The Marriage Deal

Chris entered his Apartment, it was a magnificent home, the kind of home only men of his calibre resided in Beverly Hills, in the city of Los Angeles.

After the four-hour meeting at work, He was exhausted, this was his daily routine as he was no stranger to stress or wealth and affluence.

Twenty-sever-year-old Chris Rowland was the youngest billionaire in the city, he owned the biggest and most renowned Pharmaceutical company there. He was tall and handsome, but handsome in an alarming way, his dark brown hair was as bright and beautiful as caramel, and his strong jaw and full brows were nothing compared to the rest of his face, particularly, the hazel-coloured eyes he inherited from his mother, Mrs Rowland.

Chris walked up the stairs of his luxurious and well-furnished home to his spacious bedroom where he took off his Suit, revealing a well-toned body.

Apart from work, the gym was another place he frequented.

Sliding on an orange shirt and a pair of shorts, he climbed down the stairs as his stomach grumbled, he couldn't recall the last time he had a decent and well-cooked meal, the usual five-star restaurant meals were not an option this time around as it was all class and charade, tasteless and insipid.

He loved good food, and the restaurant foods only tortured and betrayed his taste buds.

Opening the fridge, he peered into it, there was a carton of milk and nothing else in it, he sighed, he had forgotten to call the elderly woman, Mrs Phina, who often went grocery shopping for him, cleaned his home and also cooked for a stipend.

He walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of Champagne to drown the hunger, then walked towards the big window which revealed the beautiful and ever-busy city in all its glory,

Dialling Mrs Phina's number, he curtly said as she picked,

"Mrs Phina," his tone was serious, "I'm out of groceries and food, can you please come over this evening?"

At the other end, the elderly woman sighed in distress, "Mr Rowland, you'll have to forgive me, I've been Ill for some days now, I think I caught a flu,"

"Oh!" Chris Exclaimed in concern and slight disappointment, "yikes! I'm sorry about that, I was just hungry. But it's fine, I guess I'll sort it out. Meanwhile, please stay home and take care of your health Mrs Phina," he said and was about to end the call when suddenly, he heard the elderly woman call desperately,

"Oh please hold on Mr Rowland! why don't I send my granddaughter over instead, although she's new to this city, she'll be able to find her way around going grocery shopping for you,"

"And she cooks pretty well too," she quickly added knowing fully well how it went with these wealthy people, once they found another hand they could trust, they would comfortably discharge their old staff, and she didn't want that, that Job was the only reason she and her grandchildren could feed comfortably, also, it was the only job she ever got in a rich man's home where she was treated as human even though she was poor.

Chris sighed, normally he would have declined as he preferred eating home-made food prepared by just one person as he didn't quite enjoy the change of hands,

He very well knew his position in society, he had enemies who were constantly after his life and company, so he could only trust a few, and Mrs Phina had been his chef and maid for over three years after his mother moved away with her new husband.

He trusted her and was hungry, he didn't have enough time to get a replacement for her,

"Alright Mrs Phina," He sighed, "you can send your grand daughter over, and quickly too, I'm famished,"

"Oh thank you, Mr Rowland, thank you!" Mrs Phina said gratefully, as he ended the call,

After gulping down his drink, he walked back to the centre of the room and leaned back on the sofa to relax his aching back, he was tired, and hungry, he couldn't remember the last time he craved or thought about food this much, instead, he was either thinking of one office work or another.

Which was why he had a lot of supplements and sleeping pills in almost every corner of his home, he hated having to run out on them when ever he needed them because no matter how he tried, he couldn't go to sleep without taking them.

He barely had good sleep as he mostly slept with an eye-open in case of danger, which was why his doctors recommended the sleeping pills to help him fall asleep.

Yawning in hunger and exhaustion, he reached for one of the sleeping pills bottle on the chair and swallowed one pill before shutting his tired eyelids, maybe a few minutes of sleep would while away time till Mrs Phina's granddaughter arrived. He also had some work to do with Lucinda that evening, so, he shut his eyes and slept off.

