Chapter 1: CRISP SUNSET
SAMANTHA
Eyes closed, head tilted, I took in the busy smell of my surroundings. It was another Monday, another day filled with empty promises and false hopes.
"I'll get back to you in a few working days" the stern interviewer from the last place I went looking for a job said.
I sat on the rusty chair of the bus station thinking about the past months, my increasing debts playing in my head, and of course without my consent.
"Why does life have to be this hard!" I retorted, the words escaping my mouth faster than I realized that my thoughts just seeped away from my mind and out my mouth.
I got a few weird stares but soon enough everyone moved on with their lives. I looked ahead and saw the bus some meters away from me, First stop was my favorite coffee shop.
I stood in front of the coffee shop for a few seconds, like I hadn't been there before. It was like everything around me felt alien or maybe my head was just playing a number on me.
With a sigh, I slipped into the familiar warmth of the shop, the scent of freshly brewed coffee beans enveloping my nostrils.
I took a glance at my corner seat and then walked to the counter to place my order. "Morning Miss Silvia" I greeted the middle-aged woman that owns the shop. She's known me for years now. Sometimes it feels like I have known her all my life.
"Morning buttercup" as she fondly calls me "The usual?" she asked as she stretched her hand to fetch the disposable cup above the counter.
"Yes, the usual please."
I stood there to wait for my order to be ready, a part of me scanning my surroundings and taking in as many details as my eyes could fetch.
Normally I should go over to my seat and have her bring it to me like every other customer would, but it makes me uncomfortable to have her serve me.
My order was ready and I turned around, tilting my body in the direction of my corner seat, I instantly regretted not going to my seat to wait for my order to come to me because I looked ahead and found a man neatly dressed in his perfectly tailored suit that lay gorgeously on his perfectly sculpted frame making it look like it was molded onto his skin seated in my seat. My corner seat.
I couldn't see his face because his hair, a deep rich shade of chestnut covered half his facial features drooping in a messy yet meticulously styled manner.
It felt like I had stood too long looking at this man with my cup of coffee in hand as the slight bell-like sound from the front door brought me back to reality.
I sighed and moved to the other seat at the far end wondering how much worse my day could get since the space where I sat to watch life flow around me and meditate was taken.
I sat and took the first sip of my coffee as my thoughts drifted to the next interview I had lined up.
Frankly, I had zero hopes for this one and every slight glint that tried to escape the cracks I shoved aside. I had had my hopes dashed one too many times in the previous months and I was not about to allow my expectations to climb any more ladders.
I sat there with my file lazily lying on the table and slowly allowing my eyes to roam around the room I was seated in. The soft hum of conversations and the rhythmic sounds of cups hitting the table formed a backdrop to my thoughts.
I in careless abandon shook my coffee cup, my gaze drifting toward the window where the city's constant buzz played out.
A shadow fell over my table, I recognized the pattern of this hair from the shadows I could see on my table.
I slowly took my head up and there he was, the man I had seen from the counter in my seat and in my corner. In split seconds I took in his still half-concealed facial features. Only now I could see one of his eyes which was looking straight at me.
My pulse quickened as my eyes met his cold gaze. "Mind if I sit with you?" His voice was a perfect match for his face and aura, so deep I could almost hear it echo in my head.
Startled but slightly interested, I answered "I think I mind".
"I don't think I want to be seated side by side with the person that took my comfort space".
He raised a brow using his finger to swoop his drooping hair to the side of his ear revealing his glazed gray eyes; one could barely see them cause they seemed to hide behind the drapes of his slightly swollen eyelids.
"It was empty when I got there" he was already making room for himself to sit across from me no longer waiting for me to grant him the permission he initially tried to take.
I couldn't help but notice how much effort he put into his appearance, the attention to detail seemed completely irrelevant in such a carefree space.
"For someone who said I can't sit with her, you seem to be staring a lot" his deep voice brought me back to the present. I immediately felt like a drooling puppy.
His ego was honestly very nauseating.
"I understand, most people tend to look in awe, I look that good".
I scoffed, "Oh please".
"Job hunting I see" It was at this point I caught his eyes taking in every characteristic of my very being.
He looked me straight in the eye without fretting and took his eyes to different angles that made it appear like he was zooming in and out. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable in my own seat.
"I don't think that is any of your business".
"I will take that as a yes then" he replied almost immediately.
"I am Luca" he paused, watching me very closely as if to gauge every reaction of mine.
I think I might have rolled my eyes so far back in my head I could see my brain.
"Is this the part where I also say my name in an attempt to be courteous?" I asked with my brows furrowed.
"I don't think I need your name, the most important thing is what I have to say" his face, still emotionless and stale.
I became extremely curious at this point. What does a random stranger that I met a few seconds ago have to say to me who is also a random stranger in his own point of view at least?
"You have something to say to me?" I asked like I didn't hear his last statement
"Yes I do and I really just want to cut to the chase" his eyes were objectifying me now.
"Shoot".
"You need a job and I have a job to offer you"
I won't lie, I almost leaped out of my seat in excitement. Even if I didn't like the person who was offering, I just had to hold myself back.
