Chapter 4

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."