Book 1: Chapter 3

“Sasha, love, can you come over to the house, please?” Vanessa asked sweetly on the phone, and Sasha sighed; it’s been nearly two weeks now since she left their home, her wedding date has been fixed, and she is to be married this Saturday. Well, it’s not a problem for her, only that her husband-to-be has never called her or even asked to meet with her.

“Sure, Mom,” she replied, and she could swear she felt her smile; calling the woman Mom really makes her happy; maybe it’s because she never had a daughter, she thought.

“I’m waiting for you, darling,” Vanessa replied and hung up the call.

Sasha sighed and stared at the document in her hand; she was getting married, but not for once had she gone wedding shopping with her husband-to-be; she had never been asked to select anything on her own. They had these two big wedding planners taking care of everything, talk about getting married into a rich family. She has an estimation of four hundred guests being invited, and she wondered what she would be doing with so many guests.

She dropped the document and stood up from her desk; she picked up her car key and sighed; it’s been nearly two years now since she started this branch of the company, and she really wants to make her father proud, and nothing will shoot them up to the top front like getting the Jack and Jones contract.

Although the business plan is to take place in a year’s time, they were already looking for the right company to handle it, and almost all the growing firms are after it, well, including some companies that have never seen the light even after being established years ago.

Am I marrying him because of this contract? Of course, it has to be for it, but she knows deeply within her that it’s more than that; in fact, the contract is hardly remembered when talking about marrying him. How many years has she fantasized about him? From the very first moment she set her eyes on him in middle school when she was just thirteen, it had been like that through their high school, and they had only been separated because they had to go to different colleges.

She said goodbye to her secretary and a few others of her staff and walked outside the building; she stepped into her car and reversed from the lot before driving with one destination in mind, the Brown’s. She still can’t believe she is getting married into that family.

She passed the gate and drove into the country home. She pulled over in front of the mansion, and a few servants greeted her; they all knew she was the new bride, the fiancée to the young master. Some of them often wondered why she agreed to marry such a cold man, but they shook their head, they already knew the answer, if given an opportunity, they would also marry him heartily, for who wouldn’t want to marry into such a family and not to talk of, he was also incredibly handsome.

Sasha walked into the house to see Vanessa speaking to her son, and her heart missed a beat; she never expected to meet him here. She swallowed and walked up to them, and Vanessa smiled when she saw her.

“Darling, you are,” she smiled.

Her fiancé looked at her then, their eyes met, and his crystal blue ones burned into hers, eliciting a shiver from her. She cleared her throat and decided she must talk to him today, whether he wanted her to or not.

“Come, sweetheart; I wanted you both to do something. There is this new wedding dress that arrived in one of Michael’s boutiques; I need you to try it on,” Vanessa said with a smile. Sasha looked at her, startled; she didn’t see that coming; she didn’t know what to say and just nodded, and the woman turned to her son, “You hurry up now so that you can go back to your meeting as you said.”

He nodded and walked out of the house; Sasha didn’t know whether to follow him or not, but just decided to; she smiled and mouthed goodbye to her soon-to-be mother-in-law, who said to her, “Let me have your car key, sweetie.”

Sasha frowned but didn’t think twice about it and just handed her the key before rushing out after her fiancé. She rushed outside to see him getting into his limousine, and she increased her running pace. She got to the car, breathing heavily. When was the last time she ran? She couldn’t even remember.

She got into the car beside him, and the chauffeur closed the door after her; the limousine's backseat was filled with strong, sexy male cologne. She sat on her portion, trying her best to keep to herself, but she couldn’t help stealing a glance at him.

He was just sitting there, his eyes were closed, and his head rested on his headrest, his hands were resting on his thigh, he appeared peaceful, and she wondered if he wanted to stay like that till they got to his boutique? No small talk? She means, they are getting married in the next eight days, for Christ’s sake!

Well, no need to wait for him to start; she could always initiate the conversation; she licked her lips and turned to look at him with a determined look, “hi Michael,” the name felt so sour in her mouth, she had stopped herself from mentioning his name and hardly get in touch with anybody with the name. Two guys, she had rejected their advances because their names were Michael.

