The Marriage Deal

The chosen bride

Chris stared at her for a while, it was obvious she wasn't going to move, she had a look of desperation in her eyes, in truth, he hadn't thought about relieving her grandmother, Mrs Phina of her job in his home, he was sure she would believe him if he said so now,

It was clear he only wanted her out of there and even he couldn't understand why he cared that much about her.

"Listen, lady! don't be stupid for once, get out of here this instant, if anything happens to you..."

"Nothing will happen to me!" she cut in abruptly, "and besides, what do you care?!"

He had come here for a mission, she was only delaying him and time was of the essence, he needed a favour from Schmoke, normally, he wouldn't consider doing any sort of business with the old crook, but he had no option, desperate times called for desperate measures,

He needed a woman to claim the position of his wife, he needed a woman who was trustworthy and loyal to getting the job done, he had a lot of enemies who would go the extra mile to ruin his plan if they knew about it, so he needed a woman who would be loyal to him, and what other way was there aside buying himself his own slave from schmoke,

Of course, he didn't plan to keep her forever, it was just until the job was done then he would automatically set her free and still make her rich from the payment after the deal.

The only problem was that schmoke was a greedy crook, he didn't trust him enough to not betray or double cross him in the future, if there was a way to get a woman who would be loyal to him, he would give up anything to have that happen.

"Listen, Mister," Raina continued, "if Mr schmock demands my soul just so I can save my family from the shackles of poverty then I would gladly give that up! my family is the most important thing to me and I'm ready to give up my life for them!" she announced,

Chris' deep thought was cut off as his eyes lit up upon hearing her words, instantly and almost remotely he knew what he had to do,

Raina was perfect for the job, she had a family she loved and wanted to protect and provide for, that was enough to buy her loyalty.

"Marry me," he suddenly blurted out, "Marry me Raina and I swear, you'll be a million times richer than you've ever dreamt,"

Raina's eyes widened in alarm as she stared at him speechlessly, wondering what sort of demon had suddenly possessed him.

"You must be joking!" Lucinda scoffed as she paced his office the next morning, "how do you explain marrying your help's granddaughter?"

"Calm down Lucinda," Chris who was seated behind his desk said as Lucinda paced his office in fury and jealousy,

"She's perfect for it," he continued, "she has a whole lot to lose if she tries to double cross us,"

"What do you mean by that?

" I mean she has a grandmother who works for me and a cousin with a heart condition whose treatment matters to her, she would gladly do everything we want her to without problem, plus she's an illegal immigrant, she wouldn't want to be deported," Chris informed,

"And if she double crosses you and decides to work with one of our enemies when she's bribed, then what?"

"That won't be happening Lucinda, trust me, there's something about this girl, I can't explain it but she's different,"

Lucinda frowned, she didn't like to hear Chris talk about other women in any positive light like he was doing with this one,

"And you're sure there's no other motive for making use of this particular girl?" Lucinda asked jealously,

Chris smirked, he could see through her, she was getting jealous and he knew why,

Standing from his seat, he walked over to the desk and gripped her by the waist as he pulled her closer to him, "why do you suddenly sound jealous?"

Lucinda rolled her eyes, "Well, shouldn't I be? firstly you might be getting married to someone other than me, and now you think there's something special about her, why then shouldn't I be jealous?"

"Trust me, Lucinda, you have nothing to worry about, the girl is nothing but an eye candy, she's not of our class, how then would you think I would have something to do with her let alone take an interest in her? she practically wears rags all about, and we all know I, Chris Rowland, like to go for the hottest, classiest and prettiest, just like you,"

Lucinda smiled in satisfaction as his assurance gladened her heart, she leaned in for a kiss but suddenly, the door to Chris' door opened as Luke poked his head in,

He frowned at the sight of Lucinda, even more at how Chris was holding her,

Chris hurriedly let go of her, remembering it was against office policies for staff to have intimate relationships, a law his mother had incorporated into the company which he hadn't readjusted yet in a bid to not get on Mrs Rowland's nerve.

She was his mother but he knew how stern she could be at times about rules, he was raised that way, dos and don'ts were always the order of the day, but still, he knew they were all in his interest, considering the horrible way in which his father was assassinated.

"Oh! am I interrupting anything?" Luke asked, staring from one person to another, "or would you like me to come some other time?" he asked feigning pretence of not knowing what was going on,

"Of course not," Chris lied, "come on in Luke, I believe Lucinda was about to leave to prepare the needed things for my trip,"

"Trip?" Luke asked in surprise, "What trip?"

Lucinda picked up a file she on the desk and walked away, eyeing Luke rudely on her way out,

when she was gone, Chris broke into a smirk, "well Luke, you might just be looking at a soon-to-be-married man,"