One Way

"Now you may kiss the bride." Blair held her breath when she heard those words. The man in front of her lifted her veil, she took a glance at his handsome stone cold face. His beautifully unique eyes showed no emotion. He wrapped one of his long arm around her waist and cupped her face using another making her look up to him. He was so tall, even in four inches of heels she had to crane her head up to look at him.

"Congratulations wife" his raspy voice said before he connected their lips. He gently sucked onto her lips while tracing them with his wet tongue. She felt her knees weaken, it was unlike something she had ever felt before. But as good as it felt, she could not bring herself to kiss him back. She always dreamt of having her first kiss with the guy she loved. But there she was, giving it away to a person she met for the first time while her first love watched in between the guests.

So how did she end up being in that position? Let us go back few weeks:

"Cheers!"

The group of 6 people in formals clinked their glasses that were filled with expensive wine. The team of lawyers celebrated their victory over a complicated case.

"Let's have a heads up to our MVP of the day, Blair Andrews!"

Blair showed a shy smile at her co-worker's comment. She had been receiving non stop praise from her team after the previous day's court hearing. She was happy, not just because she won the first ever case of her life but also because she was pretty sure she had impressed Raiden.

Raiden Kingston was the leader of the same team, the founder of K.S Law Firm. He had put together a team of most competent lawyers, and didn't regret having Blair with them. In just six months of practice, she managed to lead and win a case which was halted for years and was reopened at her request.

Since day one, she had been his center of attention. Not only for her gorgeous visuals, but for how hard working, dedicated and smart she was. He touched the side of his blazer. He could feel the soft material of the red and white silk scarf. He decided it was the time to go for it.

Blair waited for everyone to leave so she could do what she was planning to. Tell him what was in her heart. For the 18 months she had worked there, he had been an amazing senior, always supporting and guiding her. She didn't realise when her admiration turned into something much more.

Finally, they stood there alone. Just the two of them. "I proud of you Blair, really." He patted her hair and stretched his cherry red lips into an admiring smile. At first he wasn't sure weather to give her permission to reopen a dead case but seeing her strong will, he had to agree. She smiled thankfully.

"Mr. Kingston, I want to tell you something." She pressed her lips together, gathering all of her courage. But before she could say anything, her phone rang in her pocket. She declined without even looking at the caller ID.

"I wanted t-" it rang again and again. She bit back a curse and sighed internally. 'Damn you phone!' Raiden let out a handsome chuckle.

"You should take that." He pointed to her side pocket where her Taylor Swift ringtone was ringing.. Defeated, she finally picked it up.

"What do you want?"

"Come to the hospital, right now." Her cousin's grim voice spoke over the phone. She panicked at his tone.

"Aaron, what's wrong?"

"Dad had a heartattack."

Her heart dropped. After the death of her parents, her uncle had been her father figure, guardian, friend, everything. He always treated her like his own, she couldn't think of anything happening to him.

...

"Calm down please ma'am."

"How can I calm down when we are on the verge of bankruptcy!?"

She could hear her aunt's voice scream at Mr. Park. She sat there next to her uncle's unconscious figure, holding his hand. Seeing him in hospital clothes with needles in his hand, broke her heart. He got a heartattack after getting that shocking news. She let a silent tear run down her cheek.

"Shhh, nothing is going to come out from crying." She could feel Aaron's warm hand caressing her back, trying to comfort her.

"You," Her aunt Martha came up to her pointing an accusing finger. "Don't try to act all innocent now, this is all your fault! I told you not to follow that case!"

Blair tried to speak up but only a muffled sob came out. Martha was right. It was her fault that their business collapsed in matter of hours, it was her fault that her uncle was in that condition, everything was her fault. She should have known about the consequences before proceeding with that case.

"Aunty I am sorry, I was jus-"

"Just what!" Martha screamed. "Are your dead parents more important to you than us?" She had hit the spot. Blair once again suppressed a sob, the thickness in her throat was choking her. She realised that her stubbornness to investigate her parents death had lead them to this situation.

Byron Chase was a dangerous man, she knew it. Many had warned her not to go against him but she stood her ground. While investing her parents death, the case took a complete turn when his history of sexual assault came into picture. Multiple women came up to her and that's when she decided, she would fight for justice.

Though she won the case, Byron's sister used their influence to force most of their shareholders to drop their shares. And they agreed, reason was simple, the Chases weren't the one to mess with. Yet, she still let her emotions cloud her judgement.