"Really what job? Your secretary?" I asked, trying so hard to conceal my excitement.
"It's simple, You get to be my wife, a contract wife and I pay you handsomely".
My jaw dropped.
My thoughts became a whirlwind of confusion laced with disbelief.
"I don't understand".
"I am proposing a business arrangement, some sort of agreement. A marriage of convenience".
"You have qualities I happen to be drawn to", he said it so freely like he had nothing to fear in this world, The audacity of his proposal greatly amazed me.
I didn't know if I was furious or just taken aback or if I was supposed to feel insulted or not.
The whole space seemed to suddenly blur out on me, His offer still echoing in my head.
My fingers clenched around my cup, it seemed hotter now or maybe it was just my skin overheating because of how angry I was.
How dare he? The assumption that money could buy me or make me sign a contract with him like some cheap whore kick-started a fire of resentment within me.
The very idea of it felt like a huge blow to everything I had worked for, everything I had struggled to overcome, my daily fights for survival, everything. It felt like he spat on it all.
I had carved my life and fought so hard to define my worth just so I could prove to myself that I was and am very capable of standing by myself and for myself.
He was there, patiently waiting and watching as these thoughts crossed my mind one after the other.
I gave him one last gaze of resentment, picked up my file from the table, stood up, and left.
LUCA
A month earlier
"You have shown no interest in embracing the responsibilities that come with the position and assets I have handed to you" his voice reverberated around the room. He looked red with rage.
Don Ivanov was a man whose presence and aura mirrored the power he held. My father controlled most of the largest empires in Russia, legal and illicit.
You could even say he owned more than half the entire Russia since he controlled the dealings that took place in and out of these regions.
His slightly asymmetrical face held wrinkles and lines, one to reckon with brutal decisions and a vicious stance.
He had spent his youth fishing in troubled waters and navigating the Criminal stratosphere. He amassed so much wealth and handed his legacy down to me, his eldest son and first child.
I am twenty-nine, and at my age my father already had me. I could already guess what this meeting was about walking through that door.
"I have worked and toiled over the years to build the very ground you stand on, and I will not sit and watch you destroy it because of your irresponsibility and lasciviousness" He thundered, still looking me straight in the face red with anger.
I couldn't do anything but tuck both my hands behind my back with a slightly bowed head "You have one month!".
"One month?" I thought to myself. One month to do what?
"You have One month to get married and carry on my lineage and legacy" he stood up from his chair and was now pacing around a corner of the room not too far from where I stood.
"Failure to do this! I will hand everything you own to your Younger brother Xavier". He ended while turning to look at me.
"I can't possibly find a wife in one month" The room seemed to be hotter now.
"I have made myself clear, you have one month. No more no less" my father said as he stormed out of the room.
Chapter 2: TWO PEAS IN A POD
I watched as her footsteps faded into the distance, my pride giving way to a mounting sense of desperation. I had never been rejected before, much more walked out on.
I was confused as to whether the weight of my dilemma was weighing in on me or if the utterly disrespectful rejection of my proposition stung more than I cared to admit.
I reached for my phone in my pocket and dialed a number. "Find her, do not lose sight of her, and on my command bring her to me", I said calmly yet authoritatively.
"What are you doing Luca" I silently asked myself. I honestly didn't care for marriages or lifetime commitments.
My father was right when he called me lascivious, I was a man whose charms and money brought men and flocks of women too but I never wanted to put up with any one of the women for life. If I wanted a taste I simply got a taste, I was an expert at leaving trails of heartbreak and tears in my wake.
I took the last sip of my now cold coffee and stood up to leave the coffee shop right after leaving a tip underneath the disposable cup.
This coffee shop was in the heart of metropolitan Moscow, It wasn't the area where the rich, high, and mighty lived but it was an area that the rich, high, and mighty controlled.
I didn't live here, and neither did I run my dealings from here. I just needed some time away from the commotion.
I had five days left, and in five days I had to get married or I would lose everything to that son of a bitch, Xavier.
Xavier and I have never agreed on anything since the day we got to tell the difference between our left and right.
We were bred in discord and brought up to be rivals. My entire life I felt like I was in a race.
I always wondered what a happy family felt like. My mother was a subject barely discussed. A subject I didn't care to delve into myself. I didn't want to know why, I didn't want to know the truth of what transpired. The facts remain that she left me and didn't look back.
Trust was a rare commodity in my books. Unlike the popular saying "Trust is earned" I had a belief that trust is given. And I had absolutely no trust to give and this I extended to every sphere of my life.
"I need a drink", I said to myself while signaling to my driver to bring the car to me. My sleek red car with tinted windows pulled up right in front of me.
Standing at the entrance of the coffee shop, I watched my driver Carlo open the car door and hold it out for me with a bow. I gave him a nod of acknowledgment and stepped in while he closed the door.
Carlo took his place behind the wheel, a man of almost no words who has served the family since I was a little child. "Where to, boss?"
