Sweet Surrender

Chapter 4

"Mom? Dad?"

If it weren't for the dim light of the room, Alana was sure that everyone would have seen the blood drain from her face.

Her mother opened her mouth to talk to her, but was cut off by the large man slowly descending the steps.

His large shadowy form slowly approached her. "And how is the guest of honor doing today?"

Alana backed up as he approached. When she broke into a run, his large strides outmatched hers and he grabbed her shoulders, boxing her in.

"Oh no you don't," the man said, "You're not going anywhere."

He steered her back towards the table, pushing her up the steps.

She was led to a seat that was next to where the man had been sitting.

As she sat down, she avoided looking at her parents.

"What do you all want?" she mumbled.

Her mother reached out to touch her hand, but Alana drew back.

Her mother sighed. "Alana, before you act irrationally, please hear us out."

Alana met her mother's eyes hostilely. "Whatever it is, no. I owe you guys nothing."

"Damn it Kate!" her father said, addressing her mother, "I knew she wouldn't even listen to us! She was always an ungrateful, little —"

"Raymond!" the man shouted next to her, "Hold your tongue. That's my future daughter-in-law right there!"

"What?" Alana exclaimed, whipping her head around to look at her parents.

She moved to get up, but Carter, who had appeared behind her, pushed her shoulders down.

"Get your damn hands off me!" Alana shouted.

"Sit down!" her father yelled. 

Next to her, the large man slammed his hands down on the table. 

"Silence!" he roared. 

Alana felt Carter slowly back away from behind her and her father sat back down, his face flushed and glowering at her. 

"Now Alana," the man said to her, "Do you know who I am?" 

Alana turned towards the man and shook her head slowly. 

"My name is Jim Hastings," he said, looking down at her, "and you better get used to hearing my name because soon, it's going to be tacked onto the back end of your name." 

It took a few moments for this comment to sink in, as Alana sat in the chair, Andrew's face swimming in and out of her mind. She was just glad that Hastings was a popular name. If she was to ever see him again - 

Wait. What did Mr. Hastings mean when he said that his last name was going to be hers? 

"What?" she asked, her head snapping back to his face. 

He barked out a laugh and turned to look at her parents. "That got her attention didn't it?" 

Alana looked between Mr. Hastings and her parents. "Mom? Dad? What's going on?" she asked, staring at her mom, silently begging her to let her go. 

"Do you want to tell her or should I?" Mr. Hastings said, looking at her father. 

"Well, Jim, I..." her dad said, his voice fading off as his gaze met hers. 

"Fine. If you won't tell her, I will," Mr. Hastings said, turning to face Alana, "Alana, your parents' company has gone broke and basically you need to marry my son to help pay for the debt." 

Alana felt these word pass in through one ear and out the other as she struggled to take this information in. Her parents' company? Broke? 

The last she had heard, the company had went public with their stocks, an indication of the company doing well. 

Mr. Hastings seemed to read her mind as he said, "The public stocks? That was all for show. Which means that your father was right and it would fool even the dimmest minds in America." 

Alana was too zoned out to hear this slight insult to her character and intelligence, and her brain desperately searched for a way out of the confusing mess she was in. 

It was all she could do was to look up at Mr. Hastings and uttered the word, "Marriage?" 

He guaffed and clapped a hand on her back, causing the wind to temporarily be knocked out of her. "I know! You? In a marriage? I can admit that upon first glance, you're not a top candidate for my son. You stay out far too late, get far too drunk, and have far little responsibility, but it seems as though that's my son's type, so you two should work out perfectly. Your sister would have been the more sensible option, but I'm grooming her for head of the PyroCon section of my company." 

"Your company?" Alana asked. 

"Oh yes," Mr. Hastings said with a relish, "This marriage is not only to make my son look more responsible to the media, but also to provide the funding and protection that your father's company needs." 

Alana looked at her mother and father who were pleading with her with their eyes. "No," she said, turning to look at Mr. Hastings, "I won't do it. I left this mess a long time ago and I'm not about to go and get myself back into it. Mom, Dad, it's been great seeing you, not, and Mr. Hastings was it? You can go to hell." 

She went to get back up, but Mr. Hastings snapped his fingers and Carter came and held her in place. 

"They told me you were a fiery one," he said chuckling, "But this wasn't a negotiation that you were coming to today. This is a contract that you will sign if it's the last thing that I do today. Your parents and your family will be ruined if you don't do this." 

Alana looked down at her hands in her lap. She couldn't believe this. After everything her parents had went and put her through, now, they were offering her up to a rich man's son whom she had never met. 

"If you don't do it for us, do it for Camie," her mother whispered, "She has such a bright future ahead of her." 

Alana's head whipped to face her mother. "And why should I do that? Camie disowned me like the rest of you five years ago and I wouldn't expect anything less from the asshole that was supposed to be my sister." 

She sighed. There was no point in fighting this. Mr. Hastings was obviously a rich man who had more power than she could ever dream of having. Any job she would try to get in the future Alana was certain would be ruined by a single word from him if she didn't do this. 

She saw that a contract had been placed in the middle of the table and a pen had been placed beside it. She grabbed it and pulled the document towards her. 

"Just know that I'm not doing this for you," she said, looking at her parents. 

She turned back to Mr. Hastings and said, "I'll sign it. But I'll need to meet your son first." 

His face broke into a grin. "Now if you're going to sign it anyways, I don't see the need for you to meet him, but lucky for you, he's in the other room." 

He clapped his hands, and a door at the end of the room opened. A tall man was ushered through and Alana could only make out his shadow as he walked down the room. It didn't seem as though he was in any hurry to see her though, as he wasn't hurrying across the room. 

When he finally stepped into the light, his tanned face and blue eyes looked into hers and reminded her of a night not so long ago in the rain outside of the side door of a school. "Andrew?" she breathed.