Love At A Price

Chapter1

On a starry, breezy night, it could almost pass off as being perfect. Emily and Andrew laid on the bed there, so close to each other,

He looked into her loving eyes, her brown eyes staring back into a sensual gaze. He whispered into her ears, telling her how beautiful she was, while Emily laid down so comfortably in the arms of her lover, feeling protected by his well-structured muscles, with all smiles listening to his sweet voice rain praises on her,

Suddenly, her phone rang. She wondered who could be calling her so late in the night, forgetting for a second that her phone was ringing, then it stopped, only for it to start ringing again. By this time, Emily was about losing her mind, so she finally decided to check who was calling her.

oh! Her dad, Emily’s father, Mr John Fredrick, is mostly known as Mr Fredrick, the owner of a multi-million company, filled with competition, rivalry, investments, financing, name it. This was a business for the mighty.

And then, when Emily picked up the phone, Emily could feel the tension in her father's voice. Although he didn’t say much, he sounded so different, telling her to rush down to the office,

She could hear the urgency in his voice, and knew that she had to quickly go to her Dad's office. Emily was already nervous, and also feeling bad about having to cut off the sweet little moment with her man, but right now, she knows that duty calls, and she has got to hurry.

And so Emily quickly got dressed in something appropriate. All that kept going through her mind was why her father was calling her so late in the night to come down to the office. That was so strange,

She was really hoping nothing bad had happened to him.

Emily has always been very close to her dad. She was literally raised by her father.

Her mom died when she was 12 years old, of breast cancer, so both of them were all that they had.

Emily, who is now 27 years of age,

She grew up to be a beautiful, calm, and sophisticated lady. She is also soft-spoken, and reserved in nature.

Emily only had very few people in her circle, which consisted of her Dad, who she helped manage his company, her best friend, Jessica, and then her boyfriend, Andrew.

Emily was mostly focused on her business and Pilates classes,

She never felt the need to have too many people around her or engage in a lavish lifestyle. She was too shy and introverted for that.

It took her about 20 minutes to get to the office. That’s one of the reasons why Emily loves California. She is always impressed with how smooth and free the road gets in the night,

Now she has got to quickly go meet her father in the office, where he will be waiting for her.

Emily finally got to her father's office, and she could tell that something was wrong,

Right from when she stepped foot in there, the atmosphere was so dull,

Even though the energy of the place was low, she could barely recognize him. He looked devastated, sitting on the floor.

Emily ran ahead to join him. Her dad didn’t budge or bother saying anything to her,

This was a man who was too full of life. He was so jovial, that sometimes she wished she had inherited that gene from him, but it seemed like Emily had her mom's quiet nature instead.

Her father just handed her an envelope. Emily wasn’t sure if it was tears that she was seeing in his eyes, so she ignored them.

She then proceeded to tear open the envelope, without saying a word,

Reading the first sentence of the paper that was inside the envelope, she was already feeling faint, but she just had to finish reading the context….

It was a stark, official-looking letter, informing Emily’s father that his company had gone bankrupt, taking with it everything that he had built.

His houses and cars were also being used as collateral, and he had just a month to pay up the debt.

Now Emily decided to finally speak. How? Why? Where? Did you get this?

Mr Fredrick cleared his throat, his voice sounding soft, almost like a whisper.

I received a letter that shattered my world,

Where do I begin?

Her father's voice was so saddening, she was almost about to cry,

I won’t let anything happen to your company, we will come up with something.

Emily could see that those words put her dad at ease, so she used that opportunity to stand him up and drive him home. It was a quiet drive. She wanted to give him his space, and let him rest. Tomorrow they will have a talk.

Emily made sure she left him very comfortable, and drove back home. She drove with a thousand thoughts in her head, but she had to concentrate while driving. All that was needed for her was to sleep it off,

The next day, Emily wished she didn’t have to stand up from her bed, but there was no turning back now. There was a midlife crisis that needed to be taken care of,

After lazily getting prepared, she went over to her parents' place,

Thank God he looked a little better than before and ready to talk,

Apparently, Emily’s father found a letter in front of his door. When he left the office back at his home, he didn’t even know how the letter got there or who put it there, but he also got an email from his lawyer confirming the news was true. That’s when he decided to call his daughter because he was so shocked by the news.

They wondered what could have gone wrong, how could his company be taken away, just like that,

They sat there for a while, thinking of who could help them in this case, when suddenly Mr Fredrick stood up from the chair he was seated in,

I know who we could call. He should be able to help us,

He was talking about a very high man of caliber, and a business partner. They have had some deals together in the past. Don Tony Micheal, the CEO of DTM (Don Tony Micheal) Industries Limited, is a well-renowned business tycoon, philanthropist, and a friend of Mr Fredrick.

It was a great relief that Don Tony fixed an appointment for him and Mr Fredrick, to see and talk…

It was fixed the next day, and now Emily was home alone, waiting for her dad to come back,

She had to stay an extra day with her dad, to be his support system.

He got back with a smile on his face. At least that was a good sign,

He called her my baby. Well, that was a surprise, because it'd been long since her father called her that,

The next words that came out of his mouth took her off balance,

Did she just hear her father tell her she was going to marry Don Tony Micheal’s only son, Jason Micheal’s?