Married to Damien

It was dark and gloomy when Jessica stepped into the study. Her father was at his usual position, behind his dark mahogany desk, a lit cigar clamped in between his teeth. The room was slightly cold and she shivered slightly through the light satin dress she wore. She walked towards him, pushing a thick strand of her dark red hair behind her ears and putting on a polite smile.     "You called?"  He glanced up at her before giving a smile and ushering her to a seat in front of her.    "How are you, Jess?" He asked and at once, she was put on guard. Jess? He never shortens anyone's name unless he's trying to get something or just plain bootlicking, so at once she knew that whatever he had called her for, she wouldn't like it.    "I'm fine, Dad."     "Good, you look fine." He smiled, then put his hand under the table and took out a shopping bag, "I got something for you."    She looked at the bag, confused, before collecting it. When she opened it, she saw a beautiful and sparkling green dress, embroidered to perfection.     "Wow, Dad.." she looked it over as she removed it from the bag, "This is beautiful!"     "Yes, and it's yours."  She smiled back at him and said thank you.     "This deserves to be worn somewhere magical," she continued to turn it over, "Are we going somewhere? A party maybe?"     Ezra, her father, gave a broad and somewhat deceitful smile. "Exactly, that. We are going to a party."       Jessica had begun to arrange the dress back into the bag as she wondered what party they were to be attending. "Is it a birthday party?"     "It's not a birthday party."      "Oh, well then what kind?"   The man stood up and smiled even more, hitting the butt of his cigar on the ashtray next to him and leaning close to her. "The kind that will solve all our problems." Jessica was visibly confused at this point. What did her father mean by that? She raised an eyebrow at his words.      "The elite party."  It was like time stopped for a moment in that room. Jessica's smile got frozen as she blinked repeatedly. Did she hear that right? The elite party??    "Hm?"     "You heard me, Jessica." He sighed, the smile also dissolving from his face. "The party we're both attending is the elite party, tomorrow night."    "What? No!" She stood up abruptly with a frown. "Seriously, Dad? You want to take me to a party where I would be inevitably betrothed and then married off to a stranger??"     "This is really important, Jessica." Her father said sternly, "You know that according to the ranking of the elite families, we're just gold, two more lower and we would be at the bottom of the ranking."     Jessica could not believe what she was hearing, "and how is that a problem? Dad, it doesn't matter—"     "Yes, it does." He interrupted, massaging the skin in between his brows. "But that's not it, Jessica."     "Then what is it?"     "We're bankrupt, Jessica, bankrupt!" Her father's voice resounded deeply in her ears.  Bankrupt?? How?? Her green eyes sparkled with fear as she looked at her father, "How is that possible?"     "Things…happened. The Company crashed." Her father said, his tone becoming lower and so pitiful that she started to get really concerned. "This is the only chance we have to save our family, Jessica." She didn't know how to feel as she stepped out of the room a few minutes later. As she strode across the hallway in a daze to her room, plopping down on the soft mattress. So this was it? This was how she would spend her future. As some stranger's trophy wife all because of  'duty'?  The frustration she felt was overwhelming. Reaching into the purse on the bed, she removed her phone to text the only person she could talk to; her sister.  JESSICA: Hey, are you home? She sent the text and waited a few seconds before the reply came on. ASTRID: Yeah, something wrong? JESSICA: I need to talk to you. ASTRID: Come over.   When she received that last text, she put her phone back in her purse and hung it over her shoulder. Taking long strides out of her room and out of the house.     "Are you going somewhere, Miss?" The driver asked as he rushed towards her. Waiting for her to descend carefully from the stairs leading into the house.     "I want to see my sister," Jessica said, allowing the man to lead her towards the car parked next to her, "Take me to the Cosgrove residence."  The man nodded, and opened the door for her, closing it only after she was seated and then turning around to enter the driver's seat. Jessica sat in the back of the SUV, staring out the window as the city streets passed by. It was a slow drive and she was thankful for that.  Her mind was elsewhere, lost in thought about her soon impending marriage to a man she wouldn't know.  She couldn't help but feel a deep sense of sadness as she thought about the life she was about to embark on, a life that didn't include true love or happiness.  