"Can I see that?" Céline asked, stretching out her hand. Her aunt closed the newspaper and handed it over to her. Céline took it from her aunt and flipped the pages looking for the news on Damien. It was not hard to find. On the top of the page where it was, boldly written. "DAMIEN CULHANE, IN SEARCH OF A WIFE!"
She chuckled, amused by such a title. She quickly read through, getting more interested with every word she read. Céline finished scanning the page and handed the magazine to her aunt with newfound excitement."Well, basically, I think his mom that put that in the news," Céline spoke up."Why would she do that?" Her aunt asked, confused by the conclusion she made."She is probably anxious to get her son a wife, seeing that she is not getting any younger. So she is going to whatever extent she can, including using the media.""Hmm, you have a point, but I doubt it." Her aunt said with a frown staring straight at Céline. "Why do you seem excited?""Well, I could be the bride she is looking for," Céline said, grinning from ear to ear."What did you just say!" her aunt exclaimed.Céline was starting to appreciate that her aunt loved to read the newspapers. She was getting information on things she now found quite helpful. She was in desperate need of money. There is a mother of some dumb rich guy in search of a bride for her son. It all clicked into place so perfectly?Céline had not been able to think of a decent plan to get the sum of money John wanted. She did not bother trying because she knew there was no way she could not get that money legally. Not with her job as a daycare teacher. She had majored in Statistics when she was in college and had had an office job as a market researcher but she had quit not too long when she realized she found her job way too boring. She much preferred her current job.But now, reading this newspaper, she realized that there could be a plan after all. A legit way she could get the money. She would marry a billionaire."Céline, forget it. You cannot marry that man." Her aunt stated flatly."Why? Is anything wrong with him?" Céline asked, confused."Yes! He is rich!""What is wrong with that?""No! There is nothing wrong with being simply rich but he is not just rich, he is a famous business mogul." Her aunt exclaimed."Which makes it all the better," Céline stated."No! Can you not see? He would be too busy for family. I want you to marry someone who will have time for you, Céline, someone who will have time to come out here with you to visit me once in a while, you know, a family man."Céline laughed out. "Is that what you are bothered about?""I mean, he does not even have time to look for a wife himself. What makes you think he would be interested in you?" Her aunt added, shooting her hands up. She looked frustrated and desperate for the topic to die, the idea which made Céline laugh all the more."Why would you want to marry him?" Her aunt asked, losing her patience."Well, I am not getting any younger. I will have to settle down someday, even better if it is a really rich man. He can take good care of me." She replied smiling."I appreciate the fact that you are talking about settling down. I mean, it is high time you started talking about that. But I expect you to be talking about someone you have met, someone you love. You know, someone you are seeing." She said so fast, Céline almost missed the words."Not some rich guy in a newspaper, whom you know nothing about!" She slowed down, making sure to emphasize that point."Probably, but love is not for me, I am seeing no one. It does not look like that will change anytime soon, so..." she did not finish her sentence allowing her aunt to reason out the rest of what she was to say."So you better step up your game and start looking." Her aunt completed it. That was far from what she had in mind."Well, that is what I am doing." Céline replied, smiling again.Her aunt facepalmed and glared at her. "You know that is not what I meant." She hissed."Aunt, would it be so bad if I could marry someone like Damien?"Her aunt sighed and remained silent. She was probably thinking. "I just want you to marry someone you love, Céline." Her aunt finally spoke up. "And I mean it when I say I want you to marry someone who will have time for you, someone who cares for you, not some money lover.""You are judging him too quickly, aunt. Just because he is rich does not mean he loves money and will not be a good husband. He could be a nice person. And who knows, we could fall in love with each other.""Pfft, you will probably not even see him until the wedding day." Her aunt said, chuckling. "You just read that," she added, pointing to the newspaper. "He has not even met any of the women his mom has offered. He is probably too busy for that. He has only seen their pictures."Céline laughed. "I know.""So what do you want to do? Email them asking to marry him? Because he is probably even too busy to see you? Don't you see how absurd and old-fashioned this is?""That's what I'm planning on doing. My friends are already getting married so should I. This situation isn't as bad as you make it seem.""Céline, do you want to marry him because of his money?" The words hit her. When she puts it that way, it makes her seem like an immoral person, but that was the exact truth. She wanted to marry Damien because of his money. Her aunt got the answer to her question from her face."Why?" her aunt just asked."Why what?" Céline asked innocently."Why do you want to marry Damien for his money?""I did not say that," Céline replied, laughing."It is obvious. The Céline I know would not make such a decision out of the blue. Now spill."There was no point lying to her aunt. She could trust her with the truth, just not all of it. She would tell her half-truth, leaving out the part about John."Yeah, I want to marry him because of his money.""I already know that. The question is why.""I want to find out who killed my parents, and I need money to do that." She said anxiously, hoping that her