Chapter 3 Deal

ADRIAN'S P.O.V.

I stood, gazing out of the window in my hotel suite. The events of the past few hours of the day replayed in my mind, and with it came a seething anger that coursed through my veins and caused my fists to ball up.

How could one person, a mere woman at that, get the better of me?

I recalled the way in which she had insulted me and I could still feel the sting of the paper bills as they slapped against my skin.

How the hell had she dared to insult me in such a manner?

I hated the fact that she had gotten under my skin. I was not easily phased by anything or anyone, and I had never imagined that a mere woman would be able to annoy the hell out of me like that woman had.

What?

My performance in bed was unsatisfactory?

I had never received such a huge blow to my pride before, and the memory of the expression on her face when she had said that caused my ears to redden from fury. I could not even bear to digest the fact that a woman had spoken to me so rudely; the fact that a woman whose name I did not even know and whose identity I was not interested in knowing, had managed to permeate into my mind, leaving a trail of frustration and anger in her wake.

In all of my years of living as Adrian Valentino, nobody; no one, had ever dared to test my anger. But this strange woman had managed to provoke me- not once, but twice, and in such a short period of time.

Who was she?

What gave her such audacity and boldness to face me?

As I pondered that thought, I came upon a realization that jerked me out of my reverie. Suddenly, I let out an amused chuckle, nodding my head and clapping my hands in understanding as I had realized what was going on.

The strange woman's game plan, I had it all figured out. She did all that because she knew daring to do what other people had never done would make me think about her; and she had succeeded as for a little while there, the very thought of her had consumed my mind.

It was then that I also recalled how I had come upon her in the trunk of my car. I figured that she had some how found out that the car belonged to me and she had hidden herself in my trunk in an attempt to follow me back to my house so as to know my address and possibly other personal details. Her aim had been to lengthen her meeting with me and find a way to stay around me longer.

I applauded her reasoning; for a strange woman, she sure was smart. But she was definitely not more smarter than I was as her plans would fail woefully. After all, I was Adrian Valentino, and being the most sought after man in the city meant that I had seen and experienced a lot of women. Every one of them wanted to spend more time with me, most of them even wanting something more than I was willing to offer, but I did not stand for any of that. I had never, and would never sleep with a woman more than once; that was the rule and principle that I lived by.

The strange woman might have tried to come up with a devious scheme to break my rule, but that was not going to be possible. I would ensure that she would never have any access to me, never again. Reaching for the intercom on my table, I dialed the number to the hotel manager's office.

A few minutes passed before I heard a gentle knock on my door.

"Come in!" I invited.

The door opened and turned in time to see, James, the manager walk into the room.

"Good morning, sir!" he greeted, bending slightly in a bow.

"I need you to do something urgent and important." I said.

"What would that be, sir?" He asked, looking at me with a mix of curiosity and alertness.

"I need a name to be blacklisted from the hotel's guest list."

As the owner of the prestigious hotel, I had a reputation to uphold and I could not afford for a crazy wanton woman to roam about my premises, soiling the image which I worked hard to build. I instructed James to find out the identity of that woman and make sure that her name would never grace our guest list again. The audacity which she had shown by daring to insult me was highly unacceptable for me, and by blacklisting her name, I was very assured that whatever attempts that she had would make to maneuver her way into my life would be in vain. I never spent my time with the same woman twice, and she would be no exception.

A knock on my door pulled me out if my reverie and my valet, Drew, peeked his head into the room.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Your dad just called, sir. He says you should come to the estate immediately as he has something important to discuss with you." He said.

"Okay. Get me my driver." I said and watched as my assistant closed the door behind him.

After my driver had been summoned, I strode out of the hotel lobby with Drew trailing by my side. When we arrived at the old mansion in which I had been born, grew up, and made many memories, fond and otherwise, Drew alighted the car quickly before making his way to open the door for me. The house was busy with activity as maids moved about tending to one thing or another. In the distance, I could hear my mother, Alvida's voice, delivering orders to the servants and I would normally go to greet her, but I could not afford the detour as I had more pressing matters to settle.

Instead, I focused on my pathway, making my way through the grand hallway with my footsteps echoing against the marble floors. Soon, I was pushing, open, the heavy doors that led to my father's study. Behind his massive mahogany desk, he sat, with

an air of authority which I had grown up to identify, surrounding him.

"Adrian," he said in acknowledgement of my presence, his tone measured.

"Father?" I said while pushing the doors to a close.

"Your day?" He asked.

"Not as well as I'd hoped, yours?" I asked.

"It's going quite well." He replied.

"Good for you." I nodded curtly.

"I guess." He said.

"You have something to say, don't you? You called me here because you did, did you not?" I asked.

I sounded rude but I did not care. I and my father rarely had touchy feely conversations; our relationship was built differently than other father son relationships that I had heard of. Whenever we had to discuss something, we always went straight to the point as we both did not believe in wasting precious time; time was money, after all- and we both enjoyed making our money. Watching him beating around the bush was very unsettling, and I had a bad feeling about what it was that he called me home for.

He sighed, a fatigued expression crossing his face as he said, "Sit down, son. We need to talk."

Need to talk?

Now that was another unsettling thing that had ever come out of my father's lips. We never 'needed' to talk; we only ever spoke to one another whenever we wanted to, and that was very rarely.

I took a seat, my curiosity growing by the second. What could possibly be so important that my father had to have that uncharacteristic expression on his face?

When he finally spoke, my father's words shattered every appearance of control that I had.

"Adrian, you're getting married."

On hearing his statement, the room seemed to spin as the words registered in my mind.

Married?

The very thought of it was unbelievable and absurd. I stood up from my chair immediately, knocking it over in my hurried anger.

"Absolutely not! I won't have it, Father."

He looked at me with a stern gaze, his eyes hardening.

"Listen, Adrian. This isn't a request. It's a necessity. It is your duty to this family."

I felt a surge of anger and rebellion rising within me.

"I will not be getting married. That plan that you have contorted in your head is not going to work." I said angrily.

"Adrian! I am your father, and you will listen to me, do you hear me? You can not defy me and you can definitely not be rebellious, not under my roof." He said.

"Then I'll take my rebellion outside your roof." I said and made to leave the room, but then he uttered those words that froze the blood in my veins and stopped me in my tracks.

"Your inheritance is on the line."