Marriage by Bargain - Book 2

Chapter Six

Zandre

Amelia had caught on to the fact that Damian had been feeding me information about Naia's whereabouts to aid in my quest and let me just say he got into quite a bit of trouble. Her problem wasn't that he was helping me but rather that he was being manipulative about it and seducing the information out of her. The minute she eased up on the yelling he called me to back out of the arrangement as well as warn me that Naia knew and would likely try to kill me. I had been prepared to ward of her attacks but was sorely disappointed when none came. She did something much worst; she started avoiding me totally. She wouldn't pick up my calls and she no longer showed up in places I usually 'bumped' into her, she just took herself off the grid totally and to say that bothered me was a colossal understatement. It drove me out of my mind and forced me to do the one thing, well one of the one things, I promised myself I would never do. I began to literally stalk her; I staked out the research facility for an entire day and followed her home so I could find out where she lived in order to initiate my plan B. I mean yes, with my money and influence I could have easily known every detail of her life but that would involve doing a background check on her, the other one thing I promised myself I wouldn't do. I couldn't do that and risk her finding out because then she would definitely hate my guts, also I really wanted to get to know her on my own. I wanted to experience the satisfaction of becoming well acquainted with her, I wanted to be able to read her with a look, find out her likes and dislikes and understand all her little quirks, I wanted to do it all the good old fashioned way.

I had already cheated with Damian's help to get myself this far and now I was being punished for it so I knew I had to play the rest of the game fairly. Well as fairly as possible. Which led me to my crazy, obsessive over the top scheme. Fortunately for me she didn't go to the police about her missing things but instead came to confront me herself and so I was able to get her alone long enough for us to strike a bargain. Hopefully during the week she would be living with me she'd come around and stop being so difficult or I'd have to activate plan C. I knew within myself that she wanted to be with me even though she was playing so hard to get or she would have opted to stay with Damian and Amelia without even considering my proposition. I smiled to myself before picking up my office phone to call my assistant's extension. I needed to plan the best date ever to get this off to a good start.

I left the office at four thirty to pick Xanaia up and take her to my apartment to get ready, since that's where all her stuff was. I brought one of my guards with me to take her car so she could ride back with me, I just wanted to have her to myself as much as possible.

The surprise on her face was evident when I pulled up outside the complex she had just exited, I got out of the car and she came over to meet me. Thankfully the research facility wasn't on the main so we weren't impeding any traffic.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in obvious confusion.

"I'm here to pick you up," I smiled and shrugged.

"You do know I have a car right?" She said looking over my shoulder at the guard who must have just gotten out of the car.

"Yes but our date started from the moment you agreed, so I wanted to have you ride with me," I explained, hoping she didn't notice I just made that up.

She glared at me headed to my car with a huff. I grinned, happy that she decided to go without putting up an argument. I got in and after she had given her keys to the guard headed to my apartment.

"Zandre, where exactly are you taking me tonight?" She asked from the bedroom, having just gotten out of the shower.

"Its a surprise," I answered.

She padded softly to the door and stuck her head out, "and just how do you expect me to get dressed without knowing where I'm going?" She asked in annoyance.