"Mom enough," This time it was Aaron who spoke. "You're stepping on the line." In response she scoffed loudly, showing her disappointment in her son.

"No Aaron, she is right, it happened because of me. I am the one at fault."

"Now listen here, make your existence worth for once. Since you have ruined it and you have be the one to fix it." Martha's eyes shot daggers towards her. Her rough tone pierced her heart with hundreds of needles.

"I will do whatever it takes to make things better." Her eyes were desperate, almost begging. She wanted to help them out after the mess she made. She was determined to do everything in her will. But what Martha said next, left her dumbfounded.

"Then you better prepare yourself, you are getting married."

Sunlight peeking through the white curtains of the hotel's luxury suite forced Calvin Cartier to open his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, ran a hand through his already messy hair and sat up straight on the soft matress. He looked at the sleeping figure of the beautiful woman beside him. Her soft ginger hair was sprawled on the bed, a thick blanket covering her naked body.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw the time in his cellphone.

"7:00 am? Shit!" He cursed loudly and quickly got dressed. He needed to reach the Empire on time or else he would hear an earful from his brother. He picked up his phone, wallet and Rolex from the table, wrote a short message on the notepad which was provided and left it near the table lamp.

The girl woke up only after he left. She was wondering about his absence when she saw a note on the table. It said:

"Dear Kyla,

I had a good time last night. Please don't contact me again :-)

Ps. I have already paid for the room."

She crumpled the piece of paper and threw it on the ground.

"Damn you Cartier!"

...

Calvin reached his house, did his routine and rushed to the Empire. Lucky for him, he entered on time.

He could feel people's eyes on him as he walked through the fancy corridor of the departmental building of Cartier Empire.

He radiated a powerful aura which caused people to look at him with respect and admiration. The sound of his expensive shoes clicking on the pearl white marble floor could be heard clearly as he walked.

Attention was something he was used to. With his towering height of 6'2, perfectly tanned skin and striking eyes, he was always in center of attention wherever he went.

He gave a charming smile and responded to a few 'good morning's from his employees. He could see some women throwing flirty glances at him which he chose to ignore. If it were some place else, he would have flirted back but it was his work place and he needed to be professional.

Using the private elevator he went to the top floor of the building where his office was located. After greeting his secretary, Nora, a tall skinny lady in her 40s, he asked her to bring him his schedule.

"Sir, you will be having a meeting with mr. Jones at 12:30 pm and another one with mr. Bell at 4:00." Nora explained pointing her bony fingers at the timetable she made. He nodded his head and tapped his chin in thought when his gaze fell on the newspaper on his table.

"ANDREW CONSTRUCTIONS STOCK PRICES FALL AT AN UNBELIEVABLE RATE, EXPERTS SPECULATE THIS MIGHT BE CONNECTED TO THE CONVICTION OF BYRON CHASE."

The news left him in great surprise. Byron Chase got convicted? How? No one in their right mind would try to go against the Chases, unless they had consumed liquid luck. But even if he got convicted, why would the Andrews be affected by it?

"This is some hot news..." He muttered to himself grabbing the paper to read the full article.

His eyes fell on of the picture of a woman in prosecutor's outfit. She had brown eyes, dark hair with rosy skin and plump lips. 'Blair Andrews is damn gorgeous!' he thought to himself. He moved his eyes from the picture and continued to read.

Apparently, the heiress of Andrew Constructions was the lawyer who fought against Byron Chase and got him a jail sentence of 15 years.

Calvin was amazed at her ability. She did what no one was able to do in years. He still remembered that case, a newspaper editor disappeared 4 years ago. It was revealed that he was collecting evidence against the Chase family. No one ever dared to investigate that because the Chase family was involved.

Though she did God's work, she put everyone around her in danger. Andrew Constructions, one of the biggest construction company of the country came crumbling down just in matter of hours.

'Atleast that bastard got what he deserved. Even if 15 years are too less.'

Byron Chase was the incarnation of evil. That man had his hands in almost every illegal business. Human trafficking, drug deal, illegal selling organs and what not. He was like a real life devil living on the earth. All of his wrongdoings were backed up by his sister. If he was devil then she was Lucifer.

"I can't tell if she's brave or stupid, tsk."

"Ms.Andrews certainly did a great job but she should have considered the aftermath." Nora commented.

"Oh lord!" He screamed, placing a hand over his heart.

