Chapter One

"Congratulations honey, we're so proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom."

I looked at my dad, but he has been on his phone since he got here, that is his way of saying 'you graduated, that's fine now what am I doing here'. Nothing I ever did could hold my father's interest and I was his only child. When my mother said we're proud, she was the only one who was proud of me.

Anyway, my name is Elena Sharon Matthews and I had just graduated from my master's degree program with distinction at the young age of twenty-two. I studied Business administration at Harvard, I made sure I was the best so my dear father wouldn't have any reason to believe I wasn't eligible to be handed the reins of his company.

My father was Henry Matthews, founder, and CEO of Teko Corp. The company is what I like to call a multipurpose company, with its interests ranging from investments to tech and software programming. We branch out into whatever is the new rage, and it was my inheritance.

We all got into the car and made our way home.

"Honey, how do you feel about starting work in the company come next week."

"What?!"

"Yes, love. I and your father discussed it and thought it best for you to begin to familiarise yourself with the company as your father would be retiring soon. You are his only heir."

I thought I heard my father scoff, but I decided not to find out.

"I can't wait, mom. I promise I'll make you proud."

"I know honey, so tomorrow you and I are going shopping. We don't want you looking drab on your first day now, do we?"

The ride continued in silence and my dad continued staring out the window of the SUV.

....................................................................

"Miss Matthews, it's time for your meeting with your father. He's in conference room 3."

"Thank you, Margaret."

It's been two long years working for my father and I can tell you this, he is one hell of a slave driver, but I make sure I finish all the tasks he gives me way before the deadline expires. You could say that I am truly my father's daughter because in the first two quarters since I began working as the vice president, I have managed to grow the company's profits by about thirty-five percent. That's the company's all-time high.

My father made it clear a few months ago that he would be retiring and handing over the reins of the company to someone competent. Not that I want to blow my own horn or anything, but so far, I am the most competent person in the company and blood is thicker than water.

I walked out of my office into the elevator with a smile on my face, I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that I had company in the elevator. It was when we both got out on the same floor and three men walked out ahead of me that I began to wonder who they were and what they were doing on this floor, I knew everyone in this building and staring at the backs of these men I knew they didn't work here because no one gives off such dangerous aura like them. I continued behind them and paused for a second when they entered conference room 3.

Why the hell were they part of the meeting?

I shrugged and stepped into the room and saw that everyone was already seated, with my father at the head of the table and only one man sitting, and two men stood around the room. The fucker was sitting in my seat, I took a deep breath and decided that the sitting arrangement wasn't something to brawl over and simply took a seat opposite him on the left-hand side of my father.

In the room were our two shareholders and these mysterious men alongside yours truly and my father. My father cleared his throat and began his speech.

"We all know why we're here so I'll cut to the chase so we can all go back to being busy. You must all be wondering who our guest is, allow me to introduce to you Mr. Vincenzo Rossi, the new President, CEO, and owner of Teko Corp."

"What?!"

I stood up from my seat with so much force it went sprawling across from me. How could he do this to me?

"What the fuck do you mean, that's my inheritance!!!"

My father raised his hand signaling all the others to leave the room, he doesn't want to be embarrassed by me which is exactly what I plan to do if he doesn't give me a reasonable explanation for whatever the fuck is going on here.

"It was supposed to be yours but then I realized you won't be able to take it to the next level."

"Excuse you, I have made this company the most profit it has ever had since its birth. That is more than what you've done, you sick fuck!!!"

"Watch your language with me, young lady."

"Fuck you! I have spent the better part of my life trying to get you to see me, to say that I got just one thing right. You just used me to push forward and then you want to dump me!!!"

"Elena..."

"Fuck you and fuck him!!!"

I stormed out of the room making sure to slam the door hard enough to raise the dead. I was fuming, I was mad. How could he do this to me?

All these years, I worked hard just to please him, to make him look at me as his child but what do I get?

He gives my inheritance to a stranger.

I packed up all of my stuff from the office and then made sure I wrecked it, by the time I was done and finally went home, my office looked like it got hit by a hurricane.

I drove like the wind, allowing my anger to take over me and by some stroke of luck, I wasn't pulled over by a cop.

I pulled up into our mansion and without bothering to shut my car door, marched angrily into the house. I was surprised to see my mother pacing the living room, she's normally at her workplace by this time and then I realized.

She knew about this!!

