Chapter 2 Grace Vardamonde

"I hate him!"

She brushed past her mother and stepped into her room. There had been two meetings with Lucas and while he had acted like an ass for the first one, he hadn't shown up for the second. She had been on her way when he canceled and through a text.

What did he take her for?

It didn't matter that her parents were the ones with a lot to lose if things didn't go well, that didn't mean a qualification for a bad treatment.

She didn't need anyone to tell her she was beautiful; her mirror said it to her every day.

Curves, face, everything was on the beat.

Her whole life had been a fairy tale before it came crumbling down. She always had the princess treatment from birth, and she had gotten so used to it that she couldn't imagine herself settling for less.

Her first car had been delivered on her fifteenth birthday and in the second year, in it, she had driven to the Maldives with her then-boyfriend for her first sexual experience.

Nine hundred thousand dollars spent to get deflowered, yes, she was that important.

Although she had everything at her fingertips, she wasn't a stupid girl. She had made investments and even at a younger age, she always knew she wanted more than just the monetary things of life, and one of the things to which she held so much importance was family, the one she was going to make when she was ready.

The tourism sector came with so much risk, but her father had given his all to keep it standing and for that, they all paid a price, one that involved so much separation, sometimes it hurt.

She had used that opportunity to gain the freedom most of her peers didn't get and in that, she had gotten experience and at the end of it all, she had made her choice, to build the happiest home ever.

But tragedy had struck and now she was at the mercy of a man who had zero regard for her.

After he had left her at their table during the last meeting, she had gathered the courage to go home, and after a conversation with her mom, she had been encouraged to still go ahead.

"The marriage doesn't need to last" her mum reminded her "It's just for the meantime, when we're on our feet again, you can step away."

But she wanted it to last, not because it involved a marriage with a big shark on the cruise line, and a handsome one at that, but because she wanted no complications in her life, now and in the future.

The fact that the guy involved didn't see things the way she did hurt her, but every time she looked at her mum's face, she remembered the financial statements she had stumbled upon and she knew she just had to do it or her parents would rot in jail.

When the idea had first been presented to her, she had laughed it away. She had no intention of laying deals with her heart but when she had gone into her mum's home office in the middle of the night when she saw the lights on, she met her mum sleeping on the sofa, and on the table were files, pending lawsuits, evaded tax filings.

She had crept back in bed and the next day had declared she was willing to do what they wanted.

They had been stunned but made preparations as soon as possible so she wouldn't change her mind.

Slowly, she had begun looking him up, preparing herself for what was to come, for although she was about to enter into a huge mess, she was determined to make it a beautiful mess.

It didn't look so good so far but there wasn't much she could do about it.

She had tried to be strong but Lucas was making her drained already and they weren't even official yet.

An open marriage; it was disgusting but she thought it was better to clearly state out expectations than to make commitments one couldn't keep and besides, with everything she had, she doubted any man who saw her with no clothes would dare to look twice at another woman.

Her father had cheated on her mum multiple times, it had become a norm. But for every time he did that, it seemed her mum loved him more. She spent her life trying to be the dedicated wife but ended up getting spat on every single time.

Grace knew one thing for sure; if she couldn't get Lucas wrapped around her fingers, she would do what he did, and she wouldn't bat a lid. The only thing she was thankful for was the fact that the agreement didn't include kids so when in that case a separation happened, there would be no third party left hurt and torn, the same way she did each time her parents fought, each time her dad slammed the door, each time he didn't care.

She closed her eyes and slept still wearing her makeup. When she awoke, her mother was sitting by her bedside, stroking her hair.

"How are you?" She asked with a smile.

Grace mumbled words that didn't make it out loud.

"I made breakfast, care to join me?"

Her eyes popped "Breakfast? It's morning?"

Nodding, her mum replied "You were knocked out"

She smiled and struggled to sit, yawning and stretching in the process. "What did you make?"

"Oats and pancakes" she whispered "It could get cold anytime"

Grace grinned "I'll be down in a minute." She sang rushing into the bathroom to wash her face.

She raced down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the dining room, only to stop halfway when her eyes settled on the other man at the table, seated in the usually empty seat at the dining table.

He smiled at her "Hey, good morning"

Her widened gaze moved from him to her mum and him again, and just like that, she was running up the stairs, back to where she came from.