Chapter 1 - the Limousine

The Crow Woman once loved with a heart so pure

But love is fickle and it didn't endure

Her heart shattered into a million pieces

And she struggled to find a sense of completeness

Ten men were standing before her, and she had to decide. Her superrich granddad made it clear: she gets married to one of the men pointed out by him, or she can forget about the fabulous fortune. 

She was furious with her granddad and would easily resign from his multi-billionaire inheritance, but there was something more. Or it would be better to say someone more - her dying mum. A merciless trap had been set on her by her own granddad, who had a piece of ice in place of a heart. 

When her mum came down with leukaemia, she was nearly eighteen. They had no one to rely on - the only man in the family, who was supposed to play the role of a husband and father, left them at the very beginning as soon as he learned that Melany was excluded from her wealthy family. 

Her rich dad didn't want to have anything to do with a daughter, who disdained his money and plan for her life. So instead of getting married to his pupils, Melany chose to be banished and pursued her only true love. 

Before it all happened, she got pregnant with Patrick, and he was over the moon when he heard about it. However, at that time, Patrick still thought that Melany was rich. 

One day all the newspaper in the whole country exploded with one topic: 

"Melany has been disinherited!" 

And when she confirmed it with a broad smile to his beloved boyfriend, she got frozen - Patrick changed utterly. His sensitive look turned into stone. She wanted to hug him, yearning for support, but instead of strong, safe arms, he pushed her away and left her flat with a loud bang of the shuttered door. From that day on, she had never seen him again. 

Wholly abandoned, Melany decided to give birth to her baby. That is how Bianca was born, and it had taken a long time before the press forgot about the story, calling her daughter a bastard. 

Melany led a modest life struggling to make ends meet. The feeling of betrayal was so strong that she never fell in love again. She wanted to forget about all the men in her life and pour her pure love onto her only child. That is how she became a strong woman despite being deprived of all the privileges she had gotten used to.

It seemed all would be fine, but fate decided to do it another way. 

One cold December night Melany was coming back home after a long day of work in a restaurant kitchen. Suddenly, she fell on the pavement, unconscious. White snowflakes started falling from the sky when somebody noticed a lying woman in the street. That was already half an hour on the cold wintery night. 

The yellow taxi stopped, and a big fluffy man opened the door. He looked closer at the lying woman and turned his head around - there was no one in sight. 

"Why is it happening to me?", he groaned when struggling to leave the car.

"You're damn dead!!", the thick moustache moved as he saw Melany's bluish lips. 

"Oh dear, oh dear." - he moaned, beating himself in the head and trying to come up with something sensible. It looked like thinking wasn't his strong side. Three minutes later, Melany was inside his taxi. The next fifteen minutes passed when they finally got to the hospital.

The journey wasn't over yet, but it was just about to start. 

A black crow sat on the hospital room's windowsill, looking for shelter in the December blizzard. Bianca was sitting by her mother's bedside, her eyes full of tears. She was about to turn 18 next week, but instead of joy, she felt petrified. Doctors left no doubt - leukaemia was about to steal their lives. 

"Mom, please don't leave me now!", Bianca cried, holding her mother's limp hand.

"We will figure it out! You'll deal with it, like always!"

Melany's pale face remained motionless. Her lips, despite the warm bed, were still navy blue. Five minutes longer in the street would have killed her. 

"I'm sorry, my child.", the doctor's words tore her heart apart.

"Your mom is very sick. We wouldn't have known that she was sick if not for the taxi driver. However, her disease is progressing very fast. It's unbelievable how she could have normally functioned so far." 

The woman looked at Melany with great admiration. "But now we need a miracle.", she caressed Bianca. The doctor resembled a hangman in her white outfit and a black stethoscope hanging over her neck. "You're almost an adult. I can't lie to you."

Bianca, with reddened eyes full of tears, looked up at her.

"There must be something we could do to save her. Please, say so! Please!", she repeated, begging for hope. Bianca fell to her knees next to her mom. 

The doctor turned her eyes away.

"I don't want to give you any illusional hope. But...", she lowered her voice: "There is some medicine. It has not yet been proven fully effective. And it's not even permitted by the Ministry of Health. Only some predictions allow us to believe there is some potential in it. But, my child...", she paused and closed her eyes. "To get it may cost a fortune. Even more, than you can imagine."

Bianca stared at her mother's deprived-of-life face when the crow knocked with his beak on the window. At first, she didn't even notice that, but then it happened again and again. 

She got up and came to the window. Then, having the doctor's words resonating in her head, she saw the black bird with some white flakes on its feathers. It observed what was going on inside the room. 

Bianca had to wipe her eyes to regain focus. And then their eyes met - at that very moment, she experienced something strange - a picture of her granddad's family crest flashed in her mind, and she finally realised it was also a black crow. It could not be a coincidence. 