The man sitting beside her didn’t hear her, or even if he did, he pretended he didn’t; his eyes were still closed, and she swallowed; he couldn’t possibly have fallen asleep, right? She means it’s not even up to three minutes before he got into the car.

“How have you been?” She tried again.

Still nothing, she sighed and looked out the window; what could be his problem now? She turned to look at him again and frowned; not accepting to be snubbed like that, she reached out her hand to touch him, and he showed the first visible reaction she could see; he flinched.

Maybe not expecting her to touch him, slowly he opened his eyes, and the crystal blue eyes were staring intently at her; she felt her heart miss a beat, and she swallowed.

“Is there a problem?” He asked in this deep, seductive voice she had ever heard; his voice was more like a whisper, and she actually forgot he asked her a question.

When she finally recovered, he was still staring at her with half-closed eyes, which made him look sexy. She licked her lips while slowly grazing her teeth on the lower one. She heard him take a sharp intake of breath, and when she looked at him again, his eyes were closed once more. She wanted to talk to him again, but decided against it; it’s best if she stays on her own for now.

Thirty minutes later, they stopped in front of a shopping mall; the chauffeur got down and opened the door for them, he got out first, and she followed. They walked into the shop to receive a lot of greetings from the staff.

“Good evening, Mr. Brown.” It was raining everywhere, and he walked straight to a room while Sasha could do nothing but follow him. They got seated, and there was a table with tea cups and a jug waiting for them. He poured himself tea and sipped from it. She just sat there looking around the very spacious room like a fifteen-year-old.

A woman in her late thirties walked in, in quick steps; there was a younger girl behind her carrying a very big bag.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Brown, I was just adding the finishing touches,” she smiled.

Michael nodded, and the woman turned to Sasha, “Would you like to try it on now, Miss?” She asked with a smile.

Sasha nodded and walked into the changing room with her. She stared at herself in the full-length mirror, and her mouth dropped open in awe; she looked like an angelic bride. The gown was pure white; it was strapless but had lace sleeves that joined from the underarm. It showed out all her curves, and then from the knee down, it looked like a freshly blossomed flower and trailed behind her.

She never expected to wear such a gown at her wedding; she turned immediately to walk out of the room; she couldn’t wait to see Michael’s expression. The woman grabbed her hand just as she reached the door.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

Sasha stared at her as if she had gone nuts, and the woman chuckled, “Haven’t you heard of the saying that a groom is not to see the wedding gown until the day itself? If you show him everything now, how can he be surprised on the day?”

Sasha bit her lip; she was right, but that only happens if the groom loves the bride, the man out there wouldn’t even care if he see it now or on the day she wanted to say but decided against it; there is no need putting confusion into the woman’s mind ‘cause even she have not understood what was going on. She took off the gown and put on her original set of clothes.

She walked out of the room to see a surprise in his eyes when he saw her, but he immediately concealed it. Was he expecting to see me in the gown? She wondered, but before she could even say a thing, he stood up and walked out of the room. She followed him to the limousine and got in after him. The ride back was as silent as when they were coming. She looked out the window, and when she noticed the road was not the way to the Brown’s villa, she turned to give him a questioning gaze, which he didn’t notice or pretended not to.

She wanted to ask, but told herself to forget it; where could he be taking her? It’s not like he is going to kill me, she decided.

Minutes later, the limousine pulled over, and she looked out the window to see her house; she was shocked. He dropped her off? But what about my car? She wanted to ask when she noticed her car pulling over in the driveway.

She looked at Michael, but he said nothing, believing she knew what to do. She sighed and nodded, “Thank you,” she muttered when the chauffeur opened the door for her. Guess that was the reason his mother took her key from her, knowing her son all too well.

Sasha got out, and the driver of her car got out too and walked up to her; he handed her the key and got in the limousine with the other chauffeur; she looked at the man in the backseat through the window but couldn’t make out his expression since the glass was tinted so dark.

She raised her hand to wave him goodbye, but the limousine had already started driving off before she could finish the action. She stood there, watching the car leave, and the tiny voice came again: Can you live like this, Sasha? It’s not too late to turn back, you know, but she shook her head and waved the voice away, it’s just a matter of time, and she would crack him, she thought, and walked into her apartment.