Chapter 1

LEENA'S POV

It had been three years together. Growing up as childhood friends, Zack and I had always had our lives planned out. We had been supportive of each other all through High school days. We were the inseparable Bonnie and Clyde.

Yet, we had never once considered dating each other . Not until three years ago when he returned from the UK and both our families decided to take things to another level. That was when he changed, that was when he developed a sudden hatred for me.

And I had no idea why that was.

My mother had died when I was eight years old, and my father remarried four years after that. I could not blame him for deciding to do so. He had waited for a long time before giving love a second chance.

His choice was not the best, Because she walked in with her daughter and they both despised me greatly. A part of me believed that she could not wait to send me out of my father's house.

Zack and I had just gotten engage two weeks ago when I returned from a business trip. I thought about his deep, dark, hazel eyes, small lips, and tall, hard frame. I had always taken responsibility for him everytime when we were in school.

He was extremely handsome, yet, I could not bring myself to love him beyond friendship. It was hard, but all my life, I had only ever done what my family required of me. What they had decided for me.

I walked towards my mirror, dressed in a pink suit and matching jewelries, my hair was packed up elegantly, remitting an air of grace and poise. Anyone would think I lived in a palace. I put on my favorite beaded head band.

Today was our court marriage. Zack's family ran an oil company which wanted to divert into raw materials trade. Our Company was involved in the refining of raw materials like crude oil and other resources for factories as well as other businesses.

The oil business was good, but they wanted to expand, and Father thought it would be a great idea to link up with them. That was when the idea to get married came up. The idea to set up a relationship between Zack and I surfaced.

I straightened out the lines on my dress. The Managing Director of Eastwoods Refinery, I had alot to stand for.

I walked down the stairs to the living room where I was certain Zack would be waiting for me. They did not hear me walk down the stairs, because I was certain that if they had, they would not have been sitting so close to each other.

Kara, my step sister, had always her eyes on the things that belonged to me, and so, when I saw her siting on his laps.

That was the first mistake and I should have known better than to pretend I was strong, pretend I did not see what I had seen.

I quietly walked down the stairs and as soon as my heels hit the last step, Kara jumped off him and adjusted her clothes. I watched her with cold eyes, unmoving, unaffected.

I knew why this marriage was important to us, and I was not going to jeopardize it for anything else.

Zack threw on a smile that was pretentious. A clout chasing, ass kissing kind of smile. I looked down at his trouser, ha! He had a boner. He liked it! He liked her! Yet, he had proposed to me. 

He had said that he loved me and getting married to me was the most important thing to him in the world. I had felt almost breathless, like the air in my lungs were being threatened. I knew he was lying, because the menace in his eyes had betrayed him.

I steeled myself for the journey ahead. I knew there was no backing out now. I did not expect a man like Zack to love me. A man whose only concern was for the things beneath the skirts of a woman.

Sometimes I wondered how I had called him my childhood friend. 

"Hey baby." He said, walking up to me and grabbing my wrist. He kissed me lightly on my cheeks, and I could smell the appalling fragrance of her perfume all over him, even on his breath.

I turned away from him, hurt by his outward betrayal. I cared about him, perhaps too much.  I did not demand anything from him but that he respected me. He respected our friendship and kept to the agreement we had.

"She is my step sister, Zack." I whispered to him. His eyes shot at me. His dark hazel eyes accused me of being the less better person.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He growled in a deep, husky voice.

I knew he did not care. If there was one person in the world whom the statement, "I don't give a shit" was made for, it was Zack.

He gave little shit for anything anyone thought, not his parents, not his family, and surprisingly, not even me.

His grip tightened like a vice on my wrist. I twisted my arm slowly but it only became tighter. His eyes darkened even further as I struggled to set my wrist free from his bruising grip.

How did we end up here? When har I become the enemy? How and when was my reluctance to go ahead with the marriage mistaken for a sole desire to strip him of his freedom? 

We had never even dated, and I had never even taken the time to see him as anything more than the handsome Billionaire friend that he was.

Yet, my hand trembled now that I stared in his eyes, my stomach hurt at the hate I saw reflected in them. Beads of anger and storms brewed at the same time, stewing a venom that was going to poison me for the rest of our relationship.

Why? Why did he hate me? I wanted to ask, but the words turned sour on my tongue as soon as I tried to speak.

"Do not forget that this is only an agreement. A deal crafted by our families to suit their business thirsts. You and I are nothing but a contract. Don't overstep your boundary by questioning me again!"