Chapter 1

Anna's POV.

Wake up stupid, Wake up stupid!

I groaned, raising a heavy hand, as I searched blindly for my phone. My eyes were still tightly shut, as my hands rummaged through the confines of my bedside table. Finally, my fingertips felt cold metal and grabbed it. I held the phone in front of my face, and finally opened my eyes. 6am.

I groaned again, slamming my head into the pillow. I could have sworn that I had slept only thirty minutes earlier. There was no greater evidence of the love-hate relationship between Sunday nights and Monday mornings. I turned off the annoying alarm, and swung my legs off the bed. I released a deep breath and summoned enough energy to get off the bed. I looked at the sticky note on my wall and read it out loud: You have to keep working hard until you marry a billionaire.

My phone chimed, and I was reminded that I was never going to marry a billionaire, but I didn't care. I picked up the phone and read the text from Aiden Smith, my boyfriend.

Wakey, wakey, pumpkin.

He had done this everyday for the past five years. He was easily the sweetest thing that's ever happened to me. My phone chimed again, and a new text appeared.

Don't make me come get you.

I'm up. I replied

I smiled, and dumped the phone on the bed. He might not be a billionaire, but he's the sweetest thing that's ever happened to me. I said that before. I got ready for what I knew would be another hectic day at work. After eight hours of having to listen to my boss nag about the silliest things, I got off work—tired as usual.

Routine. I got a cab back home and dragged my tired feet up the stairs wishing Aiden was around to give me a massage. I stopped dead in my tracks as I reached my door. My blood immediately ran cold and my hair stood on end. Something was terribly wrong.

I had hung a tiny piece of thread on the door hinges when I left, but now, it was gone. What was strange wasn't the fact that it was gone, it was the fact that someone took the time to return the thread after entering my house. It was, however, positioned wrongly. My mind raced a series of possibilities: had my past finally caught up with me? Who could it be? Dad? Liam?

It certainly wasn't Aiden, he had my keys, but didn't have the patience to return the thread. For fuck sake, he hadn't even noticed the thread after dating me for five years. I dug my hands into my bag and brought out the only weapon I was allowed to carry as a law abiding citizen: pepper spray. Whoever it was was going to get it!

I opened the door as gently as I could, then shut it as quietly as possible. The light suddenly went on, but so did my knees into the groin of the closest man and the pepper spray into his eyes.

“Sur—prise…” Everyone's shout died out like a man falling off a cliff, as I realized what I had just done.

“Oh my God, Aiden. I'm so sorry,” I said, as I dropped to one knee.

“I'm good, I'm good,” he groaned, raising his thumb. He was still in a crouching position and it was obvious that he was anything but good. He finally summoned enough strength to stand straight. His face had gone red and the veins on his neck still popped. “Happy birthday, love,” he managed to say.

Shit, I forgot my birthday—again. Five years, and I still wasn't used to my fake birthday.

I feigned a gasp. “I thought you forgot,” I said, hitting him gently on the shoulder.

“How could I? You mean the world to me.”

I struggled to contain the butterflies that suddenly sprung up in my belly, hoping my intestinal acids snuffed out the life from them. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I blurted out, wrapping my arms around him. Guilt stung at my conscience, but I shoved it aside. It hurt me that I needed to lie to him, but I had no choice.

“And who are all these people? I've never seen them before.”

“Um, random people…um…”

“You don't know them either do you?” If there was anything I knew about Aiden, it was his inability to socialize, which I found really strange for a human resource manager.

“Um…no, you don't have any friends, I don't have any friends. I had to rent some—just for the night. I promise they'll be out in a few minutes.”

True to his words, after a couple of minutes, the guests all left one after the other and now it was just the two of us. What next!? What would someone who was actually celebrating her birthday do?

Aiden flopped on the chair beside me and for a moment simply gazed into empty space. His hands found mine and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You know, when I first got here, I never thought I'd find love...”

I braced myself for the story of how his ex had shattered his heart and left him thinking he'd never be able to love again. I had heard that story a thousand times, and every sign that I showed to tell him I hated hearing about his story just flew over his head.

Suddenly, he dropped to one knee. His gaze remained glued to mine—unwavering.

What was he doing?

I felt my heartbeat quicken at the possibilities. Slowly, he dipped his hand into his pocket. Oh my God! It's happening.

He brought out a small box and held it in front of me. A smile tugged at the edges of his lips, while my mind ran riot. He opened the box, revealing an expensive diamond ring.

Do they pay human resource managers that high?

“This was given to me by my mother and now, I'm giving it to you because I can't imagine life with anyone else but you. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

“Yes!” I said, trying desperately to contain my joy. I had told my dad that I'd have a normal life and now I did. What could possibly go wrong?

I had barely completed the thought when three masked men burst in through the door.

Shit! I jinxed it.