Leonardo was furious, "how dare she talk to me that way?
Who does she think she is?" he asked in his head.
He was losing control and he did not like it one bit.
He got up from the table and went towards the room, "tonight I am going to show her who Leonardo Legend is, and she will never mess with me again."
"Not again" he lamented when he got to the door.
"Alisha, open the damn door now" he shouted at her.
"There is no way I am letting you sleep here tonight, I want to be left alone, you can take the guest room, we have a lot in the house."
"I need us to talk, I need to set some things straight."
"I am tired, tomorrow we can talk, good night Leo."
"I swear on all that I have, if you do not open the fucking door right now, I will…" she opened the door before he got to complete his statement.
"You are right, we need to talk, come in" she said, Leonardo entered the room, shutting the door behind him.
Tonight he was going to put her in her place, he was the boss here, and she was his employee, in case she had forgotten.
"So I have been thinking all day, and when you were at the other end of the door, I reached a conclusion," Alisha began and he paid close attention to what she had to say.
"I have read through the contract properly, I have weighted my decision, and I am ready to accept the consequences that comes with this decision I have made." She spoke with her eyes closed, and when she opened it briefly he could see hurt in her eyes.
"What are you talking about Alisha?" he was worried, he came here to put her in her place but now it seemed all what he wanted to say is not necessary anymore.
"What I am trying to say is that, I want to end this contract."
"Do you even know what you are talking about?" Leonardo was shocked, she had to be joking.
"I am ready to face the consequences, you can as well throw me in jail for breach of contract, I don't care, the prison will hopefully be more better than what I have gotten myself into with you."
"I think you are right, we are both tired and need to rest, we can talk about this tomorrow, I will use the guest room, you can have this room to yourself, good night Alisha." Leonardo said and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Leonardo could not find sleep, he tossed on the bed all night trying to think, he had asked the lawyer that prepared the contract to be in his office as early as 7:00am the next morning.
He was not worried about what his grandpa would do if the marriage ended, he was worried about what would happen to him if Alisha left.
The next morning Leonardo left the house and went to the office, he did not bother to eat breakfast or see Alisha, he was troubled.
"Good morning Mr. Legend" his lawyer greeted him as they both met at the entrance to the office.
"My office" was Leonardo's response. They rode to his office in silence, the elevator felt slow to him that morning.
"She wants to end it," Leonardo said immediately they got to the office and he had shut the door.
"The contract marriage?" the lawyer did not want to assume
"Yes, what else?" Leonardo fired.
"Did you ask her what she wants? Maybe she is in love with you and wants to end the contract and have a real marriage"
"Stop spitting out nonsense, she is not in love with me, and I don't do love either, and besides we are always fighting."
"What would you like me to do?" the lawyer asked
"Can we sir her for breach of contract?"
"We can, but I think no matter how private we try to make the case, there would be some crazy reporter who will have it on the open, and your wife could fight this sir, she could bring up charges against you, but if you are sure you have not breached any of the contract, we can sue her."
"The problem is there is nowhere in the contract that states that she could leave if she felt threaten, I know you did the additions the last time I asked you to review it, but I've not been able to get her to sign it.
I never thought it would come to this, I don't think I breached the contract in anyway, if she decides to end it, she would be breaching her part of the contract, but how could we have been so stupid to not include consequences if she decides to back out?"
"Mr. Legend, I will advice that we try to make her see reasons why she should not end the contract, to prevent public scandal at most, you've not even received the first share of the inheritance, this would be bad for you.
You need her more than she needs you in this case."
"I will speak to her, we could both come to an agreement."
"Alright then, I will be on my way." the lawyer said and excused himself.
Leonardo spent the rest of the day trying to decide how he could convince Alisha to stay with him for the next two years and two months.
Alisha woke up and went down for breakfast, Mary informed her that Leonardo had left quite early to the office.
She would give him a few days to think about what she had said, and decide whatever punishment he was willing to give her, but nothing he said was going to change her mind about ending the contract.
She was just finishing up her breakfast when her dad called.
"Good morning dad's she greeted cheerfully.
"Alisha, I need you home. It's your mom," her father sounded worried over the phone.
