From That Night. Best Contract I signed.

Tomika smiled as her eyes landed on the beautiful chandelier above her. “Cute little stars,” she muttered, smiling as she dozed off again while still laying on the king sized bed. The bed was so soft it literally swallowed her in its silk sheets. “Stars?” She asked herself after a few seconds in confusion, her brows arching, her eyes still closed. Then her eyes fluttered open instantly. She looked around frantically, taking in the strange room. She noticed her shirt was undone, causing her brows to arch further. Where the hell was she? “What am I doing here?” She asked no one in particular. Her voice confused, and scared. She raised the duvet to check herself out. Luckily she was still in her clothes…. For a moment, she simply stared into nothingness. She was sure she was alone now because there had been no sound in the room so far. So how exactly did she get here, who brought in? Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar room, taking in the expensive furniture, the neatly arranged bedside table, and the door on the other side of the room. Panic crept up her chest. She pulled the sheets closer to herself, trying to remember how she'd gotten here, but her mind was a complete mess. Her heart began to pound. The last thing she remembered was… Him. The man with the mesmerizing grey eyes. The memory came rushing back in fragments: She was drugged at the bar last night. Jordan wanted to take her to “get medicine” in a hotel room. Then she remembered how she had run to the god-like man for help last night. She was so focused on surviving then she didn't have much time to admire his mouth watering looks. She remembered his deep Velvety voice telling his guard to deal with Jordan. She still remembered Jordan's pleas as he got a good beating which he much deserved. She could tell from the sounds of fists meeting skin as the gorgeous man took her into the elevator. She tried to recall more but everything was still all foggy in her mind. She knew she had blacked out at some point… “There was another man there,” she muttered. Tomika swallowed, slowly releasing the breath trapped in her lungs. That explained how she'd ended up here, but it didn't explain whose room this was, where the mysterious man had gone, or why someone like him had bothered helping a woman like her. She was still trying to piece everything together when a sharp vibration disrupted the silence. Her gaze snapped toward the desk beside the window. Her phone. Someone had placed it neatly beside a glass of water, as though she were a guest at a five-star hotel rather than a woman who had nearly lost everything the previous night. The phone vibrated again. Tomika scrambled out of bed and hurried toward it, desperate for something familiar in this strange, impossibly expensive room. Then she saw the name flashing across the screen. ‘Gigi⁠ ⁠♡’ popped up. It was her best friend Grace. Then she remembered she hadn't spoken to her after she tried her line last night but it wasn't reachable. Last night was supposed to be a memorable night for her but somehow, it turned into a nightmare for her. She had finally gotten her dream job in one of the biggest… wait, the biggest Jewelry company in the country and she was about to share the good news before her dad shattered everything. His words were still replaying vividly in her mind, the memory of his glare still plastered in her mind. “Try to be useful for once. The least you could do is marry him and clear my debt.” Tomika's dad shouted scornfully. “Mika!” Grace's voice blasted off her phone speaker. “Mika, where are you? Are you okay…” Gigi's voice was filled with worry. “Woahh, Gigi. Slow down” Tomika finally replied. The sigh of relief from the other side didn't go unnoticed by her. “I should slow down?” Grace asked, clearly pissed now. “You just disappeared and didn't even inform me. Where have you been, where are you?” Grace continued. “I’m fine. I just blacked out last night.” Tomika said the last part in a hurry which she regretted in the next second. “What! You blacked out?” Grace's voice boomed from the other end. Tomika had to take it away from her ear for a few seconds to avoid hearing loss. “Where are you right now, I'm coming to get you.” Grace demanded. “I’ll come to you instead, so don't worry. I'll be at your place in 30 mins. You are home right?” Tomika assured. “Yes, and you better have a good explanation.” “Yes, Mommy.” Tomika laughed it off. “I'll be expecting.” Grace said as the call ended. She checked the time on her phone before dropping it back on the desk, it was about 2pm in the afternoon, apparently she slept in. Maybe the side effects of the drug. At exactly 40 mins, Tomika was standing in front of Grace's apartment staring at the door as though it held the answers to all her problems. It was a modest shared apartment in a fairly quiet part of town. The cream paint on the walls of the building was beginning to peel in a few places, and a couple of flowerpots sat beside the entrance, one of them looking like it hadn't been watered in weeks. Nothing fancy, but it was home. Or at least, it feels that way compared to her house. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, clutching the strap of her bag. Should she go in? Grace was her best friend. The one person she could usually run to without thinking twice. But after everything that had happened, Tomika wasn't sure she was ready to face her questions. She barely had answers for herself. What was she even supposed to say? Hey, girl. Remember how I disappeared last night? Well, a ridiculously handsome stranger saved me, and somehow I ended up waking up in a room that probably cost more than everything I own. Yeah. That would go down wonderfully. She didn't even know how to tell her she got drugged and she couldn't have imagined what would have happened if that man didn't step in just in time. She let out a frustrated sigh and raised her hand to knock, only to drop it again. "Get a grip, Tomika," she muttered. Before she could change her mind for the third time, the door swung open. Grace stood in the doorway, dressed in a loose T-shirt and a pair of shorts, her natural hair gathered into a messy bun. The moment she saw Tomika, her eyes widened. "Tomika?" Tomika managed a small, uncertain smile. "Hey, girl." Grace stared at her for a second, as if she needed to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Then her expression changed. "Are you freaking kidding me right now?" Before Tomika could answer, Grace grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a tight hug. "Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was?”