"Is something wrong, sir?" She asked in a calm, monotonous voice. "I didn't notice you were still here." He breathed.

The beep of his phone interrupted them. It was a text from his oldest brother, Denver. ''Come to the manor tonight, we need to discuss something.'' He clicked his tongue, typical Denver, always talking on the point.

"Nora, on a second thought, please postpone the second meeting."

"Sure sir, I will discuss it with Mr.Bell's secretary and inform you."

He thanked her followed by a wink. She laughed it off and left his office. She was well aware of his playful ways and didn't mind him. She was one of those countable number of people with whom he was genuinely close to and who knew his real personality.

The media had always portrayed him as a bad boy, a cold heartbreaker and a spoilt brat. It wasn't completely false but also not complete truth. But that didn't bother him the slightest. He didn't give two fucks about what anyone thought about him as long as he had his loved ones on his side.

...

The drive to Joanne manor was about 25 minutes from the Empire. All of the Cartier siblings their families and parents were already gathered in the huge living room when Calvin made his entry.

"Oh the young master is finally here after 20 minutes of waiting." His sister Jackie playfully mocked and pretended to cheer. All three of his brothers decided to join their sister to tease their youngest sibling. They all waved their hands in the air and cheered while the rest of the family laughed at their childish behaviour.

"Calvin, we have something to discuss with you." Joanne said, as he sat next to her and kissed her cheek.

...

"I kind of saw this coming." He chuckled after hearing what his mother said.

"They are in a bad place right now, it's the perfect time to strike." Said Jackie.

"Once we get Andrew Constructions under us, we will have the upper hand in the construction market." The second brother, Elvis commented.

"Also, you're already 27, you're getting old." Jackie hit the back of her twin brother, James' head. "That's not the topic, idiot."

They all looked at Calvin with hopeful eyes, waiting for his answer.

"Okay." He left everyone bewildered with his unexpected, nonchalant answer. Who would have thought a freedom loving bachelor like him would agree for a marriage commitment so easily.

The Andrews had once rejected their offer of forming an alliance with a business marriage. And now they were the one who proposed it again to the Cartiers. Though he wasn't fond of the idea at first, he agreed because it was important for them in order to conquer the construction market.

He had to admit, his pride was hurt when he had found out that he was rejected by the heiress of Andrew Constructions. It was his first time getting rejected by someone, after all. But now, it was different, the coin flipped, the tables turned.

'This is going to be fun, Ms.Andrews'

Calvin's tanned slender fingers glided swiftly across the keyboard as he typed 'Blair Andrews' into the Google search bar. Many results popped up. His hazel eyes scanned the webpage to look for any article that could give him some type of information about her.

Finally he found a page, it was like wikipedia but only for business related people. It wasn't a challenge to find her since she had been a hot topic for a few days now.

He clicked on her profile and after taking a good look like at the picture provided, he began reading out a loud in hopes to learn something about her .

"Full name: Blair Astrid Andrews

DOB: 4th October 1998

Age: 23 years

Profession: Lawyer

Blair Astrid Andrews is the one and only heiress of country's biggest construction company. Losing her parents at a ripe age of 7, Blair has been raised by her uncle Miguel Andrews and aunt Martha Andrews. Blair has expressed her disinterest in business and currently practices as a lawyer at the reputed KS Law Firm."

Calvin pressed hard on his temple. KS Law Firm was rising at a terrifying rate. Just 7 years in business and they were already competing with many big named law firms. It's founder, Raiden Kingston was known to be a very competent lawyer who never lost a single case in his entire 7 years long career.

"She's pretty." He looked up to see Nora's willowy frame standing there. "I am sorry for entering without permission, I knocked several times but you didn't notice, sir." She apologized.

He just waved his hand in response, indicating that it was alright.

"Have you thought about it sir?" He furrowed his brows and gave her a questioning look. She seemed to understand his gaze and answered "My husband has been working for the Andrews family since years now. That's how I know." He nodded his head and leaned back on his chair.

"I am getting married, Nora." He laughed, not being able to believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Congratulations, sir."

...

"Shouldn't you be at the Firm?" Miguel asked trying to sit straight on his king sized bed. Blair put some pillows behind him to support his weight. She stirred the bowl of hot abalone porridge and placed it on the small table in front of him.