And it wasn't. 

On her birthday, a navy blue envelope with a carved stamp in black resin went through her letterbox. She had come back from the hospital just an hour ago. Melany was still unconscious. The clock was ticking, and her light of life was weakening. 

Bianca broke the crow, which sealed the envelope. The paper was solid, and it had very sharp edges. She was exhausted after spending the whole night by her mom's bedside. But the letter completely shocked her. She felt as scared as excited. 

With a trembling hand, she took out a stiff sheet of paper. While unfolding the letter, the sharp edge cut her finger. 

"Ouch!", Bianca jumped out of pain. She put her finger into her mouth and started to suck the blood. But when she saw the big crow in the middle of the page, she quickly forgot about the cut. The first words of the letter went like this:

Dear Bianca, 

today you have already come of age. I have been waiting for this day since you were born to give you a chance to join my family. It involves many privileges as well as duties. The most essential one is to get married to one of the chosen by me candidates. 

Bianca couldn't believe her eyes. She felt as if her legs melted under the burden of these words. It looked like the story of her mom repeated itself right then. 

The letter continued:

If you agree to my conditions and one of the men becomes your husband, you will become the only heiress to my fortune. But there is no way back. You can only get a divorce at the end of your life. This way, you can save your mother. The needed money for the treatment is within reach of your hand. Just pick your future husband. 

The handwritten letter showed a sign that there was no room for negotiation. Bianca couldn't stop her tears. She rubbed her mouth and then felt something metallic on her lips. 

Red blood smeared her face. Then, finally, she remembered the finger. A big stain of blood spilt on the letter marking her fate.

She felt like someone wanted to steal from her the most precious thing in a girl's life - the right to love - but at the same time, she would never forgive herself if she dismissed even the slightest chance to save her mom.

Her granddad knew precisely how to play the whole thing out. Especially since Melany was still unconscious and couldn't forbid her to fall into the trap.

However, Bianca would have done it even if Melany had threatened she would stop loving her. 

The next day at 6 pm, she was supposed to arrive at her granddad's. There was no time to deliberate about it or even ask for advice. She had to trade off her own life and lock herself up in a golden cage to save her mom's life. That wasn't a fair agreement. It was more like signing a prank with the devil. 

Bianca was restless the whole night. Her usually pale cheeks turned red from anxiety. She tried not to think about the incoming meeting. But, her imagination, fueled by fear, broke out the cascade of disturbing images in her mind. 

"God! I'm going to marry a complete stranger. How am I supposed to pick the right one?", she shivered with fear, her thoughts louder than thunder. 

The clock hanging in the kitchen struck midnight. Bianca heard it clearly in the empty flat. And that meant one thing - it was her birthday. She officially became an adult - a responsible for herself woman. 

Before closing her eyes, the clock struck again - one o'clock after that, two and three. She was still wide awake. Every clock bell made her feel like a convict waiting for execution the next day.

Cold wintery air coming from the open window couldn't cool her down. Hot drops of sweat moistened the sheet - by the morning, the whole bed was sunk in Bianca's smell of terror. 

The time was passing too quickly, and having no sleep, suddenly she realised that it was already dawning. She couldn't lie anymore, so she got up and sat in the empty kitchen. 

Despite the rising sun, everything was still covered in gloom. Bianca saw her mom's coat which she had taken from the hospital. It was all dirty after Melany's fall in the street that night. She washed it and hung it on the chair by the table. The view of the coat completely broke her into tears, and before she noticed, the clock struck again. 

"Mom", Bianca cried. "Why did you leave me alone?"

In the response, she heard only silence. How much she would want to be a small girl again and never grow up. 

Bianca didn't remember when she left her flat and reached the hospital. Soon the girl found herself in the hospital room. Melany's face was still without any sign of life. Her daughter took her hand and froze like a rock. Time seemed to cease to exist. The following hours Bianca spent like a shadow of herself, yearning for a miracle to happen.

It didn't happen. Instead, the very peculiar and feared moment was about to come.

A black limousine turned up sharp in time at 5.30. Bianca stood in the park next to the fountain. The water sang something like a lullaby to the drowsing dark evening. She wished to be just a part of her bad dream. And there was just half an hour to change her mind. 

"Am I able to do it?", Bianca shivered inside. She wanted to run away and finally wake up. 

"Miss Bianca?", the driver with a white snow complexion opened the car door. 

"I'm doing it for my mom.", she said in her mind. Her heart stopped for a moment.

"Yes, that's me.", Bianca replied silently, turning her head down. 

"Please, get in."

The door slammed. The limousine drove off in an unknown to her direction. Unfortunately, that direction meant her fate to be left in the arms of her future husband - a complete stranger.