Love and *

Chapter one Serena was trying so hard to disguise her tear stained face, she was trying to be strong, It was her sister's wedding and she did not want to ruin it. Her very loud, annoying and beautiful sister was getting married while she just got her heart broken by her boyfriend of five years. Nobody cared how she was feeling, they all just wanted to make the day perfect for little miss perfect and she was there to do everyone's bidding.

She sighed deeply and picked up her phone to read his breakup message to her again seeking for the real reason he had left, his message had just stated that he was tired of the relationship and they weren't compatible. He had ended the message with "best of luck", like who ends a breakup text with best of luck but that was what Jakes her boyfriend had done. She did not want to admit to anyone that she knew he had left because she was ugly and fat and nothing to look at. Apparently she had taken the worst genes in her family, even her mother was way prettier than her. She had tried to reaching out to him severally but to no avail, she had even against her better judgement and that of her family gone to his place of residence and had found out from one of his neighbors that he had left and there was no message to anyone who would want to look for him. She knew it was over between both of them but could not bring herself to admit that she had failed in hanging on to a man again. ......... Serena you must let us in" her mother's voice brought her out of her self pity "What is the matter mother?" She asked opening the door to see her mother standing there distraught and her father closely behind her scratching his head. "It is your sister" her mother said coming into the room closely followed by her father "What is the matter with Eloise?" "I don't know how to say this without sounding utterly stupid but she has run away " "Run away? Whatever do you mean mother?" "Your sister Eloise has run away and for the life of me I have no idea where she might have gone " "Well we must find her at once, she couldn't have gotten far." "We cannot look her, according to the text she sent me she is on her way to rediscover herself away from us." "What is that supposed to mean" She asked confused "I have no idea except if we do not go through with this wedding, we won't have anything to put on our table." Her father had replied harshly "Explain to me father" "There is nothing to explain Serena, I am owing my business partner a huge sum of money and the agreement was one of my daughters marry his son. Now seeing as Eloise has run away, it is up to you to save this family from bankruptcy." "I cannot marry a man I do not know and a man I do not love all because of your debt." "That debt you speak of put you through school and have you all of these fancy clothes, now if you weren't off chasing that stupid boy you were dating, you would have noticed that this family was going through trials." "So now it is my fault father." "I am not casting blames, your mother will prepare you as the bride and you are going to marry the man waiting outside whether you like it or not." "Do not do this to me, mother speak to father." She cried facing her mother who only looked at her with blank eyes. "Come now, do not cry or you will get puffy eyes and won't look pretty. You are not half as beautiful as your sister but you will have to do." She was hurriedly dressed in her sister's wedding gown and half dragged to the Altar where a very tall man stood, his back was to her but she was already feeling dreadful. ...... Damon stood tall at the Altar awaiting the woman promised to him by his father, he could not care less about her except she has to be beautiful and represent him well in public because he was soon to take over his father's company and needed someone by his side who could handle his home. Damon had no intentions of getting to know his bride, he just needed to get this dreadful business of marriage over with and go off to his paramour Judith who by now was waiting naked for him in their special apartment, fully furnished. He noticed immediately that there was something amiss Immediately the father and his bride were in sight, it seemed she was being dragged to the Altar. She too did not want to be involved in the marriage and it was fine by him because it was only one of contract. ....... "I won't marry him father" Serena screamed in rage jerking back and forth as she was being dragged. "Behave yourself now Serena, stop throwing tantrums." She was whisked straight to the Altar where she was forced to stand beside the man, she glared at him in hatred but he barely looked at her as they said their vows. In the middle of the whole fiasco she screamed at him. "Are you not ashamed? What is this? The 18th century where you can marry a woman off against her own will?" "Your father owes my father a very huge debt and you are the repayment of that debt, you can say you have being bought. Now if you don't mind I would like this whole thing to be over soon." Damon said not facing the distraught bride "Look at me when you talk you proud, pompous son of a bitch" She screamed again, her curses eliciting gasps from the congregation. Damon's jaw clenched in anger as he turned and beheld his bride, her face flushed and her red hair hanging around it. She looked like