As Gina packed her bags and got ready to leave her life behind for good, she wondered, for the umpenteeth time, if she was doing the right thing. If someone had told her months ago that she would be married to a wealthy billionaire who didn't care for her or the life she lived, she would have laughed at the person's face. But here she was, dragging her suitcase behind her while Henry's men stood outside patiently waiting.
Not all of them though, she thought, as she observed one looking at his wristwatch with an almost imperceptible frown on his face. She sighed and looked around the house once more, it held so many memories for her. Mostly ones she would rather forget, but there were few she would cherish in her heart forever. With that last thought in mind, she closed the front door behind her and stepped out onto the pavement where two guard quickly rushed forward and put her bags in the trunk of the Cadillac, while someone else opened the door for her to enter.
She was about to step into a new life, and she would try to enjoy it while it lasted. If it even did. Within minutes, the car started to move and for the first time, Gina really appreciated the quality of good cars. She had been in a few, but had been so uncomfortable that she truly couldn't enjoy the ride. It was almost the same in this case, but Henry wasn't there to look at her with a small scowl and there was a shade between her and the driver, so she felt comfortable enough to pull up her body and take some cute selfies, before scrolling through the internet. It was a bad habit of hers, spending nearly half of her day surfing I*******m, but it was one she could live with.
The third post was a picture of her and Henry attending a restaurant some days ago, and the picture had gotten well over five hundred thousand likes. She didn't know whether to be appalled or scared by the situation, but she knew that a tiny part of her was excited. She had never told anyone except her best friend, but she always wanted to be on the big screen or at least, internet famous. After a while, she began to give up on that but within a few days, Henry Thorn had given her over a thousand followers. Despite the weirdness of her situation, she decided to update her profile.
By the time she finished posting two recent and more dignified pictures, the car had reached the helicopter pad. It only took a few seconds for her to see that Henry had been waiting for a while, and from the looks of it, had grown tired. She quickly adjusted herself and tried to look as nonchalant as possible as she walked towards him, acutely aware of how much space the guards had given them.
"How long have you been waiting?" She decided to ask first, when it became obvious that Henry wasn't keen on talking, upset as he looked.
"Long enough," was his short reply, giving her a side glance as he allowed her to step into the helicopter first, following behind her. Within minutes, they were both belted up and ready to go. Two of the guards sat behind while the other one were to follow in another helicopter. As Gina sat stiffly, she tried to hold back her fear of heights, knowing that nothing she said would ease up the situation.
When they began to rise above the ground, she felt a sudden urge to vomit but held it back and tried as hard as she could to put on a brave face. Soon, her heart rate levelled a bit and she tried to busy herself by looking at the vegetation below them. She was part scared and part astonished at how everything was so small. Gina had only been on a plane once and it was for a school trip so long ago that she didn't count it as an experience. She was on the middle of scanning through the tiny houses down below when Henry cleared his throat beside her.
"Considering your fear of heights, you should not be looking down," he offered, and she turned to him with a surprised look on her face. She hadn't been expecting him to say anything, talk more of offering advice, so for a few seconds she said nothing. Hell, she was more shocked that he knew about her fear of heights. She was about to ignore and continue looking down again, when she caught the hint of a frown on his face.
For a few seconds, she debated asking how he knew about her fear, or giving him a brilliant response. The witty part of her soon won over, and she shrugged a shoulder lightly. "I might as well get rid of the fear now, don't you think?" If there was one thing Gina was good at, it was owning up to her differences and shortcomings. She had long discovered that it did her no good to pretend.
But that's what you're doing now, a small voice sounded in her head and she quickly shut it off just in time to see Henry looking away with another short glance at his watch. With that, she also turned back and was once again, amazed by the amount of vast land in the world. Though she couldn't see anything as they were so high up, she had googled the route they would take before that day and she knew they were several kilometres of land just waiting to be used. Soon, however, she got bored and started to play an idle game in her phone.
