Chapter One: Kendra

“Have a seat, Kendra.” I slowly sat down on the brown leather chair opposite my father’s large mahogany desk. I had never liked its brown shade. It was so dark, almost black. There was a man that I didn’t know sitting right in front of me.

          He seemed familiar, but I didn’t know who he was, or if I had ever seen him before. He was staring at me, as if he was studying my every move.

          You only needed one glance to know how handsome he was. His tanned skin glowed under the yellow light of the room. His chocolate brown hair looked so soft.

          I tried not to stare at him and glanced once again at my father. I didn’t like coming to his office. It was a dull place that sucks the soul out of my body.

All my unpleasant childhood memories took place here. Just being here made my skin itch, and comfort would only found me after I left.

          “What’s going on?” I just wanted to get it over with. I wanted to know what he wanted from me before I found my way out.

          “Kendra, I want you to meet Declan Davenport.” My eyes widened at the name, realizing who that man was. What the hell was he doing in my father’s office?

The Davenports and Hazelwoods had always hated each other, so I didn’t understand why the heir to the Davenport throne was sitting here. The animosity between the two families had run so deep. I didn’t even know how it started, but I knew that they were our number one rival in the market.

          The gears in my head started twisting as I attempted to put the pieces together, but there were no pieces to put together anyway. I just had to wait to find out whatever my father was about to tell me, because surely, he didn’t just want to introduce me to Declan Davenport just for the hell of it.

          “Nice to meet you.” I offered him a polite smile, not wanting to be rude. Without smiling, he just nodded at me, his face concealing any emotion that could appear on a human’s face. 

          “As you know, Kendra, the two families have a long history of rivalry, but we want to bury everything under the ground,” my father started. Why did I have a feeling that I was not going to like where this was going? “To end the feud between the two families, I have decided that you’re going to marry Declan Davenport.”

A gasp escaped my throat at my father’s words. Was I imagining things? There must be a mistake! I didn’t want to get married.

Well, I wanted to get married someday, but not like that. And I had a boyfriend! However, my father knew nothing about him because we weren’t that serious, and my father wasn’t exactly the warmest person to talk to about such matters. Yet, that didn’t mean that I was ready for that drastic change in my life.

          “I don’t want to get married to a stranger!” I exclaimed, not caring that the stranger was sitting right in front of me. Yes, he was one hell of a handsome stranger, but I couldn’t just get married to him because he was handsome and loaded. I didn’t know anything about him.

My eyes darted toward his direction. The way he held himself together was absolutely unbelievable. I didn’t understand how somebody could be calm like that while I was practically fuming before him. Did he expect this reaction from me? “I’m not a peace offering.” I directed my words to my father.

          “You have a couple of months to get to know Declan, Kendra, before the wedding takes place. Of course, he wants to know his future wife, too.”

          The fact that my father was speaking on his behalf is infuriating. Didn’t the mighty Declan Davenport have a tongue or something? Was he used to people fighting his battles for him?

          “Two months?” I snapped at the absurdity of this situation as I jumped to my feet, my fists balled beside me. I knew I was about to pay later for my outburst, but I didn’t care at the moment.

My father’s cool demeanor got under my skin. He was not always this calm, though. His anger made me want to hide sometimes. “You think you can get to know a person in two months and make up your mind about marrying them? I’m not getting married to him!” I exclaimed, looking between the two men in front of me.

          “You don’t have a choice, Kendra. You will marry Declan whether you like it or not.” The warning in my father’s tone didn’t go unnoticed. That was the tone he used with me whenever he wanted to remind me who had the power.

While he might be the most powerful individual in this household, I never went down without a fight.

          I would never let that man break my spirit. Not with his words or the way he favored my half-sister, Amanda.

          “Why don’t you ask Amanda instead?” I crossed my arms over my chest. I knew that he would never do that, and he didn’t need to spell out the reasons for me.

          “Amanda is still young. You’re older, so you get married first.” He might have a point, but I also knew the reason he chose not to say out loud. He would never give his favorite daughter to a Davenport.

I was just a sacrifice. He wanted to get rid of me, and so did his wife. She had always wanted that ever since she set foot in this house seventeen years ago.

          “How long is this marriage supposed to be?” I asked, sitting down. Deep down, I knew that I didn’t have a choice, so I was going to do what I did best. I was going to negotiate. I needed to get the best out of this deal.