aunt would not ask her why she needed money to do that."That is new. All of a sudden?" Her aunt asked, surprised by her reply."No, it is not, I have always wanted to, but I never voiced it out.""Why?""Because I never had it in mind as a real set goal.""And now you do?" Her aunt asked, looking at her intently with interest."Yes." She said simply, not going any further and hoping her aunt does the same. Luck was not on her side."Why is it a goal now and how does it involve money?"Shoot.She had asked the one question she was dreading."Do not bother about it, aunt." She pleaded"Oh, hell no, Céline. I am bothered about it. Do you have any idea how dangerous it could be to dig into the past? I need to know how you plan on doing that and why it involves money.""I do not want to get you involved Aunt, can you just drop it?""No, I cannot. Whatever this plan of yours is. It is only going to go up in flames. Do you even know what marriage is and what you are setting yourself up to do? Marriage is a serious issue, and I cannot get involved."It was clear her aunt was not buying her story, so she would need to come up with a lie."What do you mean it is dangerous to dig into the past?" She asked her aunt, hoping it would distract her and buy her enough time to think up a lie."For all you know, your people who murdered your parents could still be alive and trying to find them could put you in danger. Why do you even want to find them?""I want to avenge their death." It slipped from her mouth suddenly. Her aunt became silenced completely, staring at her like she was trying to figure out if that was a joke she just cracked."You are not serious, are you?" her aunt was frowning slightly."I am." Her frown intensified."Céline, will you just do me a favour and forget this whole thing? What has come over you? You are trying to make regrettable decisions." Her aunt pleaded."I have made up my mind, aunt." Her voice was firm. It made her aunt realize that there was no point in arguing further."What do you need money for?" her aunt asked instead. Fortunately, she has been able to come up with a lie."I need to hire a private investigator, and that needs money." She said. "Filing a report would make it too public, and as you said, their murderers could be out there alive." She added immediately, not wanting her aunt to ask further questions on why she chose private. That was not her reason. She knew her reasons but her aunt did not need to know.Her aunt just stared at her for a long time, then sighed. "You have made up your mind, right?" her aunt asked, a note of sadness in her voice."I have.""And nothing I say right now will change your mind?""Yeah. Do not worry about it, aunt.""How can I not? You are putting your heart and life on the line for this. Do you think your parents would want that?"Céline laughed and stretched her hands to pick the magazine again. "It might not be too bad if I got married to Damien.""You do not know that.""We will find out," Céline said, smiling. "I just need one favour from you.""What?""I need to find out more about this offer. I think I will send an email to the address tomorrow. But I need to borrow your laptop, can I do that?""From the look of things, you are not giving me a choice, are you?" her aunt asked, sighing.Céline just smiled at her."I will let you send in the inquiry." Her aunt said. A little part of her has always wanted vengeance for her sister. She did not want it to be Céline doing it. She would be sacrificing her peace and happiness. But since she could not convince Céline otherwise, she grudgingly had to accept, doing the little she could sense it was for her sister. "I am doing this against my will. I am not in support of you pursuing this Damien or wanting to avenge your parents .""I know, aunt." Céline said, pouting. "You must be hungry. I will go make dinner." She added, pleased that her aunt was playing along. She stood up from the couch and headed for the kitchen to make dinner.She could only hope that this plan worked. The next time she meets John, she wants to be throwing money to his face and not begging for a rethink.Damien wondered the kind of energy God gave women as he listened to his mother rant on and on without so much as pausing to take a breath. "This is the sixth woman, Damien, the sixth! ""You are not getting younger, Damien, so you need to get married and settle down. I have been trying so hard to find you a model wife, one that calm take care of you and tame you somehow""Are you even aware that you have to pass your business empire to someone? And if you don't, you are just going to let it die with you, young man!"His mother never ceased to amaze him. Did she not just say he was not getting any younger, and then she called him a young man?"Mom, would you let me breathe? I am just thirty and not that old yet." He replied and sighed. "Some men marry at forty, and I'm not even close to forty".It was obvious mom was not pleased with what he just said. She looked ever ready to lash out her anger. Here we go again, another round of unending rant."F
Celine paced around her room, anxiously waiting for her aunt to return. It's been a while since she left. Céline was beginning to wonder what was taking her so long to return. She had texted her aunt to check her email inbox if there was a reply to her inquiry and application/request to the court and marry Damien Culhane.It sounded crazy enough in her head, and Céline could never bring herself to say it out. She had stopped too low.Had she been rejected? Was she not pretty enough? She tried so hard to look beautiful in that picture. She was tense, thinking about the outcome. She needed an answer now.If her aunt doesn't return soon enough, she might lose it."Oh God, help me. Help your poor daughter." Céline clasped her hands together and shut her eyes tightly. She desperately needed this.The sound of the front door closing brought her out of her thoughts. That must be her aunt. Without second thoughts, she ran down to meet her.