She would have been more happy to continue scrolling through I*******m, but her best friend had warned her not to show that addicted part of her so early to Thorn. But her greater problem was that at the altitude they were at, phone reception was a no go area. It didn't take long for her to get bored of her phone too, and coupled with the fact that it was dangerous to use her phone, she dropped it and began to rack her brain on what she could do to while away time. Looking at the clouds would have her bored in five minutes, talking to Henry was mission impossible, but maybe she could converse with the pilot and learn a few things.
She smiled and moved her chair forward, just the same time as the middle aged man gave Henry a side glance and nodded his head. "We have twenty minutes to go before touchdown."
The questions Gina wanted to say flew away as she pondered on the time frame. She knew air travel was fast, but was travelling from New York to Los Angeles that easy? Either way, she shrugged and nearly began to bounce in her seat with the thought that they would soon land. She didn't even know why Henry didn't want them to be in his usual house, but she didn't really care why if it meant more luxury and comfort. Soon, they landed and she watched as Henry all but nearly flew out of the plane. She couldn't help but wonder if he had some urgent meeting to catch up to, or if he just wanted to get away from her that fast.
Against her better judgement, she assumed the latter and tried to put it behind her as she stepped into the new city. There was a Mercedes Benz waiting for them and with their bags put away in another car, the driver sped off moving past major roads before she even had a chance to take it all in. Unlike the guards who seemed more cordial and polite to her, the clean shaved guy did not even glance in her direction once. The whole drive was spent listening to him and Henry talk about politics and other topics she had no interest in.
Even if she wanted to talk, she had this feeling they would just ignore her and though the driver intimidated her, she had no intention of losing any respect he had for her. Luckily it her, it was a short drive and when they turned into a street with a gate at the very end, Gina became quite nervous. She was officially about to enter into a new life with a man she met less than one week ago. Her over active mind began to drudge up scenarios and before the thick gates were spread apart, she began to envision a big dark house.
So she wasn't expecting the ray of sunshine that clouded the white mansion standing tall above them. She didn't have much of a chance to marvel at it before the car abruptly stopped and a smiling woman came to open her door, taking Gina's shaking hands along. Behind her, she heard Henry's scoff and before she guessed what was happening, the woman piped up.
"Hello, son."
In an ordinary situation, Gina wouldn't have agreed to move into Henry's mansion. True, she wasn't well to do and she liked the good life, but she also prided herself on her level of self respect. Gina was ready to stay in her own house and find a way through the marriage, if it meant keeping her dignity. However, there were two problems with that.One, her rent had expired three months ago and she was living on borrowed time based on her charming kindness to the old woman who owned the two storey building she stayed in. Secondly, and more importantly, the contract she signed included a clause that stated she had to stay with Henry for the most part of the year during their marriage. In other words, she was bound to him for three quarters of the season and couldn't stay on her own, even if she wanted to. Every time she remembered it, she half felt like slapping herself because she neglected to read that part.Gina's mind continued to drift o
Before Gina realized what was happening, day turned into night and she found herself sitting beside Henry's mom discussing the wedding plans. She never envisioned that she would be communicating about such an intricate topic with Mrs. Thorn, number two in top leading women of the century. It felt like a dream come true, but at the same time, she felt nervous and fake. Anyone could see how happy the woman felt that her son was getting married, and Gina felt bad for stringing her on, especially when it was quite obvious they wouldn't be married for a long time.After a few seconds of self pity, she shook her head slightly and resumed smiling at the woman. There was no time to feel guilty about anything, so she had to do her best to enjoy the moment. Gina's eyes floated to the seat beside her and landed on the iPhone on the table. It was Henry's and she wondered if he knew it was still on the dining table. Before she could think of what to do, his mother's eyes tur
After Gina finished breakfast, Henry's mother held her hand and looked lovingly into her eyes. "I'm so happy my son found you. It's so easy to see how much he is in love with you, and I'm sure your marriage will be a happy one." The woman looked like she wanted to cry, and Gina wanted to give up at that point. How could she keep deceiving this woman? It was unfair, and she felt this sudde urge to come out with the truth and damn the consequences.Luckily, Henry broke the mood and walked over to his mother's side to hold her hand. "Mom, you'll make her cry. You've told her how happy you are so many times, I'm sure she's tired of hearing it. Aren't you, Gina?" He turned to her with a silent question on his lips, but she looked away from him and smiled at his mother."I am very happy to be with Henry, and I will try my best to make this marriage work." It was a short speech, but it was all she could manage. It seemed to work however, because the woman wiped her tears and nodded, before p