an avenging Angel, he lost his train of thought for a minute. Her Jaw dropped immediately he turned and the only thing that she could think of was how handsome he looked. His eyes looked like wells of honey and his lips, she could hardly think straight as she stared at him and immediately resented him and his rogue looks. Thankfully after they shared that first glance the wedding proceeded without any drama till it got to the part of kissing the bride, he bent his head down and stared deep into her green eyes before capturing her lips in his. It was brief but so electric that he immediately forgot he did not like the whole concept of this marriage, he wanted to taste her again She saw stars as soon as her lips touched his and she knew immediately that she was in trouble, it was one thing if this man was not sexually attractive but for him to kiss like that was trouble for her. She was not allowed to say her goodbye before her father immediately ushered her out and into her new husband's car. They both sat stoically with her realizing how close they were, took close for comfort. They did not say a word to each other but just sat there which caused her to panic as she has literally being ignored all of her life, she wondered if this is was how it was going to be for her, always ignored and overlooked. They finally got to their hotel room and She was shown to their room where she was asked to stay and wait for further instructions. Her new husband came in moments later and began undressing not glancing over to where She sat nor acknowledging her existence. She sat fiddling her fingers unsure of what to do and dreading the moment she knew was at hand, the time she would have to remove her clothes and have him a stranger explore her body, she shuddered repulsively ...... "I need to set down a few ground rules if this is going to work at all" Damon said after he had undressed "You are not allowed to touch me, you are not allowed to speak except spoken to, I would like to tell you again that I want nothing to do with you and you are going to be the trophy wife you were brought here to be.I will continue my lifestyle as a playboy in which you will have no say but if you are down to be one of my many whores I can have that arranged for you." "Do not even think for one minute that because I have being forcefully married to that I will tolerate any of your bullshit. I am not one of your many flings and I would not tolerate you laying a finger on me." She blew hot clearly offended by his lack of respect towards her. "I really do not care, we still have to look like we are happy so we will attend various functions together and you are to smile at me like any loving wife would do, is that understood?" "You do not need to command me, I know my duty." "Perfect, now if there isn't anything else I would love to sleep. Today has been one hectic and dreadful day." She watched her new husband turn to the other side of the bed and went to sleep, she blinked away the hot tears threatening to overwhelm her, if this was how he wanted to play it, she was more than ready for him

Two Serena woke up with severe back pain, her muscles felt like water and her shoulders were so cramped up it hurt to move them. She had fallen asleep on the couch because she did not want to sleep beside this strange man in case he decided to take their marital rites serious, she could not handle it if he decided to sleep with her against her will. She looked around the room and noticed he was still sleeping, he looked very peaceful and so She tiptoed over to the bed to take a closer look at him.

"If you want to get into the bed with me, do so and stop watching me like a pervert." His voice brought her out of her thoughts about how beautiful he looked. "I was not looking at you." She lied and shifted away from the bed Damon's hands snaked out and grabbed her by the waist pulling her on top of him, he flipped so she was beneath him and they were face to face "What do you think you are doing? Get off me" She cried struggling "Shut up" Damon bellowed and this outburst stopped her retort in her throat. She closed her eyes as soon as she saw his face come closer to hers "What is your name?" Damon asked. She opened her eyes and saw again that his lips were so close that if she moved her head a little, she could kiss him. "Serena" "That is not a bad name. If it was something displeasing I might have had to rename you because no representative of my home will have a displeasing name. Now get off this bed, go and get dressed, we are visiting my father today." She jumped off the bed and adjusted her gown, her cheeks hot from being too close to him. She could swear she had wanted to kiss him right now which was not good, the only thing she wanted right now was to get over this dreadful marriage. "What are you thinking about?" Damon interrupted her thoughts "Nothing." She huffed and proceed to the bathroom only to stop halfway with a petrified look on her face T"What is the matter with you?" Damon asked her seeing how she stopped "There is no lock on the bathroom door" "And so?" He asked looking at her shocked face "Well, the door won't be locked. What if you...." Her voice trailed off "What if I what?" He asked "Nothing, do not mind me." She said and walked into the bathroom He called to her when she was halfway into