THE ENCOUNTER

I sat at the window of the plane, looking at the clouds but not really seeing them. I felt a sharp pain in my ribcage, like a shattered bottle scraping through it. I placed my hand on my chest stroking it in an upward and downward motion, a survival mechanism that I learnt from my mom, and it actually worked.

“He is a fool” Mack said from his seat. I turned to his direction and tried saying something but I couldn’t find the words.

He just shattered our seven-year relationship. After everything we’ve been through, he decided to let it go for a few seconds of pleasure. The thing that hurt the most was Aliana. She was always there for me, laughed with me, shed tears with me, we literally did almost everything together. To think that she didn’t act at all like the person who’d betray me. It hurt more than anything else in the world did.

“Liam has no idea the gem he just threw away right now.” The way he said it made me shudder. He was staring at me like I was a priceless piece of art, something that has been coveted by powerful men for ages and he was so pleased with himself for.

“Do you want me to take care of your little friend?” He asked. The way he said it put me on edge. There was a dark, vindictive tone to his words that didn’t quite sit right with me.

“I don’t want to waste another second of my time with Aliana. She’s dead to me.” I said with a boldness that I didn’t quite feel. He nodded as if pleased with my response.

“That’s right. People like that don’t deserve our time. We just need to focus on the main thing right now, which is our marriage.”

It just dawned on me then that I had agreed to marry this strange man that I had only met last night. He wasn’t just some rich handsome man I met at the most terrible club in New York, but was actually someone with more power and influence I could have ever dreamed on knowing. His mere presence made me squirm and, despite the flirty and care free way he spoke, he did have a hint of authority laced in his tone which made it hard for anyone to defy him. Even while I was back at his office, calling him crazy in my mind and thinking of the ways I could escape him without getting myself killed, I knew just how powerful he was just from how confidently he spoke.

“About our wedding, I started slowly, willing my heart to stop racing like that.

“I believe we should get married really soon. There is no more time to waste.”

I gulped. That was the exact opposite of what I wanted to say. I had only agreed to marry him because I was mad at Liam in that moment and I felt that agreeing to marry someone else in front of him would make him feel as horrible as I felt then. I didn’t actually mean it. I wanted to call it off, take back my statement, but something told me you didn’t retract a statement you made once you already said to a man like Mack.

“But I need more time to prepare. It’s my wedding day too, you know. I can’t just show up wearing just about anything.” I needed to find a way to stall this until I could come up with a more convincing reason why we couldn’t get married.

Mack smiled, his handsome face lighting up as he did so, and waved his hand in the air dismissively.

“Darling, I could get us married as soon as we land this plane and it’d be the most spectacular event of the century. You don’t need time to plan the perfect wedding – all you need is money. Don’t worry about the details, I’ll take care of it. All you have to do is show up and be as beautiful as you are right now.”

I did not feel beautiful at all. I felt sick to my stomach and scared. I felt angry and used. But most of all, I felt like I was walking straight to the slaughter house and I picked the knife myself.

“We aren’t married yet and you’re already trying to boss me around.” I could have been an actress with the way I played the role of confident soon-to-be-wife perfectly. “Tell me, now that I’ve gotten a glimpse of how our married life would be, why would I go ahead with it?”

Mack stared at me longer than I was confident enough to hold his gaze. My eyes started to waver and I so badly wanted to look at anything else but him, but I wanted to show no fear, no weakness, so I held my gaze despite how I felt.

He walked up to me, slowly and intimidatingly, but I had a feeling he didn’t intend for me to feel intimidated by him. Mack was just like that.

“Because, darling, you know as much as I do that Liam deserves hell and that the only way he will receive what’s coming to him is if you married me.”

“Why me though? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else? I’m certain that as the CEO of the biggest, most powerful weapons company, you had a long line-up of girls just waiting to take your last name.”

He paused, trying to assess me and figure out whatever he wanted to figure out. “You are exactly what I need, Claire Moore. You have absolutely no idea how precious you are. Think water found in a desert, a whisper in a void.”

“A diamond in the rough,” I added. He smirked and my heart skipped a beat from how painstakingly handsome he looked.

“Yeah. That sort of thing.”

We were locked in a staring contest. His grey eyes pierced through my soul like an x-ray trying to uncover my deepest, darkest secrets. My body felt hot, like it was on fire or something. My hand itched to touch him, kiss him. An image of his face from last night crossed my mind and I swallowed hard.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, darling?” His voice was so low and gruff, it made my stomach churn and in between my legs moist.   

My heart jumped in excitement at the thought that he could tell what I thought.

“I love that you decided to not wear a bra today.” It took all my will power, but I managed to pry my eyes away from his face and look down at my chest. Sure enough, my desires were displayed for him to see. It made me feel exposed and vulnerable and I didn’t like that one bit. I tried to cover it up, but he had my hand in his in record time, while his other hand trailed up my top.

The only reason why I was reacting this way to his touch was because the aphrodisiac hadn’t worn off. There was no other explanation as to why I was sexually attracted to a man I didn’t even know.

“You are the most beautiful thing in the world,” he whispered softly, his palm against my cheek now and no longer over my hand. I let out a small gasp when I felt his hand glide underneath my top and cup my breast. “How about we continued from where we stopped last night?”

He didn’t give me any time to respond. His lips were covering mine almost immediately, knocking whatever little sense I had left right out of me. I moaned and grabbed his arm when his tongue slipped into my mouth and found mine. His other hand was working wonders underneath my top and I didn’t want it to stop.

This is the aphrodisiac. This is most definitely the aphrodisiac.

“Excuse me sir, but the plane is about to land.”

In that moment, I wanted the plane to implode and take me out of my misery. I tried to hide my face from the steward who had come to inform us of the landing plane but it was no use. Unlike me though, Mack looked completely unaffected by being caught in this position. He smirked at me, a teasing, taunting smile and turned to face the steward.

“Alright then. I guess we’ll have to continue this some other time.”

He went back to seat on the other aisle and looked out the window, completely ignoring me like he hadn’t just raged a storm in me.

The time it took the plane to descend and land felt like an eternity. I wanted to get off that plane, maybe take a hot shower alone – or with Mack, whichever was fine by me.

No, not with Mack. Away from Mack.

As we got down from the plane, Mack leading our exit, I felt a sudden sense of dread creep up my spine. The presence I felt was confirmed when I noticed that Mack didn’t move an inch after taking the last step down the stairs of his private jet. I looked ahead to see who he was staring at that made his face turn cold and stiff.

The woman in front of us had a very cold stance and expression plastered on her face. Her tight chignon hairdo reminded me of those English headmistresses in boarding schools that made it their life’s mission to torment the children that went there. Her entire demeanour was scary and the jewellery she had on only managed to enunciate her iciness.

There was a long and uncomfortable silence then. When her eyes met mine, I thought I would disintegrate. Finally, Mack marched up to her and said, “Hello mother. Fancy seeing you here.”