Friday was usually a hectic day for Damien. Damien has been sitting at his desk all day long, paperwork piling higher and higher. His butt started to hurt from sitting down for long, and his hand was stiff from writing and typing.Looking at the paperwork still left, he wondered what he had been doing all this while. The pile, a piece of mocking evidence that he has done nothing much. Well, what did he expect? He was the owner of nearly half the restaurants, boutiques, clubs and hotels in the state, so there would be lots of paperwork. Of course, he could afford a personal assistant, but he was carefully avoiding being a victim to the stuff usually depicted in cliché movies. Call it absurd, but he was not taking any chances.Pulling his chair backwards, he stood up and stretched, relieving the tension in his muscles.He glanced at his watch. It was 9:45 pm. He packed his things and headed out of his office. The deafening silence of
What she was wearing was simple, yet something about her made her stand out. There were a lot of classy dressed women on the dance floor. She was just on a crop top, cargo pants and boots, yet she was the one that drew his attention. He watched her closely. She was dancing with so much energy as if drugged by the music. She moved her hips like their only special purpose was to sway. The vibe radiating from her made him itchy to get on the dance floor and spin her away. He had not even seen her face yet!He patiently waited for her to turn around and face him, careful not to lose sight of her. When she did, he was completely and utterly charmed. He was not one to stare, but that was what he was doing right now, his jaw agape. This beauty was alarming, one you could not just ignore. With his jaw almost dropping to the floor, it was a surprise that Damien was not drooling. He took his time to take her in. She had red hair, and she tied up in a ponytail. The
Oh, Lord have mercy, who on earth did she just see? Was that Damien freaking Culhane! She turns around to face him properly to be sure.“Madame, were you leaving without your drink?” She raised her hand abruptly to shut the bartender up.It was like a reflex move. She would deal with the embarrassment later. “Damien? Damien Culhane?” She asked to be sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. If her eyes were, then her ears would not.“Yes, you know me?” He had a dreamy look in his eyes and was acting like he was trying to keep his balance and avoid falling off the long bar chair.The Damien she imagined should be more collected considering he was rich and famous. Was he drunk or something?“Of course, I know you! Who in the state does not?!”“I do not, or I did not, you popular bro?” The
The universe worked in mysterious ways. She has been killing herself for the past two days trying to cook up ways to meet and seduce this man, and here he is willingly presenting himself. Who ever thought it would be this easy.“Hello?? Uhm.” The bartender said, clearing his throat. “Lady and gentleman, I’m still here, you know, right in front of you in case you forgot or have not noticed.”“Nope, we did not forget, now would you stop interrupting?” Damien replied.Someone needed to tell him that!“So will you? Please, baby.” he seemed desperate.Oh hell yeah! She would not miss this opportunity for the world. After tonight, she would get this man to marry her. “Yes,” she said, trying not to sound desperate herself.She heard the bartender sighed. P
“Here we are.” Damien said, parking his car.He had just brought a literal angel home. It all happened so fast. After she disappeared from the dance floor, he thought he would never set his eyes on her again.Guess luck was on his side. In the next few minutes after he spotted her, she was right in front of him. Even more, luck, because she seemingly knew and liked him.He never brought home girls from clubs. Damien usually booked a room at a hotel or crashed their house. He was not this reckless on a regular day.But, Celine was different. He could not put it in words, but something about her pulling him in. He had also been wasted on alcohol, so that could also be it.Her name was Celine. Was that some kind of coincidence?He turned to look at her. She had not moved an inch since he announced that they had arrived at his hou
“Céline, please,” he begged. She still ignored him, showing him what those hands promised once she got them on his body. The sight of her in her panties alone was making him go crazy, then what she was doing was enough to take away the little sanity he had left. He would not sit and let her torture him, so he stood up and went over to her.“Céline, stop.” He said, raising his voice and grabbing her two hands and holding them above him.“What should I stop doing- this?” She asked, releasing her right hand from his and using it to grab his cock.He opened his eyes immediately and looked down at her hand.She was working it, just the way he rubbed her breast through her bra when it was still on a few minutes ago. Her hand was fulfilling one of its promises.He moaned her name. He was still in his trousers, yet it felt so good.