Kiana James’s world shatters when she is forced to break the heart of the man she loves-her childhood sweetheart, Calvin. To save her father’s failing business, she agrees to an arranged marriage with the powerful Alexandria Cartwright. Cold, commanding, and devastatingly handsome, Alexandria is a man used to getting what he wants as he is known for his cold demeanor and ruthless deals. To Kiana, it may seem that their marriage is just another contract-a necessary alliance for her father’s business. But as she steps into his world of wealth and intrigue, she finds herself drawn to the man beneath the icy exterior. Passion ignites, blurring the lines between duty and desire, yet shadows from the past threaten to tear them apart. Torn between a love she lost and a fate she never expected, Kiana must decide: fight for the life she once wanted, or surrender to the man who might just be her destiny.
Lihat lebih banyak“No, no, no, I said shouting at the top of my lungs. I will not marry him.
I refuse to, I will not marry Alexandria Cartwright, he has a bad reputation”, I said, shouting and pleading with my eyes with tears rolling down my eyes. “Kiana Elizabeth James”, called my mother ‘Lana James’. “Please baby just do as your father says”, she pleaded. “You can’t just marry me off like that. I’m not some cattle or property to be sold to the highest bidder”. You are not a cattle neither are you property. My mother said. “I don’t think you guys love me at all, 'cause if you do you would at least consider my feelings and not force me to marry that evil bastard”, I said tearfully. “Please my love, you are not just doing this for us, you are also doing this for the family, your baby brother”. “Kiana” called my father, “please calm down, let's go to my study room to talk more on this”. “No, I’m not going anywhere with you” I busted out. “I know you guys are doing this for your own selfish reasons and are not thinking about me”. No, my baby, no, that’s not the reason at all, please my dear, just calm down, let's talk like mature adults that we are. “If not so, why do you want to marry off your barely twenty-four-year-old daughter to a man you don’t know well other than the fact he’s dad’s ‘work friend’, I said, using my fingers to make air quotes. “I refuse to be a pawn in one of your stupid little games”. “Kiana”, my father shouted in a very loud tone and I recoiled a bit, shocked. “Let's discuss more on this matter in my study room”. This was one of the very few times my father ever raised his voice at me. I looked at his face and saw anger in my father’s face, not wanting to hear anymore I ran towards the door, opening it and shutting it with a loud bang. “Whats wrong dear”, Mr Beagle called from the driveway, leaning on my father's black car. Mr Beagle was my father’s driver, who had been with us since I was seven. He was basically like my second father since my father was not at home all the time. “Why are you crying dear”? “Come, come, sit here”, he said while tapping at the hood of the car. “What happened?”. I sat down on the hood of the car, and with tears rolling down my chin, I began explaining my predicament to him. By the time I was done explaining, he was mortified. “I don’t understand how your father can sell his daughter out just to save his business”. “I understand that the business is very bad right now and sympathize with him, hell, even I know that I will soon be fired from my job”. “But I can't just see the meaning behind his thought process or his reasoning”. “I am disappointed, all the respect I have for him, about his family is gone, like puff, and here I was thinking that he loved you guys so much and this is how he treats you guys when he reaches one of his lowest point in life”. “I don’t know what to say. Do you think you can do it?. I am just asking because I don’t know if you are crying out of frustration or out of disappointment”. He said. I looked at him with disdain, like he had suddenly grown two heads. He saw the look on my face and panicked rushing to correct himself. “No, I mean, are you going to accept the proposal, because I know you, you’re obedient to a fault or are you going to disobey and not marry him?” “I will say choose the latter choice but it's still your life at the end of the day, so whatever you choose I will support you”. “I don’t know yet,” I said sniffing. “On one hand I want to rebel but on the other hand I know what will happen if I don’t agree to this marriage”. “The banks will probably foreclose our home, my father will probably arrested and sent to jail because I know he did some shady dealings, while my mum and my brother will have no place to go to”. “As you know my mum has no one, and my father's side of the family wants nothing to do with us and has promised to not help us in any way they can”. I just don’t want to be the reason this family falls apart. “Hey!, hey!, hey!, listen to me”, Mr Beagle said, shaking me by my shoulders as if to snap me back to my senses. “You are not the cause of this predicament, your father is, and so, for that reason alone, should your family fall apart, it's all his fault”. “He was selfish by acting without thinking about the consequences and he failed to protect you guys in the process”. “So don’t you ever ever feel guilty for something that wasn’t caused by you”. He said in a stern voice. “Do you understand”, he said while making eye contact with me as if he was daring me to think otherwise. “To make matters worse, I don’t even know who I’m getting married to”. I said smiling through the pain. Mr Beagle looked at me with pitiful eyes and shook his head. “So, I can see you’ve already made your choice”. “If so, then could you ask your father for his name, so that I can ask my daughter who is a computer guru for help”. “We can tell her to help us find out who he is, what he looks like, what he does, the family he comes from, and other things” " he said smiling, She does that kind of stuff for fun. I smiled and said, “Thanks for making me feel better”. And truthfully, I felt at ease after having a chat with Mr Beagle. Cause, he always does.