Love And Secrets

CHAPTER TWO

Yasmin's POV

A week later

The Milkanoff Tower building looked better than how I’d seen it in Cosmopolitan Digest. I spent my morning going through every tiny detail I could feed my eyes on about the company. I was grateful for the opportunity, and when I got a phone call I had passed the review stage.

Even the air smelt like power and a crisp dollar bill.

“Good Morning,” I said, greeting the lady typing furiously on her laptop.

“I have got a meeting with Mr. Alexander Milkanoff, I received an email with the approval for the job interview.”. I finished and she didn't even bat an eye.

The nerve of this woman. She is simply ignoring my existence. I bang my hands on her desk not loud enough to disrupt their perfect atmosphere but enough to get her attention.

“Mr. Milkanoff is in a meeting right now, so you can have a seat with the rest or come back later” She replies redundantly, not even looking at me and motioning me to the line of women sitting behind me.

“Thanks,” I half gritted

“Whatever” she mutters under her breath.

“Miss Fernandez” I hear a lady’s voice shaking me awake

Where am I?

Oh, shoot! The interview! I can't believe I slept off

“Is this who I’m supposed to be meeting?” A deep sultry voice boomed, definitely chasing whatever atom of sleep I had left.

I stared, completely lost in his green eyes, the same ones that held me hostage, last week with his fingers doing unholy things to my body when I covered his perfect Italian suit with snot, tears, and c*m.

“ I can't believe this s**t, Vanel takes care of this. I certainly don't have the patience for such incompetence” He hissed, completely ignoring me and snapping me out of my reverie. He looked no less of a Greek god than he did that night, with one exception looked way scarier.

Incompetent! I can't believe these people.

“I'm sorry ma’am you may take your leave.” The lady who had been ignoring me earlier before I fell asleep said.

“Please you can't do this to me, you are my final and only hope, I will do anything to get this position” I sobbed, begging when he stared at me dead in the face.

“To my office”, He said with the same tone he had used that night. I walked behind him furtively as we disappeared behind huge doors, Vanel staring at me with a look of pity.

”I will hire you on one condition,” he said with a smirk turning to face me. “You marry me”. And my blood rushed to my already teary face turning it beet red.

“The interview you applied for is to find me a bride and besides you owe me for saving your ass, ruining my suit, and the hotel room”. He said with finality, my heart sinking faster than the Titanic.

He remembered who I was and how he had made me feel. I felt like a mouse caught in a trap, my body trembled from the effort of keeping itself intact.

“ But I applied for the role of a secretary” I managed to squeak, embarrassed that he remembered who I was.

“Yes you did, but if you hadn't slept off you would have been briefed”. I swallowed my words, I was too tired from spending my night in the hospital because Isabella had another crisis, our dad was too drunk to attend to her.

Keith had fired him from his company and he blamed me for it, for not treating him the way a real woman should.

“I will do it,” I said, sniffing away the tears that threatened to fall out of my eyes. I was in debt and he was offering me a way out again like he did last week when he saved me.

“Vanel to my office,” He said into the speaker. And the door opened. “Take…” he paused waiting for me to tell him my name.”Yasmin Fernandez” I replied meekly, still terrified of the attention he commanded and being the object of his attention.

“Miss Fernandez to dress store and pick up a better dress” His eyes roamed over my outfit. “Meet me at the registrar’s office at eleven am stat,” He said checking his watch to confirm how much time he had left before he completely ruined my life.

“Yes sir” she replies like a robot on command “But you also have a meeting with Mr Milkanoff around that same time sir” Vanel finishes checking her notepad. “Tell my father I'll be at my wedding,” He tells her in a tight voice before vanishing behind the huge doors I didn't even notice were there.

“I can’t afford this,” I said, putting back the dress Vanel had picked out for me. “It's not on your bill” she replied curtly. I was utterly awe-struck at the cost of the dress but Vanel seemed indifferent about the exorbitant amount.

“Don’t just stand there gawking, Mr. Milkanoff doesn’t like to be kept waiting”, she finished staring at me pointedly. We made it right on time to the registrar's office and Alexandre looked incredibly scary with his Greek god features striking more in his suit.

“You can stop drooling over me Red, we’re getting married,” He said, snapping me out of my reverie, I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. I can't believe he caught me staring.

“It’s Yasmin, Mr. Lex”, I said back in the same teasing tone.

“Let’s get this over with, I have millions on the line for every second I spend in this place,” He said the gravity of his words hitting me, as he led the way through the thick mahogany doors.

Everyone seemed to be on the edge as Alexandre made his way into the registrar’s office where his attorney was already seated.

“Good morning sir” The gray-haired man nodded as he opened his portmanteau and brought out a stack of papers. “Everything is ready just as you ordered,” he finished dropping the stack of papers on the desk.

Alexandre nodded in response as he took out a calligraphy pen from his breast pocket and scribbled his signature on the pages, then he stood up straight waiting for me to do the same. I walked furtively to the table and stared at my new life bound into a contract.

“You’ve got nothing to lose, so don’t bother reading through it” His voice filled my hair and cut me and I could feel the tears roll down my eyes.

“Please don't waste any more time Fernandez, sign the damn papers” He finished as I scribbled my signature onto the paper and finally broke into tiny sobs, I wished he couldn't hear.

The rest of the process passed like a blur, I had signed my life to Alexandre and after a session of wedding pictures, he left me to the care of Vanel, who looked at me with sympathy. If anyone had told me I’d be getting married, after a week of ending my engagement with my boyfriend of three years, to a man I barely knew talk less of being in love with, I would have driven a nail into my foot. But here I am signing over my soul to the devil.

“Vanel have her things moved by the end of today”.He ordered “Here are the rules of this marriage, keep your end of the bargain, I’ll keep mine and your sister dearest won’t have to suffer,” he said handing me a copy of the contract with my signature scribbled at the bottom end of the sheet.

I froze, speechless. How does he know I have a sick sister?