In what felt like only a few moments later, Chris heard a knock on his door,

Sitting up in alarm he rubbed his eyes groggily, "was it Phina's granddaughter?" he thought, Indeed Phina lived in West adams, a suburban part of the city which was relatively close to his home but not that close, but Lucinda, his secretary lived only a floor below him as he had made sure of that, he liked to keep her close just in case there was business which needed immediate attention and for him, the term 'business' went beyond the office meaning with the hot high-class Lucinda as she was a regular visitor to his bed.

Another knock came, "Hold on!" he called, as he groggily walked to the door and looked through the peephole, he couldn't see who noticed it was a woman with fill brown her, just like Lucinda's, so he opened it, believing it her.

Turning away swiftly he walked back to his sofa,

"Thanks for coming Lucinda, I hope you brought the document for the new business deal we're about to commence. I plan to speak to the clients tomorrow morning so hopefully..." he froze, he had turned around and was left stunned and speechless,

No it wasn't Lucinda, it was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on, she stood at his door with a timid expression written all over her,

she looked nothing like an upper-class girl which was typically his type, but she was pretty, his eyes travelled down her knee-length and loosely-fitted gown,

As he walked back to the door unable to take his eyes off her, she stuttered, timidly,

"Goo...good evening Mr Rowland, I'm Raina, Phina's granddaughter,"

He held the door and leaned on it, staring at her slyly as he broke into a mischievous and seductive smile, this was certainly going to be a long cosy night for him, he thought.

"Hey beautiful," he said coyly, "Your grandma never told me she had such a pretty granddaughter."

Raina swallowed nervously, 'ermm, Mr Rowland, my grandmother asked me to come and make you dinner,' she said, ignoring his flirtatious gaze and words,

He looked at her hands and noticed she had grocery bags with her, curiously, he quizzed,

'Are those groceries?'

'Yes, Mr Rowland, My grandmother said you were starving, she gave me some money to go grocery shopping before coming down here, to make dinner for you.'

Chris raised a brow suspiciously before looking at his wristwatch it was only a few seconds ago that he had called Mrs Phina, but upon seeing the time, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was more than an hour ago after he called her, had he slept that long?

Remembering his grumbling and starving stomach, he sighed, 'Alright, come on in, and I'll reimburse you for the money spent on shopping,' he assured,

Raina nodded and walked past him, dropping her purse near a counter by the door.

She was exceptionally stunning, he could see that but decided to deal with her later, for now, all he wanted was good and tasty food, and even if she played too hard to get, Lucinda was just a floor below his, he would call her instead, but all the same, he had a weird feeling in his guts that this evening won't be a regular one.

Raina looked around, it was the most beautiful house she had ever seen, and that made her slightly dizzy, she had to stylishly hold her head to control the spinning motion.

He shut the door and leaned his back on it, watching her carefully with arms folded,

'the kitchen is by the left, and please drop the formalities, just call me Chris,' he demanded to her surprise,

She turned around and with her head down, nodded timidly before going to the Kitchen, she walked past a beautiful Chinese piece on the centre table but couldn't stop to admire it knowing fully well that Chris was staring after her, so she kept walking into the kitchen.

After she was gone, Chris double-checked his door to see if it was properly locked, he didn't want intruders coming in.

He walked up the stairs to his room, remembering he had some official calls to make before dinner would be served, then after dinner, he decided that he would try his luck with his new chef.

Meanwhile, Raina who was in the kitchen, started preparing him turkey and salad just like her grandmother had instructed, it was one of Chris' delights. She hummed to the tone of a song, it was a song her sister used to sing to her many years ago before she disappeared with their mother.

As ahe was taking out some spices from the cabinet, she suddenly spotted some familiar-looking bottles of pills which she instantly recognized, they were similar to the ones recommended for Diego, her little cousin, whenever he was restless as a result of the constant fits and health hazards he suffered.

She wondered why someone with so much money and seemingly less problems like Mr Rowland would need such pills. Indeed, even the rich had their own problems.