          “Do marriages have expiration dates in your family?” I looked at the man I was supposed to marry when he finally spoke. During that whole heated discussion, he hadn’t said a word until now. Sarcasm dripped from his tone, but he still had a poker face.

          “What the hell are you talking about, Kendra?” My father gave me a stern look that I ignored. My heart was pounding, and it took a lot of effort to prevent my body from shaking. I had to remind myself that he couldn’t touch me when a stranger was in the room with him.

          “I’m not going to live the rest of my life in a loveless marriage,” I clarified with a shrug. My carelessness was an act. I kept myself busy with tracing the intricate details on the edge of his desk while keeping my eyes on the crystal ball that held a ridiculously expensive fountain pen that nobody could use but him.

          “Divorce isn’t on the table,” my father said, but I shook my head without looking at him. If I did, terror might take over every part of me. It was hard to refer to him as ‘Dad’ because he had never been a dad to me.  

          “Then find another daughter who can marry Declan.” I got up from my seat, knowing he wouldn’t let me ruin the deal for him.

          “Sit down!” he growled. Over the years, I had perfected the way I hid how his voice sometimes sends a tremor through my body. It was an electric shock that paralyzed me for a moment before I snapped back to reality.

          I hated that I didn’t have the power to leave, but I was working on that. Once I could walk away, I would never look back. In fact, fate might be giving me my chance on a silver platter by bringing Declan Davenport here.

          “I’m not marrying him without a way out.” I held my ground. I wouldn’t leave a prison cell only to be locked for the entirety of my life in another one.

          “If you don’t do what I say, I will make your life a living hell! You’ll be cut off, and I will make sure not to let anybody hire you in the entire country.” That was the worst thing about being a member of a powerful family. They tended to threaten you with their connections.

          “I don’t appreciate you yelling at my future wife,” Declan’s voice was calm but stern. My father glared at him for a couple of seconds before he exhaled loudly. His presence was giving me a weird kind of strength because, for the first time in so long, I realized that somebody might not be against me in this household.

          “If you make my life a living hell, you still won’t have a daughter who can marry Declan,” I pointed out. He knew that he would lose if I didn’t get what I wanted, too.

          “Three years,” Declan spoke again. I met his gaze and swallowed the lump in my throat. He was watching me with great interest, trying to figure me out. He was waiting for me to voice my next statement.

          “And what do I get in return?” I asked, sitting down again.

          “Didn’t you already get an expiration date?” my father said through gritted teeth as if this could ever be enough. This man was delusional. This marriage might help me, but it was also going to be a setback in my plans that nobody knew anything about. Yet, their obliviousness didn’t mean that I shouldn’t be compensated.

          “Why the hell would I pay you anything?” He was losing his temper. Scary as that might be, I was loving it. I wanted him to know that even after everything, I was not broken. I still had the power to fight.

          I was glad that nobody could sense my frantic pulse or the way it drummed in my ears. I had succeeded in schooling my breath into an even rhythm, although my heart was about to jump out of my chest.

          “See, I said nothing about money, but now that you mention it, I want five million dollars for each year I spend in this marriage. I don’t care who pays this sum out of the two of you, but yeah, that’s what I want,” I said, flexing my fingers in front of me as I looked at my nails. I made it look like I was provocatively admiring my nails, but I was actually trying to relax my knuckles because they had been clenched for a while.

          “You’ll get nothing from me,” he hissed, and I tried to appear unfazed, but it took a lot of power to prevent myself from flinching.

          “I’ll give you three million dollars for each year you spend in this marriage. But in return, if you want out earlier, you have to pay me the same amount for every year you won’t spend married to me.” Declan laid his offer in front of me. That didn’t seem bad.

          “If you think I will pay one cent if you want out earlier, you’re out of your mind,” my father muttered, and I shrugged.

          “Not counting on it, Dad.” I stood up again and looked at the man I was supposed to spend the upcoming three years of my life with. “I want this deal to be in writing, future husband.” 

          “Of course.” He surprised me when he stood up because I did not expect him to be that tall. How tall was he? Six foot three? I’m five foot nine, and he made me feel short. His eyes met mine for a second, and I didn’t understand the reason behind the chill that had just spread through my body. “I will see you later, future wife.”