After many days of preparation and quite frankly, running around town to get the perfect dress, jewelry, makeup artist and souvenirs, Gina was tired and overwhelmed. Even though Henry's mom assumed her that it would be a stress free event, it ended up being frustrating. There was so much to do and with so little time, but when the day of the wedding came, Gina's jitters and nervousness overshadowed the stress of the past few days. As she looked down below where the wedding car was waiting to take her to the church, she tried to calm herself down.It was the day of her wedding and unlike what she thought, no one was there for her. She had reviewed the guest list two days ago and everybody invited was from Henry's side. According to what he said, it was his mother who knew most of them and she was obviously hoping to make a few connections and get Gina roped into their world as quickly as possible. However, the bride to be couldn't decide whether it was really nec
As they dished out congratulations, she smiled softly and tried to avoid the eyes of the top dignitaries. It wasn't hard to guess that most of them didn't really like her but still many of them came over with fake smiles plastered on their faces."Welcome to the family, darling," a red-haired woman said as she gave Gina an air hug. The scent of her perfume stuck in the bride's nose and she grimaced, fighting hard for air. That was the part she hated about celebrities and famous people, a lot of them were fake and it was hard to tell which one was worthy to have by your side. Gina tried to smile as the woman's numerous pearl beads on her neck squashed against her low cut dress, pressing deep into her skin and in desperation, she pushed back, but the woman held on and pressed her red lips to her ear."You will never really belong, try hard as you might," the woman moved away and chuckled like she said something funny. A part of Gina wanted to
Gina tossed and turned throughout most of the night. Try hard as she might, she couldn't help herself from thinking about why Henry hadn't said anything to her before stepping into his room. Even though she wasn't surprised at his behaviour, a part of her was still annoyed. If for anything, she was now his wife and though a voice in her head reminded her it was all for show, she still wanted to feel important enough. It was ultimately annoying that he didn't seem to consider her at all.She lay still in bed for some minutes, thinking about whether to approach him or not. However, it was very late at night and she doubted he would still be awake and even if he was, disturbing him would make their situation worse. With this in mind, she settled for approaching him in the morning and then tried to sleep. Something told her she would have a busy day ahead and she needed to be well rested for it. Yet, her mind swarmed with another thought.The passionate kiss at the altar. In all Gina's ye
Henry didn't wait to wish his new bride a good night before running off to his room and locking behind him. For all his preparations, he hadn't expected the wedding to take that long and now he was back in the real world, way behind work. He wanted nothing more than to unwind and maybe have a drink, but the responsibilities of his father's company beared down on his shoulders. It was times like this that he wondered if he should go with his father's best friend's suggestion and hand over the company to him.At the thought of that, he nearly slapped himself. He would never do that, the Thorn corporation was going to stay in heir family for generations to come and he would make sure if it. Settling down, he opened his laptop and started to get to work. There were a lot of files he needed to deal with, and he hoped that the time he took off for his honeymoon would be enough to deal with it. Left to him, he would have gone to work the next day. But a paid leave was
Immediately Gina entered the car, she handed over the wads of bills she was supposed to give the receptionist. "Thank you for catering to my mother's bills, but I had it covered. So, I'm giving you this in return," she says, all but thrusting the money into his palm. She didn't feel comfortable with allowing him pay for her mother's needs, knowing fully well she could now foot the bills. Thanks to her contract marriage, she was almost a millionaire so a few ten thousands would not hurt her so bad.Yet, Henry rejected the money and signalled for the driver to move. "I paid your mother's bills not out of pity, if that's what you're thinking. Rather, she reminded me of my father when I saw how close the two of you are. I know what it feels like to lose a loved one, and if there is any way for me to make nobody experience that, I would. So consider the money I spent as a way to make sure you don't experience what I did, at least not yet."Gina w