Ignoring them, she went back to cooking, and a few moments, she heard a quiet knock on the door, but she ignored it, afterall she was only there to cook and not to answer doors, so she kept preparing dinner, but the knock came again and again, more impatiently this time.

She tried to ignore it but a fourth knock came this time so she stepped out of the kitchen, wondering where the master of the house was,

She wiped her hands on the apron and marched to the door swiftly, she opened it to reveal three huge-looking Men on dark sunshades, One, In particular, had a frightening scar on his face.

She shot them a quizzical look, but they ignored her and walked into the room, their eyes scanning around.

'Where's Chris Rowland?' the first man with the scar on his face asked in a harsh and commanding voice,'

'oh, he's upstairs,' Raina stuttered, wondering who they were and what they wanted,

The scarred-faced man nodded to the other two men who walked briskly and carefully towards the step while he brought at a loaded pistol from the inner pocket of his suit,

Raina gasped and was about to scream out loud when the first man pointed the gun at her while gesturing to her to remain silent,

She placed a hand on her chest in panic, as she couldn't imagine what was about to happen but one thing she knew was that she couldn't let it happen, She couldn't let them kill the only man who put food on her family's table.

So quickly, while the scarred-faced man was distracted by giving silent orders to the other two men, she purposely knocked the Chinese piece on the table to the ground to alert the Master of the house of danger, before dashing into the kitchen and shutting it's iron door behind her,

Chris, who was in his bedroom heard the clatter downstairs and hurriedly stopped working, he rushed towards the door of his room, mumbling,

'I can't believe she's already breaking things in my house!' he grumbled to himself,

but the moment he opened his door, he spotted one of the intruders climbing his stairs with a gun in his hand, and suddenly their eyes met,

Before the intruder could raise the gun, Chris hurriedly shut the door against the gunshots fired at him, bolting it quickly,

He rushed back to his drawer and pulled out a loaded shotgun, it was a weapon he carried all around with him as violence wasn't something he wasn't familiar with since he had spent some of the earlier years of his life training with his bodyguards on how to defend himself, he was wealthy, the wealthiest billionaire in the city for that matter so his life was constantly threatened by enemies,

Taking out his phone from his back pocket, he hurriedly punched in a number,

'Juls!' he yelled over the phone, 'Get in here quickly, I've got intruders!'

Juls was his most trusted bodyguard who lived two floors beneath his apartment, he had made sure to keep Juls as close as possible for the sake of him and Lucinda.

He rushed back to the door with the loaded pistol, ready to take down his enemies if they tried to gain entrance into the room.

He Slightly opened the door, but two more rounds were fired against his door, so he shut it quickly and leaned against it, as his heart raced,

He shut his eyes and said a silent prayer, then suddenly remembered Mrs Phina's granddaughters downstairs, his heart raced, he wouldn't be able to look the old woman in the face if anything happened to her daughter in his house, even worse, he couldn't handle the Press and their set-ups disguised and fashioned as questions. He had to go down there, even if it meant putting his life on the line for a stranger as long as she was on his property.

Taking a deep breath in and out, he put his hand on the knob and unlocked the door quickly, pointing his gun in the open and ready to fire.

He pushed open his door wider but suddenly saw Juls, his bodyguard, standing before him,

"Juls, it's just you!" he heaved a breath of relief,

"Yes Sir, we've taken care of the intruders, I used a silencer to avoid alerting the neighbours,"

"Good!" Chris sighed as he walked past Juls and ran down the stairs, heading towards the Kitchen,

"And the girl?" Chris asked, praying she was unhurt,

Suddenly, he saw one of his other guards pulling Raina with him from the kitchen as she fought and struggled to let go of his grip on her arm,

"Let me go!" Raina yelled,

"Let her go, immediately!" Chris commanded as the guard let her go,

"Sir? what's going on?!" she asked looking at two lifeless bodies of the huge men on the floor,

"It's none of your business!' Chris tackled angrily, " do you care to explain how these men got in?!" he demanded,

Raina shrugged regrettably, "I let them in"

Gritting his teeth, he asked word for word, "why would you let anyone into my house without my consent?!"