"You knew, didn't you?"

"Honey, it's not what you think..."

"You knew I was wasting my time working for that piece of shit!!!"

"Watch your language, he's your father!"

I was already halfway to my room.

"Yeah sure, and I'm Beyoncè"

I locked myself up in my room for the better part of the day, not coming out for anything. I felt so bad, mostly with myself now for seeking his approval for so long. I called my longest friends Jordan and Alisha, I told them everything that happened today, and they decided less gloom and more groove, they would be picking me up by 8:00 pm. Now, clubbing is something my father always kicked against and that was the exact reason I was going to do it and I was going to make sure the whole world saw it.

I wore the shortest and sluttiest looking dress I could find in my wardrobe which was a red latex gown that stopped just below my butt and showed a lot of cleavages, it was a gift from Alisha about a year ago. I picked a pair of matching heels and fishnet stockings.

All in all, I looked like a hooker and I loved it.

It was past dinner time so I knew that they would probably be lounging in the living room watching the business news. I had my hair curled and wore bold makeup and voila, it's showtime!

The girls called telling me they were right outside my gate. I walked down the stairs making sure my heels could wake the dead up, I wanted him to see me, I wanted him to get mad. It was time for the rebellion I didn't get to do as a teenager because I was too busy kissing his ass.

I appeared in the parlor and it wasn't just my parents that were seated there, that Vincenzo Rossi was there too. I saw his eyes rake me from up to down, lingering on certain places. His eyes held lust then anger but I honestly couldn't care, they can all go to hell.

"Where are you going dressed like that?"

"Mr... Rossi, is it? It's honestly none of your business."

"Elena, go up this instant and change."

"No Henry, I'm going clubbing to have fun and forget that you're a backstabbing piece of...you know what? Bye guys."

I flipped my hair and walked out of the house making sure to add some extra sway to my hips. I could still hear my mother screaming my name and my father apologizing to that little dream thief.

"Ohhh, damn girl. If I wasn't straight, I'd bang you!"

"Thanks, Jordan. You look mighty fine too."

Alisha did a drumroll on the car door and signaled me to get in the car. We drove down to this crazy club across town, Alisha and Jordan weaved through the line and walked up straight to the bouncer with me trailing behind them. Jordan leaned up on her toes and kissed him right there on the lips and he let us through, I'm guessing that must be her boyfriend. I've been so busy that I don't even know who my best girls are dating.

We headed straight to the bar and after about six shots each, we were grooving on the dance floor and I was grinding on this really cute guy, he had his hands all over me, but I honestly didn't mind. I needed that rush.

Alisha came up to me and drew me away from my dance partner back to the bar where Jordan was sitting.

"Don't look now but there's this hottie that has been looking at you all the while."

"Where is he?"

"VIP section."

I turned around and looked towards the VIP section, my eyes met with the sharp blues of none other than Vincenzo Rossi.

Was this guy following me?

"Hey, that's the guy I told you guys about. The new heir."

"What?!!"

Their shrieks were loud and that was saying something seeing as we were in a club.

"Why does he have to be so hot though?"

"He's still a dickhead."

"But why is he still looking at you?"

"Yeah, it's creepy."

I looked behind me and sure enough, his eyes were still glued to me.

"Well ladies, looks like the gent wants a show, what do you say we give him one?"

The girls threw back their shots and followed me to the dance floor, the DJ must have been in my head because the second I attached myself to a dance partner, work came on.

I met the eyes of Mr. Rossi before bending over at the waist, placed my hands on my knees, and began to rock and twerk on my partner. I heard a muffled curse behind me, and his hands found their way to my hips, guiding me. This went on for a couple of minutes and I was getting lost in the moment until I was pulled away from him and my dance partner was thrown across the room. The person turned me around, so I was now facing him. Lo and behold it was Vincenzo Rossi in the flesh. Cue the sarcasm.

"What the actual fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"What do you think you're doing dressed like a cheap putà and dancing like a stripper?!"

I formed my right hand into a fist and delivered a punch right on his nose. Although my fingers hurt a little, okay maybe more than a little, it was very pleasing to my ears when I heard a satisfying crunch.

Those damned self-defense classes didn't go to waste.

"How I dress and who I decide to shake it up to is none of your damn business...besides don't you have Henry's company to run, you sneaky piece of shit?!!"

