Chapter Two

Faith was feeling uncomfortable; the kind that rips you off your shell, makes you crumble and then melt into a puddle. She had never felt anything so overwhelming. She had been an emotional mess from the past few days, she agreed. It wasn't about her granny's or Josh's health. It wasn't about Alexander's strong grip on her waist that had made her feel real and vulnerable. 

It was something else. 

It was fear. 

She could feel it, rising slowly to her head, filling up it with images she would die to forget. Images of the past. But it had nothing to do with the present. Why was she  feeling so scared anyway? 

Alexander's departing words had affected her. Did he wish to take over this company? Josh would be heartbroken. But honestly, Alexander was the only heir and he probably deserved to get all that belonged to his father. 

It was something about his way, his behaviour that scared her. He was angry, almost hateful to his father. He wanted to hurt the old man, cause him pain and grief. The thought shuddered Faith. 

"Babe, Josh is calling you." Jeanie emerged her head from the cabin door and left from there before Faith could reply. 

Faith went in his cabin to see Josh. He was exasperated. Worried. But not timid and helpless as before. She took a breath of relief. "What's up, Josh? Do you need anything?" 

The old man looked at her, his eyes smeared with worry and fear. She couldn't reckon why he felt so fearful suddenly. The silence around them had gotten so thick that it could be sliced with a sword. Her gut was slowly twisting into knots as she anticipated what Josh was going to say to her. She didn't know why she was feeling so melodramatic about such a small thing but she knew her boss. And he refused to be scared at anything small. 

"Marry Alexander." It was more like a plead than a command. 

The statement unnerved her. "What?" 

Faith opened her mouth to say something but words failed her. 

"Before you say anything, just listen to me..." He pleaded and she listened. 

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His father was a swine, Alexander muttered under his breath. He was now in his home in New York, away from all the chaos of Texas. As he slid down on his easy chair, loosening up his tie that seemed to grasp his throat, he remembered his father's words. 

"You have to get married if you want my company!" He had said. 

Before department from Texas, Alex had decided to meet his father one last time and tell him to peace off, but his plan had completely backfired when Josh had given him an ultimatum - Marriage. 

The whole idea of marriage disgusted Alex. The mere thought of living in a house, shut up with one woman for the rest of his life made him want to run back and hide. 

The great Josh Hamilton had also mentioned that he, as an eligible heir to the position of CEO, had to get married and that too, with a good and decent woman worth of being called Hamilton family's daughter in law. 

Hell! All the women he knew were far from being good, or decent for that matter. They were cruel, selfish and utterly indecent, just as he liked, Alex mused. 

"Benedict, find all the eligible women in New York. Good and decent, all right?" Alex shouted on the phone. 

"Eligible for what, sir?" Benedict's voice was nervous. 

"Marriage." He cut the call. 

Throwing away his phone in anger, he began massaging his temples. They were aching like anything. The whole idea of marriage, the entire silliness of it, stressed him out. But he had a plan. He wasn't planning on being tied into a marriage, a loveless, cruel bond of selfishness and uncertainty. At least, that's what he believed. 

He had seen what a disaster marriage could be, up close; felt it with his being when he had seen disagreements raging between his parents, shredding his ten-year old self into pieces, breaking every ounce of positivity in him. He had become lost, so utterly and ridiculously, lost. 

"You love no one but yourself, Josh!" His mum had screamed. 

"Yes, I am a cruel person, Belle. Why don't you just leave me then, huh?" His father's angry retort. He remembered.

The fights, the disagreements, the cold wars. Alex had been tired of it all. Then one day, he found his mum, lying on the bed; an evacuated bottle of poison in her hand. 

The horrid flash came in front of his eyes, the one he had tried to sweep into the corners of his mind, hidden and concealed. The pain in his head intensified as he tried to somehow dust off the distant memory. The memory of his mum's suicide. 

It was murder. Not that his father was evil or had murdered his mum in some sick addiction. He was even incapable of killing a fly. It wasn't physically done by him. It was his emotional and mental torture that had coerced Isabelle Hamilton to end her life.

What kind of torture? 

Well, the pain of staying relentless nights alone, going through trauma and depression alone, craving for her husband's touch, support and love. She only craved, never got. Because she didn't know how to take or how to mark something as her own.

Alex wouldn't do the same mistake as her, he wouldn't be like his mum. He wouldn't spend his days craving love, support and success. He would take. He would conquer; until everything he wanted belonged to him.

That's what he did. And this time, that's what he would do. He would marry, even if it was a contract. With a devilish grin that seemed to round about his thin lips, he called up his lawyer, Martin Henderson and asked him to about a contract. A marriage contract of six months. When he was informed that it was possible, he breathed in relief. 

Now he just needed to find a perfect, good girl.

Decent. 

The word rang at the back of his head making it reel. What the hell did 'decent' mean anyway? 

He was yet to find out.