Condemned to an unhappy marriage by her father Emerald Davidson finds herself in quite the shitty situation, only to find help from someone who's no better. She trades one deal for another, but is oblivious to what that other deal is exactly until i...
I have a bad habit of searching for beauty in beasts and forever in temporary people.
- Riderek
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My heart was pounding in my chest as I roamed the halls towards Riva's office. Miss Wilson - or Maria, as the sweet old lady that served as a housekeeper preferred to be called - had told me he requested my presence to sign off some papers right after she had brought up some breakfast and a pile of freshly washed clothes.
When I had asked her how he was doing she had looked at me like my question was ridiculous. Either she didn't know about her boss had been shot, or she did and found my inquiry out of line. Whichever of the two it was, I had apologized straight away and bitten my tongue after that. She was probably right, his health was none of my business. From now on our communication would have to be strictly professional in order to make this work. His obvious confidence and his extensive knowledge indicated Riva was more than met the eye, and if there was something I definitely did not need it was another mysterious shady man in my life. Dealing with him was a means to an end, but after this I would say goodbye to anyone even remotely dangerous. One forced marriage was enough excitement for a lifetime.
I had actually planned on taking a cab first thing in the morning, but to my shame I had slept all the way till noon. I had probably slept even longer, if it hadn't been for a furious phone call from Dan that had woken me up.
"What do you mean, you don't know where you are?!"
The last thing he had seen was me leaving with Daniel Riva and his doctor, and obviously Dan had expected me to come to his place after that. When I hadn't he had expected I had gone home to Ian, which had only added to his worry.
"I mean, I don't know where here is. I'm at Ian's boss's place, somewhere a little out of town."
"And you didn't think to let me know you planned on staying over?"
Dan was clearly pissed, and when I explained the happenings of last night to him it didn't exactly soothe his mood. His objections mirrored my exact worries; what if I got caught? Did Riva even knew who he was up against? What kind of man even was Riva that he planned on going up against Chante? Was I not just trading one devil for another?
When Cath could be heard barging in at Dan's place on the other side of the line to take part in the conversation she only made things worse.
"I work for him, Em. I don't claim to know what kind of a person he is, but I do know he's not exactly an angel. I've seen the backrooms of the club, and I know the kind of deals that are made there. I dare say him and Chante aren't that different."
It made me think, but it didn't make me want to blow the entire thing off straight away. So what if I was fighting evil with evil? It wasn't exactly like I had tons of options, and I was already in chin-deep anyway. It just meant I would have to be careful to make sure I wasn't being screwed over again.
