Love For Sale

*BEN*

It was all smiles for the family when Nolan and his father bid us goodbye and after they were gone my grandfather turned to look at me with a scowl on his face.

I crossed my arms over my chest.

"What were you thinking, Benedykta?!" He yelled furiously.

I stared at him in disbelief.

"What have I done? I'm selling my dignity just to make you richer. What else do you want?"

I kept my gaze on my mother and she looked away with guilt.

Serves her right.

"You came home drunk knowing that you could potentially ruin this engagement and I won't let you ruin my plans."

I scoffed in annoyance.

"I'm all doing you a fucking favor by marrying a man I don't even love so you should all be fucking grateful."

My grandfather raised his hand to hit but my mother held him back stopping him.

I smirked.

"Are we resolving to violence now?"

He remained silent.

I already knew my answer.

I grabbed my car keys and left the mansion while my grandfather kept calling my name.

This is why I moved out.

I couldn't stand being under my grandpa's control like I was some mindless puppet.

I want to be CEO so bad but deep down I think it's not worth selling my soul to the devil.

By the devil I mean Ambrose.

I got into my car and drove off without looking back.

I've always had a messy relationship with my grandfather and when I got older it only got worse.

I've tried to impress him so that I can be in his good graces that has never worked.

Tears filled my eyes as I increased the speed and I found myself heading somewhere else.

It was late but I found myself driving towards the beach.

When I finally arrived I sat on the sand and just broke down crying.

I was alone and no cameras were here to judge me.

In the eyes of the media the Rebels were an epitome of perfection and success and my grandfather has always wanted to keep things that way.

Always stay on the top no matter what.

And with this new project things might even get more difficult. Once you get to the top it's impossible to get back down and I've learnt that the hard way.

I wiped my tears away.

I released a shaky exhale.

It's easy to back away from this marriage but the mere thought of my father going to prison doesn't settle well with me.

I've already signed the contract.

I'll just have to get married to Nolan and stay with him for a year but I can't fathom the idea of having a baby with him.

No.

I've never thought of having kids and getting married was always out of the question.

My life was filled with my secret passion for writing and well taking over the family business since my father can't get his shit together.

No one knows that I'm a writer aside from my best friend Marcus.

If my family knew I know that they would never support me so some things I better off unsaid.

My mother was trying to get hold of me but I turned off my phone.

I sat at the beach for an hour just listening to the waves of the oceans wishing that they'd just carry me along.

Maybe my life would feel easier.

It was getting cold and this dress wasn't keeping me warm.

I got up and began walking towards my car.

Later that night I made it at the apartment in one piece. I stripped out of the dress and decided to go for a long shower.

I had a glass of wine and went to bed.

I had to wake up early for work.

My thoughts kept wandering back to the moment when Nolan kissed me and I couldn't help but feel flustered at the mere thought of his lips on mine.

His kiss was gentle yet passionate.

He was nothing like his father.

Ambrose.

His kisses made me feel like I was on the verge of drowning in ecstasy yet I didn't want him to stop either.

I groaned deeply.

When I eventually blocked out those steamy moments between father and son I eventually drifted to sleep an hour later.

As usual I woke up at 5.am in the morning and did my morning yoga routine despite feeling exhausted.

I decided to go for a long bubble bath and after that I went to get dressed and after I was done I was heading to the kitchen for some quick breakfast.

I turned on my phone and the number of messages and missed calls I found were alarming and a few of them were from Nolan.

I frowned and decided to call him back.

He picked up on the second ring.

"You made me worried, Ben," he muttered quietly.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously but deep down I knew that my grandfather had something to do with this.

He cleared his throat nervously.

"Your grandfather mentioned that you left the mansion upset last night so I wanted to check up on you to make sure that you're okay."

I was angry that my grandfather dragged Nolan into this mess.

"Ben, are you still there?"

I had zoned out.

I sighed deeply.

"Yes I'm okay but I've burnt my toast while talking to you" I exclaimed softly removing black toast from the toaster.

It was burnt beyond human consumption.

He chuckled softly.

"I'm sorry for that but let me make it up to you. Let me have the honor of taking you out for breakfast."

I bit my bottom lip.

It was off schedule but I wanted to genuinely get to know Nolan.

"Please" he insisted and I found myself giving in.

"Like a date?"

I smiled to myself and I'm sure he had a grin on his face.

"Yes it will be our first date"he muttered quietly.

It was official Nolan and I were going on our first date but in the back of my mind I could picture Ambrose frowning at me.

Nolan offered to pick me up and I accepted even though I preferred driving myself to work.