C1 THE CONTRACT

Chapter one

Serena was trying so hard to disguise her tear stained face, she was trying to be strong, It was her sister's wedding and she did not want to ruin it. Her very loud, annoying and beautiful sister was getting married while she just got her heart broken by her boyfriend of five years.

Nobody cared how she was feeling, they all just wanted to make the day perfect for little miss perfect and she was there to do everyone's bidding. She sighed deeply and picked up her phone to read his breakup message to her again seeking for the real reason he had left, his message had just stated that he was tired of the relationship and they weren't compatible. He had ended the message with "best of luck", like who ends a breakup text with best of luck but that was what Jakes her boyfriend had done.

She did not want to admit to anyone that she knew he had left because she was ugly and fat and nothing to look at. Apparently she had taken the worst genes in her family, even her mother was way prettier than her. She had tried to reaching out to him severally but to no avail, she had even against her better judgement and that of her family gone to his place of residence and had found out from one of his neighbors that he had left and there was no message to anyone who would want to look for him. She knew it was over between both of them but could not bring herself to admit that she had failed in hanging on to a man again.

.........

Serena you must let us in" her mother's voice brought her out of her self pity

"What is the matter mother?" She asked opening the door to see her mother standing there distraught and her father closely behind her scratching his head.

"It is your sister" her mother said coming into the room closely followed by her father

"What is the matter with Eloise?"

"I don't know how to say this without sounding utterly stupid but she has run away "

"Run away? Whatever do you mean mother?"

"Your sister Eloise has run away and for the life of me I have no idea where she might have gone "

"Well we must find her at once, she couldn't have gotten far."

"We cannot look her, according to the text she sent me she is on her way to rediscover herself away from us."

"What is that supposed to mean" She asked confused

"I have no idea except if we do not go through with this wedding, we won't have anything to put on our table." Her father had replied harshly

"Explain to me father"

"There is nothing to explain Serena, I am owing my business partner a huge sum of money and the agreement was one of my daughters marry his son. Now seeing as Eloise has run away, it is up to you to save this family from bankruptcy."

"I cannot marry a man I do not know and a man I do not love all because of your debt."

"That debt you speak of put you through school and have you all of these fancy clothes, now if you weren't off chasing that stupid boy you were dating, you would have noticed that this family was going through trials."

"So now it is my fault father."

"I am not casting blames, your mother will prepare you as the bride and you are going to marry the man waiting outside whether you like it or not."

"Do not do this to me, mother speak to father." She cried facing her mother who only looked at her with blank eyes.

"Come now, do not cry or you will get puffy eyes and won't look pretty. You are not half as beautiful as your sister but you will have to do."

She was hurriedly dressed in her sister's wedding gown and half dragged to the Altar where a very tall man stood, his back was to her but she was already feeling dreadful.

......

Damon stood tall at the Altar awaiting the woman promised to him by his father, he could not care less about her except she has to be beautiful and represent him well in public because he was soon to take over his father's company and needed someone by his side who could handle his home. Damon had no intentions of getting to know his bride, he just needed to get this dreadful business of marriage over with and go off to his paramour Judith who by now was waiting naked for him in their special apartment, fully furnished.

He noticed immediately that there was something amiss Immediately the father and his bride were in sight, it seemed she was being dragged to the Altar. She too did not want to be involved in the marriage and it was fine by him because it was only one of contract.

.......

"I won't marry him father" Serena screamed in rage jerking back and forth as she was being dragged.

"Behave yourself now Serena, stop throwing tantrums."

She was whisked straight to the Altar where she was forced to stand beside the man, she glared at him in hatred but he barely looked at her as they said their vows. In the middle of the whole fiasco she screamed at him.

"Are you not ashamed? What is this? The 18th century where you can marry a woman off against her own will?"

"Your father owes my father a very huge debt and you are the repayment of that debt, you can say you have being bought. Now if you don't mind I would like this whole thing to be over soon." Damon said not facing the distraught bride

"Look at me when you talk you proud, pompous son of a bitch" She screamed again, her curses eliciting gasps from the congregation.

Damon's jaw clenched in anger as he turned and beheld his bride, her face flushed and her red hair hanging around it. She looked like an avenging Angel, he lost his train of thought for a minute.

Her Jaw dropped immediately he turned and the only thing that she could think of was how handsome he looked. His eyes looked like wells of honey and his lips, she could hardly think straight as she stared at him and immediately resented him and his rogue looks.

Thankfully after they shared that first glance the wedding proceeded without any drama till it got to the part of kissing the bride, he bent his head down and stared deep into her green eyes before capturing her lips in his. It was brief but so electric that he immediately forgot he did not like the whole concept of this marriage, he wanted to taste her again

She saw stars as soon as her lips touched his and she knew immediately that she was in trouble, it was one thing if this man was not sexually attractive but for him to kiss like that was trouble for her.

She was not allowed to say her goodbye before her father immediately ushered her out and into her new husband's car.

They both sat stoically with her realizing how close they were, took close for comfort. They did not say a word to each other but just sat there which caused her to panic as she has literally being ignored all of her life, she wondered if this is was how it was going to be for her, always ignored and overlooked.

They finally got to their hotel room and She was shown to their room where she was asked to stay and wait for further instructions. Her new husband came in moments later and began undressing not glancing over to where She sat nor acknowledging her existence. She sat fiddling her fingers unsure of what to do and dreading the moment she knew was at hand, the time she would have to remove her clothes and have him a stranger explore her body, she shuddered repulsively

......

"I need to set down a few ground rules if this is going to work at all" Damon said after he had undressed

"You are not allowed to touch me, you are not allowed to speak except spoken to, I would like to tell you again that I want nothing to do with you and you are going to be the trophy wife you were brought here to be.I will continue my lifestyle as a playboy in which you will have no say but if you are down to be one of my many whores I can have that arranged for you."

"Do not even think for one minute that because I have being forcefully married to that I will tolerate any of your bullshit. I am not one of your many flings and I would not tolerate you laying a finger on me." She blew hot clearly offended by his lack of respect towards her.

"I really do not care, we still have to look like we are happy so we will attend various functions together and you are to smile at me like any loving wife would do, is that understood?"

"You do not need to command me, I know my duty."

"Perfect, now if there isn't anything else I would love to sleep. Today has been one hectic and dreadful day."

She watched her new husband turn to the other side of the bed and went to sleep, she blinked away the hot tears threatening to overwhelm her, if this was how he wanted to play it, she was more than ready for him