The party she was to attend would be the one to decide her entire fate. A party full of shallow and selfish people, using their own children to go higher and higher, and get richer and richer without caring for their happiness.  She sighed and scoffed. Her father was no different. As the car made its way through the busy streets, a sudden jolt caused Jessica to snap back to reality, almost hitting her head on the headrest of the seat in front of her. When she took a breath and calmed herself, she realized that the SUV had almost collided with another car, and her driver was quick to slam on the brakes. Jessica's heart raced as she realized how close they had come to disaster. As the driver stepped out to assess the damage, Jessica couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt and fear. She knew that she had been lost in thought and hadn't been paying attention to the road.  Well, it wasn't entirely her fault, the driver was not paying attention.    She quickly stepped out of the car, pushing her hair back over her face and made her way over to the other driver, who was already inspecting the possible damage to his car.      "Marcus? What happened??" She asked the driver, who immediately walked back to her.      "I'm so sorry, Miss." He started, "I thought I saw a deer and when I tried to swerve, I almost hit his car." He said pointing back to the man who was still inspecting.     Jessica frowned at her driver as she walked over gingerly to the man.       "Uh…sir? I'm so sorry for what happened," she said hurriedly, "what almost happened, my driver..he..uh—" Her words, whatever she was about to say, got stuck in her throat when the man turned to look at her.  He was tall, with chiseled features and piercing gray eyes, almost black, it was like staring into dark thunder.  Jessica felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at him, clearing her throat multiple times.       "You're the owner of the car?" He asked, his voice vibrating so that she could even feel it where she stood as he towered above her, looking down.       "Owner of the…" she quickly shook her head in an effort to focus, "Yes, yes I'm the owner of the car..I mean, it's…I'm being driven in that car…it's only for that, I mean it's my dad's…but…uh." she babbled on.     The man raised an eyebrow at her and she cleared her throat and nodded, "Yes, yes and I'm so sorry for what happened to your car." Her green gaze shifted to the car in question and she saw that nothing had happened. It was a black Ferrari and from the looks of it, her SUV did not even touch the car.      "Oh!" She exclaimed happily, "Your car, it's fine." She smiled in relief, "Ah, thank goodness."       "You'll have to pay for damages." He said, staring at her confused face.      "What damage?" She asked, "Your car is fine."     She saw him take a deep breath as if he was already annoyed and bored to death, "Because of this near accident, it caused the car into shock and the brakes to fail." He leaned in closer, "You'll have to pay for that."     She gulped, "Uh…well.." She scratched her head.      "Hm?"      "Well, I didn't directly cause that, " she began to argue. No way she'll have the cash to pay for something in this expensive car to get fixed, "I think your car's just old and faulty."      He took a step towards her, "I got this car two days ago."   Oh, boy.  "Uh…well, it's fake then."       He started to smile, and then laugh mockingly at her, "Just confess to being broke and well…broke." He looked her over.   She was going to say something but decided against it. Well, he was right. Since the conversation with her father, she has realized that she really is broke. Her whole family is if she doesn't attend that party and gets betrothed to someone of a higher status.    "Well," she said, her head held up high, "You are right. I am broke."  The expression on the man's face meant he did not expect that answer. "I don't have much money at all as such, I can't pay for any possible damages, Sir."      "Huh.." he smirked, "I could sue you, you know that?"    She gulped nervously, "Well, you'll have to sue me for everything I'm worth. And I own nothing." She smiled cheekily, her dimples coming to show.    "Smart, girl." He put his hand in his pocket, his eyes scanning her, "Then I'll sue you for everything your family's worth."   Jessica bit her lips as she took a step backward, "Then you'll have nothing because my family is worth nothing." It hurts so much to say that, especially to a stranger. Before he could say another word, she added, "You'll just have to make do with my apology." She bowed a little and walked towards her car, hoping to God that the man does not follow her or call her back. She was so relieved when her driver started the car and drove past the stranger who still stood there, staring at their car as it drove past.