“Congratulations, Lauren. You have officially sold yourself to the devil in disguise.” Lauren Walter had been dealt a handful of bad luck since birth; her father was diagnosed with lung cancer, her mother was an addict, and her boyfriend was not who she thought he was. In a bid to turn her luck around, she accepts an offer from an unexpected helper, whose reputation—other than being a successful businessman—only comes to light when she's shoulders deep in the agreement. Lauren is shocked to realize that her chain of bad luck will only get worse from this contract she signed with the one man who has the power to change her life.
View More“It’s so refreshing to see you for two whole days in a row, don’t you think?” Katarina laughed as she carelessly flung her arms around Damien’s neck in a loud display. “It feels just like old times, this rare sight.” “Alright, Katarina,” Damien said, pulling away from the hug and taking her hands off. “I’m sure you’ve met my fiancée, Lauren.” “Ah, yes!” Katrina exclaimed. “The one who’s old enough to drink, or so she claims. The entire family is just dying to meet you.” “Why are you here?” Damien asked as she walked with us down the long hallway. As if he could sense the tension I felt, he took my hand and made small, soothing circles on the back of my hand to silently assure me that it would be okay. “Last I checked, I was told that it would be a family-only gathering.” “I’m almost like family to you, Damien. It’s quite insulting that you don’t see me that way. Your sister invited me, anyway,” she replied in her defence. At the sound of that,
Conrad and I dated for almost three years, and not once had I met his family. “My father is barely in the country anymore. Even I don’t get to see him that much, and I’m his son!” He had once complained to me when I had asked him about meeting his father and why I had not done it. “My mother is just as busy as my father, even if she’s in the country. We can’t always catch her. We have all the time in the world, Lauren. You can meet her anytime because I’m not going anywhere,” he had assured me again when I brought up the topic of meeting his mother. Every other event of meeting the parents after that would always lead to an argument, and Conrad was a brilliant man. He would make sure that he twisted the narrative, even to me. He would accuse me of not trusting him and being too clingy and obsessed, and sometimes I believed him. Now, just three months into screwing my best friend, he had told his uncle about her and was bringing her to a family event.
My eyes widened as I opened the text and read the words over and over, a triumphant smile making its way out of my mouth. Mom: Send proof that you have the money to help your mother out. I’ll decide when and how for you to get the money to us after that. Cash only. “I still don’t know if you’re excited or just completely horrified.” I jumped at the sound of Damien’s voice, as I had forgotten that he was there with me. “I just got a text from the people who took my mom away, look.” I showed the phone to him and waited for his eyes to scan the phone before he handed it back to me with an understanding nod. “We better get into action as soon as possible. People like this rarely trust others, and I’m sure he probably thinks that you’re only trying to deceive him. I’ll make a call to the bank and get the money so that we can show them that we’re serious about this.” I stared at him, partly shocked that he wasn’t fazed by the amount of money we were suppos
“You seem to have made up your mind so quickly,” Damien observed, and I didn’t know what it was supposed to imply, but I nodded at him in response. “I thought about it as I went over to work. I realised that it’s not the right thing to do. I don’t want this to turn into something that it’s not. I know how fast this could turn awkward, just the way it was earlier. I don’t want it to be this way,” I admitted. “As much as I’m not one to help you make decisions or force you to take mine, I’ll have you know that I don’t see Conrad very much, and you won’t have to. If that’s what bothers you so much, I just thought to let you know about it. Besides, you only have so much time to think about it. You have nowhere to go right now, Lauren.” “I know that, but I’m going to keep working and—” “And how much does your job pay you in a day for you to get by? You can’t up and find an apartment right now, Lauren, and we both know it,” he carefully reminded me of my st
“What uncle?” I asked, frowning at Conrad as I walked out of the kitchen with him to prevent the assistants from hearing us and finding out what exactly was going on. Damien couldn’t possibly be the uncle that Conrad was talking about, it didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean your uncle owns the place, Conrad?” I asked as we got to the privacy of the living room. “Where is Uncle Damien, and what are you doing in his house?” The truth hit me with a pang in the chest, and I could barely keep my feet grounded as I stared at Conrad, hoping to open my eyes all of a sudden and find myself in bed to realize that I was only dreaming, but nothing was going on. “He went out for a business meeting,” I answered his first question, shoving his second question aside, even when I knew that he was not going to let it slide that easily. “What are you doing in my uncle’s house, having breakfast, Lauren?” he asked again, glaring at me. “I… He’s sheltering me.
A long and awkward silence filled the table following Katarina’s admission to what Damien did to her. “I don’t hold it against him, by the way.” She raised her hands in surrender. “I mean, it would have been better and less embarrassing if he had just told me before the wedding, don’t you agree?” I silently agreed with her, but I was too lost for words to say a thing. I could feel Damien looking at me, but the last thing I wanted to do was make eye contact, so I settled for looking down at the delicious pastry and popping little pieces of it into my mouth as Katarina kept going. “Anyway, enough about me. That’s in the past, anyway. I wish you two the best of luck in your future marriage. Just…show up this time, Damien. Don’t embarrass the little girl.” “I’ll be on my way now,” she sighed, getting up and checking the watch on her wrist. “You were right, Damien; I do have somewhere to be. I must have forgotten.” My eyes trailed her as she left,
Before I could ask Damien about Conrad, he quickly pulled away from me. “I have to take this,” he said, walking away and placing the phone against his ear as he started to speak to Conrad on the phone. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about properly, but the last thing I wanted to do was sneak up on him because I wanted to listen in on the conversation. “Just because I know a Conrad doesn’t mean he can’t know one,” I reminded myself. There were thousands – millions, even – of people who had the same name, and it was only a coincidence that Damien knew someone called Conrad, right? When Damien was done with the call, he returned and carried on with the conversation. “As I said earlier, I want you to turn in your resignation letter to your boss or your manager. The last thing I want is for us to be caught in the ruthless rumours of the business world. If you get to be known as my fiancée, people will want to keep tabs on you from the press. I don
“What…what?” I stuttered, whipping my head in the direction of Damien, who still had his eyes on the road as if he had not uttered the most life-changing words to me just seconds ago. “Your rent, your mother’s debt, I can help you clear them,” he said again. At the second offer, I came to the cruel realization that none of that could come for free. One thing my father taught me before he died was that humans lived off of transactions – give some, take some. “What’s in it for you?” I asked the question that was hanging in the air the whole time, and I heard him chuckle in response. “You’re a smart one, Lauren,” he commented. “I’m not going to ask for much from you,” he spoke. “I’m only going to protect you from everything that’s happening. You will be taken under my wing as my fiancée to the public eye, and you will separate yourself from everything that binds you to your mother because you’re only going to get destroyed if you keep going around like
Pain exploded within my legs as the car hit me before the driver could fully swerve to avoid me. I was pushed so far back, my legs going high up in the air for only a split second before I felt a pain in my head as if my head had been cracked open, and that was when I realized that I had landed on the floor and had hit my head against the asphalt. My vision was blurry, and the sounds around me were muffled, as if my head had been dunked underwater. “Mom,” I croaked, trying to see if anyone would understand what I meant – I needed to get to my mother. As if a movie I was seeing had an abrupt end, my vision went black.~ “Mm,” I hummed and groaned as light filtered into my eyes, causing an immense throbbing in my head that would not leave even after I shut my eyes and rubbed my head. There was a rough-textured fabric wrapped around my head, and I only started to take note of it when I had rubbed my head long enough. “What is...” I paused
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