MANZINO'S ARRANGED BRIDE

Chapter 1 Amelia “Almost there,” I kept reminding myself as I jogged up the stairs. The security guy downstairs had been nice enough to tell me that the elevators were faulty so here I was sprinting up a flight of stairs all the way for her fourth floor. From the plague reading “2nd floor” to my right,I knew I had two floors left to climb and I was already exhausted. Thankfully the strain from climbing was distracting me from the reason I had come here. I was here for an interview if anybody asked me but it was way deeper than that because Madam Liz wasn't like most businesses people and I hadn't applied hoping to get the role of a secretary or PR manager, no, this was bigger than that. I paused when I started my climb to the fourth floor and leaned against the wall breathing in and out until I had mastered a steady rhythm. Then I began jogging again as I remembered how I had stumbled on Madam Liz's advert and marveled that such a thing existed. A company that catered to the rich? Yeah that was normal but as I said before, this was something entirely different, some would even say sinister. I didn't know what to think but I pushed thoughts of it aside and I made my way to the reception desk at the centre of the room. The receptionist, a petite blonde with all her teeth intact gave me an award-winning smile before directing me to Madam Liz's office after she confirmed I had an appointment. The office was fancy, I noticed as I made my way to the one door that held the key to the solution to all my problems or not, I wouldn't know until I met with her. Letting out a long sigh, I said a quick prayer and then knocked on the big brown door placed in the centre of the hallway with no other doors in sight. A soft voice asked me to come in and I opened the door. Walking in, I quickly scanned the room until my eyes landed on her. Madam Elizabeth Blake…Madam Liz for short. “Who are you?” She asked with a frown and I felt my cheeks grow red. “Amelia, Amelia Ford. I'm your 10’oclock.” The frown didn't shift as she looked down at her watch. “You're late,” she noted with looking at me and I nodded as if she could see me. When she raised her head and then an eyebrow, I flushed, realizing my mistake. “I had to attend to a family emergency.” I summarized even there was more to it but she didn't need to know the details. “Hmm,” she muttered looking unimpressed and I kept my head down feeling like a school girl getting scolded by her class teacher. “Tell me Ms. Ford, why would you want to sell your virginity like this? Aren't there some other good paying jobs out there?” My cheeks turned pink and I kept my head down as I fumbled with my hands. I meant it when I said this was totally different from regular interviews and Madam Liz herself wasn't your regular business woman. “Ms. Ford?” She called when I had yet to reply. I swallowed and finally met her eyes offering her the true story. “My sister was diagnosed with cancer last month and since then it's been hard keeping up with the hospital bills.” Her expression softened as she listened and I relaxed spotting no judgement on her eyes. “I work as a waitress but that won't give me the kind of money we desperately need for her treatment,” I finished and she nodded. She leaned up and leaned on the table with her hands spread in front of her. “The girls I give my clients are usually vetted and tested before anything can happen.” I nodded in understanding and waited for her to finish. “Also you're a first timer, there are a lot of procedures involved. While I understand how badly you need the money, I need to…” “Please,” I cut her off, holding my hands up in a silent prayer. “Just consider me just this once and I won't let you down. One night, two nights, a casual fling, anything I will do it but please don't turn me down.” Raina, my sister was the only family I had left. With our parents gone, the baton had fallen on me and now that I stood the risk of losing her too, I was willing to do anything. “I see,” she commented and leaned back, stretching to pick something out of one of the drawers. “Well Ms. Ford, since you're so eager to begin, here's your first client,” I eyed the file cautiously, suspicious of her intentions. She had been too quick to offer me a chance. What type of client was she handing me? “Dwayne Manzino,” she answered as if reading my thoughts and I gasped, almost jumping out of my seat. Everyone in Coal city knew who Manzino was, he was a household name attached to terror. A mafia lord, a nightcrawler and a killer. These were the attribute of the man Madam Liz had just given me as my first client. “Madam Liz, how could you…?” She shrugged as if I was overreacting and slipped the file closer to me. “What? You said you needed a quick fix and he's looking for someone urgently.” I shuddered just thinking about being in the same room with him. “Surely you have other men too…please Madam Liz, I can't…” She made a sound in the back of her throat and took the dole away, returning it to her drawers. “Look Ms. Ford, I don't know how else to help you.” She ignores me after that and pretends to be busy but it's clearly a tactic to avoid me. I slumped in my seat feeling defeated at the direction the interview had gone. “Ma..” Just then my phone beeped before I could say anything else and looking down at it, I saw that it was Raina's doctor calling. Panicked, I quickly answered it, relaxing when it wasn't bad news. “Madam Liz, I need to go. If you could please fix me up with anyone else,.I'd appreciate it.” She hummed but didn't spare me another glance. I sighed and got up from my seat, running out the door to head to the hospital. Perhaps this was a bad idea and I had to look somewhere else. I thought as I left the building in my dad's beatup car, one of the things he had left for us. If it was still new then I'd have sold it, but Cherry had seen better days and wouldn't fetch us a drop of what we needed for Raina's. “I have to find another way,” I concluded as I drove into the main street, joining the traffic at highway 360.