"I don't have a mother, she is dead to me"
"Alisha, she is back, I am not strong enough to do this on my own, please come home." her father pleaded.
"I"d be there in a few hours" she jumped up from the chair. As she packed a quick briefcase, she called Leonardo to tell him about her urgent and unplanned trip.
Ten minutes later, he was home.
"What is wrong?" he asked her as Mary carried her bag to the car.
"There is an urgent family matter I must take care of."
"If it's that urgent, then I'm coming with you." he had said and she did not argue. She only nodded her head, they might not get along but she needed any emotional support she could get.
Leonardo tried to book a flight for them as he packed a small box for himself, he was not sure how long they would be gone.
He snapped in anger as he disconnected the call..
"Alisha, I'm afraid we will have to drive to San Francisco, no flight is working for the next two days, I'll get the driver to prepare the most comfortable vehicle."
"It's fine, thank you" he had never seen her that worried before, even last night when she had told him she was tired of the contract marriage, she didn't look as troubled as she did now.
The ride to San Francisco was a quiet one. Alisha was deep in thought, Leonardo was brainstorming on ways he could help her.
The time moved slowly, the driver drove smoothly and as much as Alisha want d to get home in time to support Anna and her dad, she wanted the journey to take a little while longer so she could have a few moments before she reached the trouble at home.
Leonardo placed his hand on hers, he needed to encourage her and let her know she was not alone.
She gave him a weak smile as she tried as much as she could not to worry.
Four hours later, the driver drove into the drive way of Alisha's home, she had not been there since a few days after she had signed the contract marriage with Leonardo.
"Do you want me to go lodge us into an hotel while you all can talk, I would not want to invade such personal matter" Leonardo asked
"Thank you, you coming along with me means a lot to me."
"Call me when you need anything" he said after walking her to the door.
Alisha watched the car drive off before she went into house.
"It's so nice of you to join us, dear daughter" her mother said the moment she stepped in.
It had been ten years, ten years since she saw her mother, ten years since she heard someone call her "daughter", ten years ago she saw her mom walk out the door and not turn back, not even a glance.
"What are you doing here Franca?" Alisha asked without any form of respect. Her dad and Anna were sitting by the dinning table.
"Is that how you say welcome to your mom?" Franca asked her with a smile on her face as if she had not done anything wrong and it is normal for her to just show up.
"My mom is dead, you killed her." Alisha fired back
"Don't you dare disrespect me woman" Franca shot at her
"I will do as I wish to the stranger in this house." Alisha's eyes spoke of only the hatred she felt towards this woman before her.
"Alisha, just like I have said to Anna and Adams, I am back home now baby" her mother was smiling and coming close to her.
"Back home? What home? You do not have a place here" Alisha snapped at her
"Come on my dear" she tried to touch her face.
"Don't you dare touch me Franca, you disgust me." Alisha pushed her away lightly and went to sit by her father.
"I did what I had to do, I needed to get away, your father an I were having so much issues. He could not take care of me, he could not give me the life I wanted, so I left.
I fell in love with someone else, Anthony was willing to give me all I wanted. I would have gone with you Alisha and Anna, I would have taken you out of the bad life your father offered and brought you into the life Anthony was offering me, but Anthony did not want kids, he never wanted any child either the ones I have had with another man or with him at that."
"So you left a ten year old me, because of money, you left without looking back." Anna was crying as she spoke.
"I did look back, I sent money and gifts but your father rejected them all." Franca defended herself
"Our love and affection cannot be bought with money." Anna said wiping her tears
"Why are you really back here mother?" Alisha asked suspiciously
"Anthony passed on, and I was not bothered about it because I had a whole lot of money to inherit.
Few days ago the lawyer came to announce that Anthony was legally married before he met me and he has three grown up children, he willed all he had to them and left me with nothing.
That bastard"
"So you are back because you have nothing, you are shameless Franca." Alisha spat
"I still do have my car, and many costly jewelleries, maybe the house Anthony and I lived in, beautiful dresses and maybe a few other belongings, but come to think of it, we are the same Alisha,"
"I can never be like you" Alisha fired back
"Really? or would you like me to reveal the secret of your own marriage?" Franca gave an evil smile and Alisha panicked.