“You have GOT to be out of your goddamn mind,” Eden rumbled at her father, tears filling up her eyes. She felt like her whole world was crumbling down.“Keep talking like that and see what happens to your credit cards,” replied her father, Alfred Brown, a tall, sturdy man with no trace of emotion on his face. “You will do as I say, or so help me God, I will do everything in my power to make sure you end up on the streets.”The words coming out of her father’s mouth cut through her like a piercing knife. “Let me get this straight, you want me to marry your creepy old friend? For what? For your own personal gain? What am I, a rag doll to be thrown around between twisted men? I just turned eighteen yesterday for God’s sake,” said Eden with her voice breaking at the last sentence.“You had a life of extravagance and luxury because of me, I saved you from that sick drunk wrench you called your mother. You owe me your darn life if it comes to it. This is the least you can do to pay off you
Alex Goldman, one of the richest bachelors in Los Angeles, was known to throw the biggest, most extravagant parties in the city. Automatically, all the rich people were invited to his parties. Anyone who was a celebrity, a rich businessman, a smoking hot girl, or easily found on Google for being famous, was allowed entry. This was Alex’s attempt at mimicking Jay Gatsby, from the movie The Great Gatsby, though he did not have a special girl that he waited for because every girl at the party was a potential one-night stand for him. Eden, Grace, Natalia, and Sophia knew this was the perfect place to find their target. All the rich bachelors in the city could be spotted at this party. Dressed in the most beautiful dresses, expensive jewellery, and intoxicating perfumes, they stepped out of their limousine at the front gate of Alex’s house. Even Sophia, who never put any effort into her appearance, dressed up for the event.When they stepped inside the house, their eyes were hazed by the
*Ping* MessageEden: Our target is a man with the name tag Mason.On the other end of the room, on the dance floor, Grace sees another man with the name tag ‘Mason’, not knowing that Eden meant someone else.Grace saw the nametag, and without once thinking of notifying any of her friends that she had found him, she decided to go ahead with the plan alone. He was drunk dancing, grinding his hips against a drunk girl. She thought to herself, ‘Wow, weird choice, but let's get on with it.’ She blended with people on the dance floor and started swaying her way toward this man. She was very slick with her motions and in a quick moment, she was the one with her hips crammed against Mason’s crotch, swaying to the rhythm of the beat. He was too drunk to complain about Grace’s curvy and slender body and the way it moved at just the right pace, sensual enough to make his body tingle with desire. He clasped her narrow waist gently, with her back facing him, and started dancing with her.“Turn a
Eden felt herself being tackled from behind and she fell face-first to the floor, and from the corner of her eyes, she saw the same happening to Natalia, Grace, and Sophia. She did not know what this was happening but she knew it had something to do with the Mason brothers because she could see their outline in the smoke, sitting perfectly still, not flinching even once, as if they knew this would happen. Suddenly, a cloth was pressed against her face with a strange smell and she felt lightheaded, slowly drifting off into the blackness._____________About an hour later, Eden woke up, feeling a stinging pain in her hands, back, and ankles. It took her a minute to gain full consciousness of her surroundings. She was in a chair, tied the same way the Masons were tied. She looked around her and saw her three friends tied on chairs the same way. Sophia was looking at her with teary eyes but Natalia and Grace were still knocked out cold.“Kidnapping. Drugging without consent. Infliction of
Eden stared at the ceiling of her room, lying on the bed with her hands and legs lying limp on the soft bedsheet. She kept thinking about what happened a week ago in the penthouse. It was established at that point that she cannot kidnap anyone else, she had learned the lesson. Sophia was still not talking to her and Natalia was still freaked out and acting distant from everyone. Only Grace understood what this meant for Eden. She would either have to marry Carter or run away and give up all the luxury that was so dear to her.Eden recalls her phone call conversation with Grace a day ago.‘It can’t be that bad, you’ll just have to bear the old sack until he dies and then you will basically be a queen,’ said Grace.‘If you know me at all, you know I will never give my father the satisfaction of making me waste my life on someone I don’t love,’ Eden replied. ‘Besides I don’t want the entire world to think that I am a gold digger.’‘Which you actually are,’ Grace said jokingly.‘Bitch, I’
“Marry me.”Eden was too shocked to say anything. Did he really ask me to marry him?“Don’t get flattered Miss Brown, it’s not like I like you romantically. After what you did, I should be disgusted by you.”“But you’re not. Why aren’t you?” Eden asked, her brain unable to process the situation completely.“You’re really beautiful.”What is even happening?“And young and rich. I need you to be my wife. I can assure you that I have no sexual or romantic intentions. This is nothing more than a temporary solution to both our problems. If I recall correctly, you wanted to marry me too, yes?”Eden could not believe how well this had worked out, but she felt humiliated that things did not go the way she had planned, she wanted to be in control. She felt a surge of anger about the fact that she is the one who is being blackmailed into getting married. She knew well that if she refused, Bennett could easily expose her and ruin her reputation. “Why do you want to marry me? You know my issues,
Like hell, I am going to think about this. How dare he insult me like that. I don't care if I go to jail, at least I won’t be marrying this motherfu-Eden’s thoughts are cut short when a young but tall and muscular man, dressed in all black steps in front of Eden, stopping her from exiting the building of Mason’s apartment complex. She swallows and tilts her head upwards to look at the man’s face. He was the same man who picked her up from her home. She vividly remembered someone of his stature entering the penthouse before she went unconscious.“And what do you think you are doing?” Asks Eden.“Don’t you need a ride home, Miss?” the man asked. His nametag read Buddy.“Listen Buddy boy, if you do not get out of my way this instant you will be the one needing a ride to the hospital.”Buddy’s eyes were hidden under black sunglasses, but Eden could tell they were amused. He smiled and moved aside, motioning her to go ahead. She walks out of the building and towards the main road to catch
“He asked you to marry him?” Grace asks, befuddles. “Why would he do that?”“It’s supposed to help him with business or something, but that’s not important. He does not want any sort of romantic strings attached, it’ll all be just on paper,” Eden replied and then explained what Bennett had told her. She walks back to the bathtub and submerges herself once again.“Well, that worked out beautifully. Wasn’t that your goal all along?”“Yes but….” Eden couldn’t think of a single reason why she should not do this.“But?” Grace urged.“I don’t know, Grace,” Eden says, tracing her finger around the outline of her knee peeking out of the water.“Did he do something to you? Do you have any reason to think that he might hurt you?”“No, in fact, he has been nice to me, except he thinks that I am stupid,” Eden replies.“I don’t see that a problem. I mean it is perfectly valid why he would think that. What we did was pretty stupid,” Grace chuckled. “But it does not mean that he wants to harm you. H