Chapter 1

The Arrangenment.

A>K Styles. "I do not want to hear any complaints or opposition concerning the matter and in case you haven't noticed, my Empire, my rules. Question me and you'd get it, do you really want to try that?" the young lady seethed as fury burned in her eyes. The workers who were seated shook their heads as every one of them knew what the boss was capable of doing. "We have the prototypes for the next project, the sketches, the materials, everything needed for the production of the next designs so explain to me why you're prolonging the process by waiting around doing nothing or do I remind you that I do not like waiting around?" Eleonora Ricci looked fearsome and no one wanted to be the unlucky person to fall into her trap. "I want this project done by tomorrow 8:00 am sharp." Eleonora stood up from her seat and walked right out of the room with her head held high. She couldn't believe the type of workers she had. Why were they being so lazy when there was so much work to do?! She sashayed down the hall with her black high-waist trousers and long sleeve white blouse matched with the thick ankle boots. Her raven strands flew behind her in their natural and shiny curls. As she passed, the staff cleared the way for her. The woman was trying to keep her anger in check because if she had her way she wouldn't hesitate to paint the room red without thinking twice. She swung the door to her office with annoyance but was shocked to see the room wasn't empty. "Mama, Papa? What are you doing here?" Eleonora asked with furrowed eyebrows. "If you came all the way from New York down here then it must be serious."

She walked into her office, perplexed to see her parents in her office after so long. "It is indeed a serious matter that we have come to discuss with you Eleonora and this matter affects your life for the next two years," the old man muttered with a grave tone. He was dressed in his usual sleek grey pants with a blue cotton vest shouldered by the matching grey suit jacket. Mr Vito Ricci looked older than the last time she saw him, his grey hair strands peeking out more than usual but he still had the devilish alluring looks from his youth making him look like aged fine wine. Meanwhile, the woman standing next to him was a full decade younger than him by looks rather than age. She was dressed in a skin-tight navy blue gown which stopped before her knees. Her short brown hair was resting by her chin. They both helped themselves with a seat on the sofa in her office. Her mother clasped her hand over her father's immediately. From a fair distance, they seemed to be the perfect couple. The strict but warm husband and the ever-supportive and loving wife with a pampered only daughter. "What is it then?" Eleonora asked as she moved to stand behind one of the chairs.

Seeing the two people making themselves comfortable and trying to act as if they were one of the perfect happy families in the world made Eleonora sick to her stomach. They were nothing close to perfect or happy. A bogus image just for the eyes watching. "It's about your marriage," Rosaline, Eleonora's mother announced as she looked up at her daughter. The room rang in silence for a moment before it was broken by a shrill yelp. "I'm sorry, my what now?!!" Eleonora felt as if she was in a horror movie right now, the ghost haunting her memory and moving to harm her and all she wanted was to stop playing the movie itself. "My marriage?! When did I ever agree to a marriage with not one but the two of you?! I do not have a death wish and I didn't hit my head hard enough to actually lose my direction that I'd come to ask you two to set me up with someone." Eleonora belted out with the pending rage coming up with a full blast. She just had to deal with her incompetent workers and now, her parents were here unannounced and spewing gibberish. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "We know you have always refused to talk about relationships but you are already twenty-five and fit enough for marriage and besides, I want grandchildren soon." This time, her father chipped in Eleonora rolled her eyes at that and muttered. "You two could barely make time to spend with your own child and now you want grandchildren?! Who are you two trying to dish responsibilities to?" The lady glared at the two people sitting in front of her. The sudden urge to strangle something or someone overcame her. "We know we weren't always there for you and we were not the best parents but we worked hard for your sake, to provide for you." Vito tried to soften her heart with his words but she scoffed. Eleonora had heard that many times to know that the man was trying to guilt trip her. "Worked hard for my sake? Really? Is that what you tell yourselves to help you sleep at night or do you really want to try to convince me with that? I asked for none of this, I am grateful but I would've appreciated it if I could see my parents more times than I did while growing up and just so you know. I am not marrying anyone." Eleonora spat, glaring at her parents without batting her eyelids even once. They couldn't just barge into her life and try to make a lifetime decision for her!! It doesn't work that way! "You know this just proves my point that you do not plan to get married anytime soon but for your information, there is no room for negotiation." Rosaline forced out as her eyes watched her daughter's every movement like a hawk watching its prey. "Yes, I do know that there is no negotiation because this is my life we are talking about here. My happiness, my freedom and a lot more concerning me for the rest of my life. You are just forcing the decision on me as if we had planned this decades ago." Eleonora knew there was no out in the decision but she wanted to know why. Heaven knows she'd take the matter to court just to get out of this insanity. "It's just for two years, not ten years." Rosaline shrugged nonchalantly making Eleonora's blood boil. Hasn't she heard of the phrase time is money?! Whose time was she trying to waste here?! "Easy for you to say, I'm not the one telling you to throw your life away for two whole years." Eleonora couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's enough! The wedding will happen so you better come to terms with that fact sooner than later." Her father's voice was stern, just like the other times he had enforced a decision on her without prior notice. Her parents were really giving her no space to breathe in this. "Alright, then who is the scumbag I am getting married to?" She crossed her arms across her chest. Eleonora thought 'If you can't beat them, join them.' She was using that right now to keep her sanity. "Viccorio Russo." As soon as the name left her mother's mouth, she froze as though she had been shot in the leg.

"Viccorio Russo?! Are you two out of your minds? You know I hate that man's guts and I can't stand him at all so please tell me why you chose to make me marry him out of the billions of people in this world. Right now I'd rather marry a beggar than him," Eleonora belted out with rage.

She could feel a headache with more weight than the others coming so she knew that she had to get rid of her parents before they jumped right into questioning her and fussing over her as though they cared.

"No we are not out of our minds miha, you have to understand that this was decided a long time ago and we always keep our commitments," Rosaline sighed as she tried to explain to her daughter but the lady wasn't having it.

"So what you are saying is that I am being used as the human sacrifice to save your asses over some commitment you made on probably a drunken night with friends?!

I get to lose two years of my life. Do you even know what that means?" Eleonora blasted out.

"We are talking about 24 months, 104 weeks, 730 days and, 17520 hours here! It might not seem like such a long time but it is to me, you two just gotta be kidding me." Eleonora grabbed a pen and paper from the table calculating the entire time she'd spend.