Lovers By Force

Chapter 1

I ask myself, what could have happened if we didn't meet. If this marriage wasn't arranged, would I have been able to find love? I guess we'll find out soon...

-
October 20th 2010, 8:30pm

I had grown up knowing how to be a woman, how to act appropriately, how to be respectable, and how to be a proper wife from an early age. However, I had other ideas for myself; I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and become a successful business owner by working hard for it. Learn and study. I had believed my whole life that I would soon take over my father's multibillion-dollar company. So I secretly took courses online, studied the books and taught myself the ins and outs of being a successful businesswoman. Until I met him.

My night consisted of studying and learning, like most. However, everything that I had ever known had altered on this specific night, even my life itself. A game of life and death, will I win? My phone rang and my eyes shifted towards the nightstand. For some reason, I knew it was my father and before I knew it, the phone had already reached my right ear.

"Hello?" I asked, knowing who it was.

"Luna, stop by the office. It's urgent" my father said on the other side of the line. "Is everything alright?" I asked. "Just hurry along, He's getting impatient" he said sternly before ending the call. At the moment, the thought of someone waiting for me didn't exactly alarm me, but deep down I still wondered who exactly is He.
-

When I get to the massive structure, there is a tiny light on illuminating one of the hundreds of offices. The freshly cleaned windows sparkle like stars in the night sky, and the glass entrance doors have the words 'Lancaster & Co.' Expertly etched. My father and whoever was waiting for me had to be there, and so I found myself grabbing the door handle, walking closer and closer to my fate.

After taking the elevator up to fourth floor where the front desk lady directed me that my father would be, I stepped out and walked up to his office. My hands graze the doorknob before turning it. My heart began to feel heavy as I took a step inside my fathers office. A wave of dark coldness hits me and shivers run down my spine. The room felt dense.

"Luna, I remember instructing you to hurry along, not take your time" my father said as he checked the time on his watch.  "I apologize..." I said nervously. "Take a seat" my father instructed, pointing to the chair opposite of where he was sitting. "Luna, you're getting married." He said, no hesitation in his voice whatsoever.

The words took a couple of seconds to hit me as confusion was the first thing that went through my mind. I was shocked to hear the words spoken out of his mouth.

"W-What?" I managed to get out.

"It's time you get married. For nineteen years I've raised you to be the proper young lady you are, it's only right you repay me by getting married with someone who will ensure the safety of my company-"

I interrupted him before he could finish. "Excuse me? Ensure the safety of your company? And what about me? All this studying to one day help you for nothing?"

"I never asked you to do that." He said sternly. "Who told you that you'd be the one taking over my company?" He said, laughing. I wasn't naive, I knew my father was implicated in illegal affairs, and his associations are dangerous. He must've found himself in the wrong territory so marrying me off had to be his only way of living.

"So you're going to sell me off, because you made some awful financial decisions? How dare you!" I shouted out. "Luna, would you really like to see your father dead!" He shouted back. "Maybe." I replied. And before I knew it I had gotten up, ready to walk out. Before a hand grabbed me by the wrist, stopping me.

"You know, you really shouldn't speak to your father in that way."

A voice said from behind me. I turn around to see who the unfamiliar voice was. A man, wearing all black head to toe stood before me. He had a bandana, braids, a lip piercing on the bottom left corner of his lip and eyes that could kill you if you stared any longer.

The moment he laid his hand on me, I knew he was the reason for the uneasy feeling that hung in the air. A demeanor so powerful, a stare so intimidating, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"And just who do you think you are?" I said, pulling my arm back. He smirked, his hand maneuvering around my waist as he pulled me closer to him. "Your husband" he said, his eyes piercing into mine. In the blink of an eye, I found myself staring at the same man who would change the course of my life. Whatever I thought I knew, I clearly didn't know it until I met him.