closing the door "Do not flatter yourself Serena, your body is hardly what I want" She did not reply but instead proceeded to closing the door. Damon watched her outline from the transparent glass, she had a very beautiful shape and judging from her face, a beautiful skin also. Pity he wasn't interested in her, he would have shown her how it felt to be his woman. Right now he had to call Judith who had been waiting for him all night to explain why he could not come to her. He knew she was going to be every pissed at him but he could not as well leave the woman he had gotten married to on their wedding night to gallivant, he had to have that respect for her at least. He knew he was being ignored when he rung her three times and she did not pick up, he tried ringing her up again but was cut short by the singing that was coming from none other place than the bathroom. He stopped to listen to it and recognized the tune she was humming from one his mother used to sing to them when she was still alive. She had a beautiful voice, he thought as she sang and scrubbed. He was tempted to join her in the bath just for the sheer fun of it and see what exactly she looked like apart from having the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen and red hair so fierce it was blinding to see, If it was in another lifetime he would have liked her. Serena came out of the bathroom to see Damon reading a book, he looked scholarly at that moment and she wondered if there was any look he couldn't pull off. She had her clothes on already as she did not want to dress in front of him, it would have been awkward and she could not bear his eyes on her body. "You took so long" he noted, his eyes still on the book "Sorry" she muttered He raised his intense blue eyes and looked her making her squirm where she stood "You are already dressed" he noted again "Yes" she said He closed the book and stood, Serena saw too late that he had gotten rid of his clothes and was standing before her gloriously naked. "What are you doing?" She screamed and shielded her eyes "We are married, you seeing me naked means nothing" "Please go into the bathroom" she said her eyes still closed He walked up to where she stood oblivious of him and looked at her, she was beautiful and she was flushed and very embarrassed. "If I did not know better, I would say you want to have sex with me" Serena's eyes flew open in anger before she closed it back again "Never" she ground out "Better because I would hate to disappoint you. You are not my type." She stood there for quite a while till she heard the sound of running water before opening her eyes and looking around her, she let out a sigh and walked over to the bed to sit. This was not what she had envisioned as marriage and now she was into it for better for worse, she thought about her boyfriend who had dumped her and wondered how he was doing and if he even thought about her at all. She would have loved to call him to explain that this was arranged and she could never love her husband but what use will be that be, she could not be with him anymore because of this marriage and she had no idea where her sister was, the person who should have been in this position. She picked up the book he was reading and saw it was Shakespeare, she was surprised as she imagined he would be someone whose eyes were only found between the thighs of beautiful models like the newspaper portrayed him. He came out of the bathroom some minutes later and she saw he was still naked and closed her eyes immediately, she heard him laugh and felt his body near hers as he reached for his phone that was ringing. Her eyes remained closed even as he was speaking in soothing tones to a shouting woman, no doubt his mistress. She neither commented on the call nor he as they got out of the hotel with various cameramen taking pictures of them, the presence of the guards did nothing to stop them from getting in her face. She observed as he held her hand tightly in his and tried to shield her from the glare of the public. They got into the car that was prepared for them and she heaved a sigh of relief "That is what you are going to be facing everyday for the rest of your life so you should get used to it" he said to her. "I understand" she replied her eyes downcast. It was later Damon noticed that he was still holding her hand and immediately let go of it. They got out of the car in front of his father's mansion and a lady approached them, her blonde hair flying in the air. She stopped in front of Serena and raised her hand to strike her face, Serena ducked also raising her hands to protect her face but realized that Damon had stopped the girl's hand midway. "What the fuck do you think you are doing Cassandra?" He growled under his breath as the cameras clicked all around them. "Who is she?" Serena asked in shock "My ex" he said still glaring

Episode three Serena felt blood rush to her ears at the word "ex" and the only thing she could hear was the thumping of her own heart, she had almost being slapped by her husband's ex just one day into the marriage. She watched the cameras click and Damon push the woman in question aside as he grabbed her hand and ushered her into his father's house. All of these were going on without her being fully aware of it, she was seeing stars and the slap did not even land.

