The Billionaire's Forced Alliance

Chapter Nine

Sarah began packing her bags, reluctantly. To be honest, she was a bit excited, too. She couldn't decipher the reason behind her sudden enthusiasm. It was a wedding invitation, first of all, she had never gone to an invitation before, her father hadn't let her, and second of all, it was in Texas. More than the busy city lights of New York, she loved the rich country feels of Texas with all its beautiful green glory. The only reason was she had went there once, for just a menial time of two months. She had worked there as an assistant psychology intern for Dr. Brian Wilson in the university of Houston. It gave her enough money to sustain throughout her living there. She had managed to pay the bills, the rent and survive quite easily.

She had also made a friend there. A beautiful, redhead woman named Jean, who seemed two or three years younger than her. Jean was a great neighbour, to be precise. She had become a confidante, a person with whom she had shared so much information about her life and her father. She remembered how they used to hang out at her place, watching movies, talking all night long and sometimes singing songs.

Well, Jean was a really good singer. It had always seemed like she was born with the talent of manipulating rhythms and pitches. As for her, she belonged from an Indian household and had basic knowledge in singing. When she was a child and visited India, her grandparents used to make her practice classical songs, and folklores in tune. She had a decent voice, she admitted, but not as beautiful as Jean.

She still remembered when Jean had gone out one day, Sanjeev had finally tracked her and sent his men to drag her halfway across the state. They had forcefully kidnapped her, forced her into a private jet and flew her back to New York. After that, she had been mentally tortured by her father until she had promised she wouldn't dare go away from his shackles. She hadn't been able to say goodbye to Jean and maintain any sort of contact with her.

Her head swirled. She sat on the bed, her mind flashing with memories of the past she longed to experience again. Fear came naturally to her where it had been weaponised and fashioned into a cage, she was born to break free. She believed that for some reason, though. She knew she was way too fearful for her own good, but the sense that one day she would live freely and fearlessly always made her content.

She had fainted. After Rob had shown her to this room, she had settled down, folding her clothes neatly into the cupboard, arranging her books on the small shelf and the medium-sized table. She didn't have a phone, or a laptop, for that matter. Hence, when Ben said that whenever she needed something, she could call Rob, she had wanted to laugh and scream simultaneously at her fate.

She liked the room. Once she had arranged her things, she had stopped for sometime and closed her eyes, reopening to soak her vision in the lilac coloured walls. The room was pretty big, with walls fashioned like blooming lavenders, the ceiling was white and encrusted with squared lights. The room had been aglow, bright and warm; a kind of room she had always wanted. And then, fear had crept up her spine. She had stood there, knee deep in silence. The faucet in the bathroom had dripped into the sink, each one reverberating around the room like a cymbal, yet she hadn't been able to blink or move to stop it. The realisation that all this would be snatched again from her, made her breathless.

She had finally been out of her father's house, away from his shackles. Now that she could feel freedom beneath her wings, she had been reminded too suddenly of the fact that sooner or later, she would have to face Sanjeev and complete the work he had assigned. All this had led to the weakening of her mind, and the legs had fallen apart, all consciousness being sucked out of her in no time. And then, she had fallen on the floor, flat on her back, her eyes blinking shut.

Maybe, Ben had heard some sound and had come to save her in that instant, and after a few moments of unconsciousness, she had felt water splashed onto her face, and then he had been there, hovering over her and asking her to wake up. He had been worried, she flinched as the reminiscence of his eyes travelling up and down her body, came into her mind. He was a stranger, yet he had been concerned about her; more concerned than her family had ever been, truth be told.