(Kiana’s P.O.V)Coming out from the bathroom into my bedroom I switched on my phone, after putting it off to avoid calls from Alexandria’s controlling self.We had just had what was beginning to seem like an almost daily banter. This banter is beginning to become frequent and I am starting to think he does this on purpose just to get a rise out of me or is he just bored.We had just argued again yesterday morning before I left for work. This time around the cause of the argument was something do stupid.We had argued over breakfast on who gets the say on foods that should be served for breakfast.Stupid I know but I don't know why these past days I always get triggered when he says something I know I would otherwise ignore if it were to be said by someone else.Using my smaller towel to dry my hair, I waited patiently as my phone rebooted. Still waiting for it to finish loading, I decided to apply lotion on my body. While I was done with applying my body lotion, I checked to see if
(Andrew’s p.o.v)Today's the day I am to meet my brother, whom I haven't spoken to in almost three decades. I left my house early in the morning at about 8 am as I knew the journey to his house was a five hour drive.Since I had gotten the proof and documents linking my siblings to my company's recent financial crisis, I contemplated whether to tell my wife or not.I had made up my mind to not inform her as her knowing could upset her and cause her to pay them a surprise visit at their workplace or even in just any public space, and make a scene there embarrassing them in the process.My wife is a naturally calm person who is slow to react, but there are times when she gets ticked off and goes off the handle leading to a bloody and dirty aftermath.But knowing myself I couldn't even keep a birthday surprise to myself much less this much of an issue.So after hesitating for about four days, I was so nervous about not spilling that I unconsciously began to act restless.My wife, being
I opened the door to a dark house welcoming me when I reached home from the party, I immediately assumed that everyone had gone to bed.I came back from the party late in the night at about 11:30 pm to midnight. We had spent more time than we initially planned as we played some games and caught up on our various lives.One of the activities we played at Asher's house was truth or dare, those who wouldn't choose between truth or dare had to drink about a large cup of beer. I had mostly opted out of playing so I had to drink when it was my turn during the game.I was so drunk that I couldn't drive back home so I didn't drive back home.Calvin had offered to drive me back home but I refused as I knew Alexandria would go off the rails if he saw Calvin drop me off. So Asher offered to order an uber to take me home as I turned down Calvin's offer.Even in my drunken state I knew to walk-in stealthily by tiptoeing to my room to avoid being heard by Alexandria and his series of questions abo
Zoe looked at me with scepticism, I gave her a slight nod to assure her that I was going to be okay.Convinced that I was going to be okay, she left us behind, pressing the doorbell to Asher's apartment.The elevator closed and my attention was fully on Calvin’s hand on my arm, looking at him then his warm hands on my arm, it reminded me of our dating days when he would always hold my arm when we were out either on a date or just about anywhere because in his own words “I want everybody to know you're mine’.God I missed his touch, his smell, even the taste of his lips and the feel of his body. It's been so long since we last saw each other. I used this once in a blue moon opportunity to take a closer look at him.His face was pale as if devoid of blood underneath. His beard was scruffy and his clothes no longer clung to his athletic body. He dropped about a few pounds in weight. I dropped the painting I was holding down and held his arms in concern.“My God Calvin you've lost so muc
One week had passed after my last altercation with Alexandria. I thought he would bring up our last conversation regarding the owner of the artwork I was working on, but to my surprise, he never brought it up. Not even when we had breakfast and dinners together. It took a week for the painting to dry properly. Today's the day I meet up with Asher at his house to drop off the painting. He was also hosting his housewarming party today. His band's tour had finally come to an end as he was preparing for his six month hiatus and his apartment was ready, just in time for him to move in. I knew that many of my friends from both our high school days and college days would be in attendance, and I knew that the news of me marrying a very powerful man had spread around, so I knew I had to look and play the role of a billionaire's wife. I sighed “this new life is surely an exhausting and tiring one”.“I wonder why he decided to invite our old classmates to his housewarming party. I would ask
Not wanting to provoke him any further, I opened the door, fearfully moving to hide behind the door.“Stop hiding behind the door kiana, I’m not going to hurt you. “What did you hear from my conversation in the garden?”he asked with a serious look on his face.Slowly, I backed away from the door, turning to face him with fear in my eyes. “Why did I just have to go to the garden today of all days, I should have just stayed in the room and waited for my painting to dry”, I said to myself My stomach in a knot from the feeling of fear, I tried to not to seem intimidated by putting on a brave face.“Emmm, I only heard a small part of your phone call”, I said to him, as I fiddled with my hands nervously. What part?, expatiate”, he replied, while using his hands to show me that he wants me to explain further.“I mean I only heard you saying to the person on the other end of the phone call “has he done it yet, I don’t want to have to remind him”, I replied repeating what he had said on the
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