She was ushered into the room where his father sat watching the commotion below and his son's ex trying to gain entry into the mansion only to be stopped and held back by the guards. "What is this supposed to mean Damon? What is all of these drama in front of my house." "I have no idea how she knew I was coming here father" "You have to do something about her, I don't need this stain on me or my company, the media is already all over us because of the public embarrassment she gave you." "I will handle it." "Better do, now can I finally meet my daughter in law?" "Father meet Serena, Serena meet my father" Damon ground out. Serena stood up, walked over to where the man stood and curtsied. "You do not look bad at all although I was expecting someone more breathtaking as your mother is one beautiful woman. A pity she had to stay with a chronic debtor like your father, you shall have to do." Serena was shocked by his words and it took all of her willpower to not respond to his accusations, she did not like her father much but nobody had the right to insult him like this man just did. Only Damon noticed the fire light in her eyes at his father's word and he smiled, he could see that she was holding herself from giving him a piece of her mind and he wondered how she would be when totally as angry as he had seen at the wedding. He followed his father into the den to talk about the company and the party that would be organized to announce his handing over to him. It was his father's plan for him to marry immediately after his ex Cassandra had broken off their engagement in public after he had caught her in bed with his best friend. The media had had a field day with it and had called him and his father all sort of names and that was what had pushed him into becoming a playboy, sort after by all women and owned by none. When his ex had seen that he had gotten over her so fast, she had tried coming back to him, calling him incessantly with him ignoring her most of the time and now this scene in front of his father's house? He was going to have a talk with her sooner rather than later. "Have you briefed the girl on what she is to do and how she is to behave?" "Not yet, the wedding was yesterday and we haven't had the chance to talk properly." "We'll do so, I want her to host the party and I want it to go without hiccup." "It will, I just brought her by for a formal introduction." "Have her sign the contract I have drafted out immediately. If she chooses to divorce you, she gets no penny at all and she is not to discuss anything that goes on in this family to the outside world and even her parents, she is to visit them once every month and must not sleep over." "I know all of these father. Can I go now? I have something to attend to." "You mean you have someone to attend to, make sure to keep your mistress away from public glare. Have all the fun you want but do not allow the media catch a whiff of it. I have prided myself in always keeping pleasure away from business and you should do the same." "That is very well understood." "I believe in you Damon, you will make me proud." His father said patting him on the am. Damon exited the Den and met his wife observing a painting by the hall, she looked enraptured by it and from that angle he could see that it was the painting of his mother in her prime. He stood where he was for some time watching her, she looked so small in the big hall and he had this sudden urge in his chest to protect and shield her from the harsh realities of his world. He cleared his throat uncomfortably which caused her to turn "We are leaving?" She asked "Yes, I need to brief you on what you must do" "Last night was not brief enough?" "It was the beginning. Now let's go, I will ask the driver to drop you at my place and would join you later. I have somewhere to be." "The lady who called angry this morning?" "That is not your business, place your focus on being a good wife Serena." She did not reply but instead squared her shoulders and walked in front of him, he watched her again very sure he had hurt her feelings but happy because it was for the better that they do not form any bond in this partnership of theirs. They came out of the house again and were swarmed by cameras, Damon watched Serena raise her head high and flash a beaming smile before grabbing him and planting a peck on his cheek, he almost laughed out loud at how ridiculous it seemed. When they had gotten into the car he turned to her "What was that?" He asked "You asked me to get used to the cameras and paparazzi always following us around, so I gave them something to talk about and something for your ex to scream over." She said smiling again at what she had done. Damon laughed this time, shaking his head from side to side "You are a very funny little minx" "And you are welcome. Thank you for protecting me by the way." "Oh don't kid yourself, I was protecting myself." Serena thought hard about this and saw that he was right, he would have been attacked if his ex had succeeded in slapping her. He was the one the media would face and not her, to them she was just a lucky girl who had married one of the richest and most handsome man alive. She felt the tears well in her eyes and brushed them off immediately, she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.