I think that statement only served to make him madder because he carelessly threw me over his shoulder and marched out of the club. My head began to feel fuzzy from the alcohol and the blood rushing to my brain made me lightheaded, and the last thing I remember was been dumped like a sack of potatoes in the backseat of a car.

I woke up to a pounding head and an unfamiliar room. I looked around and took in the extravagance and wideness of the room. It had floor to ceiling windows giving the best view of the city, the bed I was laying in was a king-sized bed with gold carvings, the furniture all had the same carvings, and the room was painted in gray and white. Except for the bed which had a maroon red vibe to it.

The events of last night came back to me slowly, and I wanted to strangle Vincenzo. After I take a shower, that is.

The door opened and guess who came in...

Vincenzo.

I groaned and lay back on the bed, maybe it'll make him go away.

"I see you're awake..."

"I see you have kidnapping on the list of your many vices."

He cocked his head to the left and studied me.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Sure. You're the man who stole my inheritance."

"I didn't steal your inheritance; your father gave it to me."

"Of course, he did."

"It's not entirely lost to you."

"What do you mean?"

"We're getting married."

It felt like time froze for a second, well because I froze for a second.

"We're getting married?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"We're not getting married."

"You don't have much of a choice, you already signed a contract stipulating that you only get fifty percent control of the company only after tying the knot with me."

I didn't want to believe this; my father wouldn't go so far. I might have signed something of the sort because whenever my father brings papers for me to sign, I don't read them, I just sign. I trusted him.

I shouldn't have.

I shot up from the bed and went about my clothes, I prepared myself for the most dreaded walk of shame. Only in my case, it was going to be a walk of rage.

I input my address into the GPS and drove home, realizing that it was incredibly close. Too close for comfort.

I got out of my car not bothering to turn it off or even close the door. I marched into the house and was making my way up to my parent's room when I heard my name been called from the dining. I turned and saw my parents in the middle of breakfast, I marched over to the dining room and slammed my hands on the table causing glasses to tip over and cutlery to jump off the table. My parents quickly jumped away from the table to avoid spilled wine staining their expensive dresses.

"What is the meaning of this behavior, Elena!!!"

I looked at my mother, I used to respect her, I thought she had my best interests at heart, but she turned out to be just as cold-blooded as the man she married.

"Did you know about this, mom?"

"Did I know about what?"

"About the marriage contract, I was deceived into signing?"

She had the grace to at least look ashamed, but she recovered quickly enough.

"We're just doing what's best for you, honey."

"Really? Selling me off to someone I don't even know is what's best for me?!"

My father finally decided to join the party and I swear he should have kept his mouth shut.

"We know him and that's all that matters."

"And your opinion is meant to mean something?"

"Don't talk to your father like that!!!"

"Are you sure he's my father because true fathers don't sell their kids?"

My father reclaimed the seat after the staff tidied up the mess while trying their best to act like they can't hear what's going on.

"By the way, how did you learn about marriage. I never mentioned it."

"I did."

I could swear that my heart fell into my tummy as a voice sounded behind me, I turned around and there he was...again.

"Hello, Enzo. How are you?"

"I am very well Mrs. Matthews, Mr. Matthews. How did you sleep?"

I laughed at this scene. I could see now that I have been wasting so much time with these people, they loved him more than they loved me.

They even have a pet name for him!!!

I turned to leave when 'Enzo' gripped my forearm, his hands were made of steel because I found that I couldn't release myself.

"I came to inform you that we're getting married next week Thursday."

"That's five days from now!!!"

"Yes, I have some business in Italy, and I need to get back soon."

I looked at my parents with so much hatred, my father just sat there eating breakfast like something major isn't happening right now. I tried again and this time he let me go.

I went up to my room and locked my door, I knew it was only a matter of minutes before my mother came knocking on my door. She must have figured out that there was no way in hell I was opening up my door because she began speaking from the other side.

"Honey, I know this is a little too hard to swallow..."

"You think?

"...but I assure you that It was done in your best interest. Your father and..."

The second I heard my father been mentioned I went to my stereo player and began blasting some hip hop.

Childish, right?

Well, that's what they get for backstabbing me. A 24-year-old child.

There was no way out of this. I was getting wed in five days and there was absolutely nothing I could do about this.

That doesn't mean I have to be the only one miserable.

We're all gonna hate life together.

I will make them wish they never pulled this stunt with me. I picked up my phone and called the girls, this was a matter of urgency.