"I...I.." she stammered, "I was only trying to..."

"you were only being a busy body!" Chris spat in anger,

She tried to explain but he was too furious to listen, "get your things and get out of my house!"

Raina gasped, he was furious,

"But the food..." she protested,

"It can as well burn into ashes! Out!" he yelled at her,

And for a moment, she looked like she was about to cry,

taking her purse from the counter near the door, she walked away.

"and you better not say a word to anyone out there for your sake!" he yelled after her,

"Stupid girl," he muttered to himself as she closed the door after her.

"Ahem!" Juls cleared his throat first, "Sir, they were three of them, the third man escaped!" he informed,

"Any idea who it was?" Chris asked,

"not really Sir, right before we came in, we heard him escape through the windows, so we didn't get a good glance at him, and we can't identify these bodies either,"

Chris nodded thoughtfully as Juls quickly asked, "Boss, do you think it was..."

"Jack Triffling?" Chris finished, "I'm not sure, I'll look into the CCTV footage,"

Juls nodded, "anything else, boss?"

Chris turned around and stared at the lifeless bodies on the floor in disgust, "Clean this up!"

Juls nodded as Chris rushed back up the stairs, he rounded up his meeting, and by the time he was back down with his laptop, the whole place was spotless and clean, though there was the smell of bleach probably used to wipe off the blood stains on the shiny tiles.

The only odd thing was his missing Chinese piece from the centre table, it was a gift from his late grandmother who had a love for expensive Chinese wares,

Sighing, he thought, it was probably the clatter he had heard upstairs which had alerted him, if not, he might as well be a dead man by now.

He was most grateful that he never kept the vase holding his late father and sister's ashes in the sitting room, as that might have been the piece that would have been broken, and that in return would have shattered his heart beyond measure. That was the only thing he had of his late father and sister.

"How dare she unlock my door without letting me know?!' he muttered in anger,

He never made such silly mistakes, his house was built a certain way to keep invaders out, matter of fact, all doors were made of iron, and also, no one else had access to his apartment from the outside except its inhabitants,

And apart from him, Juls and Lucinda were the only ones who had that privilege. The former, for security reasons, and the latter, for exotic or business purposes.

"That silly girl, she almost got him killed," he thought,

He needed to watch the footage to identify the third man, he had so many enemies and couldn't guess which one had just made an attempt on his life this evening.

Sitting on the dining with his laptop, he clicked on and went on to rewind and watch the CCTV footage from his apartment, he saw the three men walk into the house, the man who had escaped looked like Bruce, Jack Triffling's right-hand man,

He paused the footage and zoomed in clearly, it was certainly Bruce, He could see the ugly scar that ran through Bruce's face and neck, Jack must have sent him to assassinate him.

Jack Triffling was a competitor in the pharmaceutical industry, he had been a threat to Chris' father and was now a threat to Chris, Matter of fact, Jack had murdered Chris' father in cold blood many years ago, but had left no subsequently evidence for Chris and his family to indict him with, and ever since, Chris had sworn to get vengeance for his father, but without involving the police this time, they would settle it man to man.

He would someday take life away from Jack Triffling in the same slow and painful way in which Jack had taken his father's life, it was the least he could do for his late father.

And after then, he was sure he would forgive himself for not being man enough to protect his family when they needed him to.

Chris continued watching the video again, he watched it carefully, and it was then he saw it for himself, it was then he saw what she had done to save his life, how she had saved his life by putting hers at risk, if she hadn't taken the risk of alerting him by breaking that Chinese ware, he might have been a dead man by now, not only him but even her as Jack's boys would never have made the mistake of sparing an eyewitness, they knew how to clean up properly after their dirty works.

He sighed, that crazy woman, first she puts his life in danger and then she puts hers at risk to save him.

He couldn't bring himself to say it, but he knew that he owed her his life.