I went and took my place in between my two brothers, as we waited for the so-called family meeting to start.

He took a sip off his cup of water before starting “So you know better than anyone that I would not urgently call you all here if there was nothing urgent" He says, and we nodded “Well consider that urgency more important than any other urgency we ever had”

I could literally hear my heart beating in my ear due to how scared I was to hear what he had to say. What could possibly be that bad? As long as no one is coming to harm us I’m sure everything is handleable, I hope atleast.

“Do any of you know Vladim Chekov?” He asked.

My two brothers nodded but I didn’t react at all because I obviously had no Idea who he was. The name Vladim does sound quite familiar but it also doesn’t ring any bell at the same time. I don’t remember coming in contact with that name ever in my life.

“Rin,” He looked directly at me “He is currently the number one supplier in the business, his father used to be number one but due to some problems between them, he started his own business and stole all his fathers clients, he made his way to the top with ease, do you know why?” He asked and I shook my head “Because he knew how to play with strategy better than anyone I’ve ever worked with before”

“So what about him?” I asked.

"I got into bed with him and I'm stuck," He said.

I scrunch my face in disgust, thinking of all the worst scenarios with what he just said.

"Got into what?" I remarked.

"I started doing business with him and now I owe him, in this business you don't owe, if you owe someone something, consider yourself dead" He responded.

"What happened papa?" Hunter asked, leaning in and resting his elbows on his thighs. His muscles flexed and jaws clenched. You clould see how tense he was.

"I'm getting into that, relax" Dad responded.

He signed and took another sip from his water and cleared his throat, before opening the file that he brought with him and placing it on the table in front of him.

"Vladim is not your typical supplier, he doesn't threaten to kill you when he doesn't get his money from you, he just simply ruins your life"

He opened up to a specific page on the file and spun the file, sliding it towards us on the table. Hunter was the first to reach out and take the file. While he read, father spoke again.

"He supplied me a few bundles of a new product and as a part of the contract, I was supposed to give him 50% of the income. Whatever happens, I have to give him his 50%, even if I were to lose the product I will have to pay it to him out of my own pocket money. His job is to supply, mine is to deal but due to an incident that happened about a month ago, I am unable to pay him back" He explained.

Jax snatched the folder out of Hunter's hand and started reading.

"What happened a month ago?"I asked.

"We got ambushed, I made a stupid decision that put us in this situation, I let my emotional judgement get the better of me" He responded.

"Papa you're talking in riddles, please be clear" Jax says, getting tense.

"Remember how we said we will do whatever it takes to protect this family?" He asked and we nodded.

"Whatever it takes," Hunter repeated.

Dad got out of his chair and walked towards us, then stood in front of me and got on his knees. As this happened I could see my entire world crashing down because I could tell that whatever he's about to say has to do with me and is probably going to ruin my life.

"Irene… I have done whatever I could to keep you out of this business, to keep you safe and invisible from all of this because you're my only daughter, you remind me most of your mother" He said, ending with a smile.

He took my hands in his and looked me dead in the eyes. My heart raced and my brothers tense beside me, waiting to hear what my father has to say.

"Today I'm about to ask you for the biggest favor, more important than anything I have ever asked you for and I'm sorry that I'm about to ask you for this but I need it, WE… need it"

"Of course papa, anything for this family"

"You are about to take the reins for the future of this family" He smiled then released my hand and got up.

My dad has always been a beat around the bush type of guy, he wastes so much time saying unnecessary things instead of coming upright and saying whatever it is he wants to say.

He walked back to his seat and sat down.

"If the money is not received within 6 months, the most prized possession gets taken" Jax says, reading off the contract. Hunter reached over and snatched the file, gluing his eyes to it.

"Exactly… due to the fact that I'm unable to pay him back at the moment, I have to give him my most prized possession" He says, then looks at me "You,"

For some reason I couldn't help but smile, that's very touching. I tried so hard not to smile but I still ended up doing so.

"I'm your most prized possession?" I asked, placing a hand on my heart "That's so cute"

"Why are you so stupid?" Hunter asked, looking down at me in disgust "You're about to put your entire future at risk and you're smiling like a rat" He mocked my smile.

"Leave her alone son" Dad warned.

"I'm with him on this… I don't think sending our baby sister to a man like Vladim is a good idea" Jax added.

"What am I supposed to do even if I go to him?" I asked.

"He wants you to marry him," Dad said.