Chapter 1 The beginning

Chapter 1

"This is the last time we do this. I'm getting married." Emma said as she picked up her undies from the floor.

"Married?" Brandon asked her in surprise.

He was on the bed with just the blanket covering his lower body but sat upright immediately he heard her say she was getting married.

"Yes, Brandon. Don't act so surprised." Emma replied to him with an eye roll as she wore her bra.

"So I slept with an engaged woman?" Brandon asked her.

"It's not like it's anything new to you. I'm just telling you so we stop this." She said to him,

"You should have told me before we had sex." Brandon replied to her with a scoff.

Emma gave him a sharp look immediately he said that.

"Of course. I'm the one at fault for having sex with you when it was clearly an agreement between the both of us." She replied to him with an eyeroll.

"And we agreed to put an end to this when the other person eventually settles down." He told her.

"It's not like anyone even knows I'm getting married or even engaged. The news isn't out yet." She said to him,

"And nobody knows we are sleeping together. Your whole life is a secret." Brandon replied to her with an eyeroll.

He stood from the bed and also moved to put on his clothes.

"I don't know why I ever expected anything more from you. You are still the same." Emma spat out as she wore her dress, her face contorted in anger.

She could not understand why she was feeling so angry. She and Brandon were enemies. Their families hated each other and it extended to their children also. She hated everything about him and if not for the fact that they had slept with each other once when they were drunk-yes, the sex was out of this world. That was the main reason why they had this arrangement. Why they started sleeping with each other without anyone knowing but their relationship wasn't like what was seen in novels. They never had any emotional attachments to each other. For one, she still hated Brandon but she could not deny that she loved sex with him. But that was just it. Sex. So why was she still angry?

She had no right to be angry at him. She was the one getting married even if she harbored no affections for her supposed spouse. Her relationship with Brandon was ending or had already ended. There was no need for her to get angry. They were not lovers. Just two people who slept with each other. She was not attracted to him even with how handsome he looked. His brown hair and blue eyes made him stand out in the crowd. And the tattoos on his body made him appetizing. He was sex on a stick, she knew that but she could not bring herself to see him as nothing more than her enemy and also, a temporary sex partner.

"And you are still the same. I wonder what your husband would think when he finds out his wife slept with someone she dislikes even after they were engaged." He said to her,

"Why are you so bitter? Do you have feelings for me?" She asked him with a smirk.

Brandon turned immediately with his shirt unbuttoned. He moved towards her like a lion approaching his prey with his eyes darkened. He held her chin between his fingers and said in a low growl.

"Don't flatter yourself, Emma. The only thing you are good for is sex. You and I know that." He said to her,

"I could say the same for you." She said to him as she licked her lips.

His deep voice always made her hot and even if they were trying to degrade each other, her eyes darkened and her breathing became shallow. She drew him close and kissed him.

Brandon opened up and kissed her back. There was no love in the kiss. It wasn't filled with affection for each other but pure bridled lust. Just lust and nothing else. He moved his mouth to her collarbone but then, a phone rang, snapping them from the trance. He released her and Emma coughed.

"Your husband needs you." Brandon said as he pointed to her phone.

Emma narrowed her eyes but picked up the call. In just a few minutes, she left the cottage. Brandon waited for some time and made sure the coast was clear before moving to his vehicle. He was almost home when he received a call from his brother.

"What is it?"

"Someone's grumpy." Kevin said to him with a chuckle.

"I had a rough night. Tell me what you want." Brandon told him but on second thoughts, maybe it was a tough morning?

"Well I don't really want anything. Just that we lost some goods. The hurricane that happened destroyed our warehouse." Kevin told him.

Brandon cussed out. He should have suspected that something like that would happen. He heard of the hurricane and they were already making plans to move the goods to another location but the hurricane happened earlier than expected. Lives were lost and houses were destroyed and even if he felt pity for those who lost lives and homes, the goods they had lost pained him more. It was worth millions and it just had to be that the storehouse was in a place susceptible to being destroyed by hurricanes. He and his brother had plans to change the location but it turns out it was too late.

"That's not all. The Templeton's got wind of it. It's all over the news now." Kevin told him.

"The hurricane happened less than two days ago. How the fuck did they get wind of it?" Brandon asked, in frustration.

"I suspect it's Godson?" Kevin said.

Brandon cussed out again. Of course it would be Godson. Emma's fucking cousin. Brandon already hated her father and grandfather but Godson was on another level. He was younger than Emma but was more greedy and would do anything to make money even if it meant he had to dirty his hands. And was it a surprise that he would be the one behind the news spreading? No, because he moved with the trashiest of people. Brandon wondered how the Templeton's could still raise their head in public like they were the purest and tarnish his own family's reputation.

"Where are you?" Brandon asked his brother.

"Office. I'm with Benji and Alec." Kevin said to him.

"Wait, Alec? What the fuck is he doing there? Playing video games?" Brandon asked his brother.

"I thought he might be useful." Kevin said to his brother.

"Useful? How? He's only good with a computer." Brandon told him.

"Which is why he may actually be useful."

"Alright, I'll meet you guys in some minutes." Brandon said to him with a sigh as he ended the call.

He had no idea why Alec and Benji were present and he felt like there was more to the issue than his brother was letting on.

Fucking Templetons.