"I took a day off. Now come on, eat this quickly before it gets cold." She pushed the white ceramic bowl towards him. He took a spoonful of porridge and placed it in his mouth after blowing on it for a few seconds.

"Hmmm... It's good, did you make it?"

"What do you think?"

"You can't make something this delicious." He teased with a smile.

She laughed at his response. Of course he knew her very well. She could fight Voldemort if needed but couldn't cook to save her life. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before a stern voice interrupted them.

"Sir, we have received the signed contract from Cartier Empire. The legal procedures will take some time but once this marriage commences, we will officially announce the alliance." Mr. Park finished the sentence by giving her a hesitant look and handed the signed papers to Miguel.

She held a nonchalant expression, not wanting to show her disapproval. Miguel seemed to notice her thoughts so he gently squeezed her hand in comfort. "Dear, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can think of someway else."

She gave him a reassuring smile. Even in time like this, he was thinking about her. But she knew there was no 'someway else'. That marriage was the only way, the only one way to make things right after the trouble she had caused.

With going head to head against the Chases, they needed someone powerful by their side, someone who could compete with the Chases in terms of money and influence and that someone were the Cartiers.

Andrew constructions was the biggest name in the construction industry. Maybe that was the reason why the Cartiers had accepted their offer so easily since they wanted to expand in construction field.

She found it funny how few months ago she was the one who had rejected the same offer from Cartier Empire because she didn't want to get married to a stranger she didn't love. And now, she was bound to the same by a piece of paper. Life has some great ironies.

...

"He's like a handsome devil, ugh so annoying!" Blair chuckled at her bestfriend's words. Her and Jessica were looking up Calvin Cartier online. She had to admit, with his perfectly tanned skin, pinkish lips, strong jaw and straight nose, he was no less than a Greek God.

But what striked her the most were his eyes. They were unlike any other she had ever seen. A perfect mix of brown and green with some specks of gold. They looked somewhere between hazel and amber.

"Bree, are you sure about this? I mean, marriage is a big deal and marrying someone just like that? You haven't even met him once, not to forget all those rumours about him." Jessica sat in front of her, holding her hands. Her dark black boba like eyes were filled with concern.

"This is the best for everyone Jess." She answered holding on to her white porcelain like hand. Jessica rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"But what about you Bree? What about what you want?"

"What I want isn't an option. I did what I wanted by following Byron Chase's case and see what happened!"

"You are in love with Raiden, for God's sake!" Jessica exclaimed, standing up with a jerk. "Can you really give away your life just like that? Commit to a person you haven't even seen for real?"

"And you think it's easy for me?!" Blair raised her voice and stood up to face her. She took a deep breath and continued, "I am not in a position to choose, Jessica. This is something I have to do. I can't be selfish at a time like this."

With every passing word, her voice became softer and softer. "I am in a tough place right now and I really need your support." She concluded with a whisper. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes.

Jessica let out a long breath. "You are right," she said. "I should be more supportive." She took a step towards Blair and hugged her tight, placing her chin on Blair's shoulder and wrapping her long arms firmly around her slim frame.

They had been friends since they were in diapers. From growing up in the same neighborhood to going to the same school and sitting on the same bench, they did everything together.

Jessica felt guilty for not understanding her friend's desperation, for being a bad friend. She kept patting on Blair's head as they hugged.

"You don't have to apologise for anything."

Though Jessica could get overly emotional sometimes, Blair knew that the former only wanted the best for her. Besides, what she said wasn't wrong. Blair felt thankful for having such a caring and sweet friend. She returned the hug using more strength.

"Did I interrupt something?" A voice asked while looking at the two girls clinging onto each other. He put down the three pizza boxes he was holding and sat comfortably on the grey couch of Jessica's living room.

"Hey brother, I didn't hear you come in." Jessica said sitting next to him. She opened up a pizza box, got the biggest piece and placed it in front of Blair's mouth.

"Here, you need this more than anyone here."

She gladly accepted the pizza. It was hard crust, double cheese with roasted chicken and extra spicy sauce. Her favourite. She smiled and thanked Raiden. He knew she was upset so he got her favourite pizza.

Jessica excused herself and went to the kitchen to make drinks for everyone.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before he moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders pulling her to his chest and tightly hugged her.

"You must be under so much pressure right now, just relax for a while." His gentle voice echoed like a beautiful ballad in her ears. She found herself melting in his embrace. She wanted to savor the moment as much as possible for that she knew she might not get a chance like that ever again.