"A bar"
I gazed out the window lost in thought while the car eased into the city's traffic
...…
There was barely anybody in this bar, the whole place had this unique smell like local fermented wine with a mixture of actual booze. It had this smell that made the environment seem like it was meant for both worlds.
The decor was a fusion of rural and modern sentiments. Its walls were adorned with old stylish bamboo paneling and vibrant drapes. The floor was made of wood too matching the bamboo paneling.
Soft local music could be heard playing in the background further enhancing the soothing ambiance.
"What would you like to have sir", a casually dressed waiter asked, cutting my thoughts and observations of my surroundings short.
"A bottle of scotch whiskey and some lime juice"
I dropped my card on the table close to the waiter for payment.
While waiting for my drink I couldn't help but go over my decision again.
My father taught me that successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.
On that premise, I have lived my life taking each step with the knowledge that every step no matter how minute was a determinant of my end result.
My eyes caught a lady dressed in a skimpy red dress with silver stilettos. Maybe a woman was all I needed to take my mind off all of these.
Such rash decisions usually came naturally to me. That saying about a lion never giving birth to a sheep. I was my father's son and I would be brutal so long it was needed for me to get by. But this one seemed to bother me.
I stood up and moved towards the direction of the lady. I took a seat beside her and asked the barman to give me whatever she was drinking. "Hi", she said, already flirting with me.
"What do you say we go in my car?" I said looking at her voluptuous breasts. She tucked her hair behind her ear feigning a shy smile. I knew her type, the easy-to-get kind leaving no impression whatsoever her body was a stunner though.
"You don't even know my name" She was moving closer, her breasts more in my face now.
"I know you see me, and I see you so let's skip the preamble" I used my finger to trail a doodle on her left thigh.
She drew her red matte lips close to my ear, her breasts lightly brushing the surface of my chest now "It comes at a price though" she whispered.
"Lucky you" I whispered right back, moving away from the chair and advancing towards the door.
I could hear her stilettos tapping the floor right behind me. I signaled my driver that I was ready to leave. He opened the front door for her to get in the front next to him while I got in the back seat. It was like an unspoken policy. Not just anyone gets in my back seat.
She was about to start another conversation even though that's not what she was brought here to do but I listened painfully to her boring talks while my mind kept casting itself back to the lady I met at the coffee shop. My need to meet her again grew per second.
SAMANTHA
"Good day Miss Samantha have your seat, please"
"Thank you, ma'am" The room was fully air-conditioned but I could feel myself breaking a sweat.
"Tell us a bit about yourself" I hated this question. I don't think I know myself all that well. How do you narrate or tell someone about something you also know next to nothing about?
"Miss Samantha?" I must have drifted away in thoughts again.
"Yes ma'am, I am Samantha, I have an educational background in business administration and management, and in the last four years, I have worked with a few small small-scale companies short-term. I am a passionate learner and very easy to work with". I said in one breath.
"Why do you think you're most suited for this role?" The interviewer was now looking at me, further spiking my anxiety.
"I have the experience needed for this job, if I could thrive within a small-scale organization then I can thrive here. I hope I am given a chance to prove myself".
"Have you been a part of any team before?"
"Yes, I have ma'am".
"In what capacity did you act if I may ask" She was writing something now.
"I was an analyst also doubling as a strategist for the team" The strength it took for me not to start biting my fingernails in a bid to calm my roof-level anxiety needed to be studied because to be honest, I was almost losing my shit.
"Was the project successful?" another woman on the panel asked.
"Yes it was ma'am"
The first interviewer clearly had no more questions for me. "Does anybody else want to ask Miss Samantha any more questions?" she asked looking to both her sides.
From the expressions on their faces, they all looked done with the questions.
She looked through the papers on her desk and then spoke in hushed tones with the panel.
"We will get back to you as soon as possible Miss Samantha Please stay in touch". I expected this but somehow it felt like I wasn't ready.
"Thank you, ma'am". I said as I stood up to leave the room. It was needless to say I had wasted my time yet again
How did I feel? I felt nothing. Complete numbness I was used to disappointments. I didn't expect that this would be any different and I wasn't wrong. Hope is equal to delusion.
...
My walk back home was silent. My head was always a busy street. The conversations I have with myself usually feel so real that most of the time I forget I don't have friends.
The street was dimly lit and there was barely anyone on the sidewalk. His words continued to reverberate in my ears.
I was still utterly shaken by the audacity that man possessed walking up to me talking about I should be his contract wife.
I could recall his condescending stares, the way he sized me up, and how his good looks almost totally hid how much of a douchebag he was.
I heard tires screech directly behind me. Anyone would be raving mad to drive like that as there was a sharp corner right ahead almost inches away from where I was now standing. I instinctively backed away in a bid to let whoever the mad driver was, scoot away.
The black pickup truck swerved dangerously near me, its side mirror hitting my shoulder and causing me to stagger.
My heart started racing my pulse fast-tracking itself several notches and before my brain could even process everything that was happening, the vehicle screeched to a halt and the passenger door flung open.
A huge man in black overalls reached for me, his arms felt strong, and before I could even scream, a white napkin was used to cover my mouth and nostrils and in a few seconds all I could see was darkness.
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