CHAPTER ONE

My whole life is about to be a hell of a rollercoaster. I stare at the beautifully dressed woman standing before me with a resolute look and for the second time this morning, I find myself unable to utter a word. The chairwoman of the Martinez empire is standing before me and announcing in front of the entire staff of Giancarlo- which is only one of the many establishments that her family owns- that she wants me to marry her son!

I count to five in my head and try to steady my breath to form a sentence. "Ma'am, I can't possibly marry your son. I don't... I can't... I don't know...."

"Nonsense!" She says pleasantly. "You don't know my son but you must have seen pictures of him all over the news. He's the sort of man that any girl would be happy to get married to."

She's not wrong, I know. Brandon Martinez is the heartthrob of Seattle, Washington. He is 6ft tall, built like a Greek god, and controls an empire worth billions of dollars. Who wouldn't want to be with a man like that? The problem is, Brandon, is rumored to be dating a different woman every week, all of them, models and actresses. The man is way out of my league and I know it. Also, he and I have never met before! We couldn't possibly get married.

Hailey, one of the waitresses and my best friend nudges me out of my reverie. I've been keeping the chairwoman waiting too long. "Ma'am, can I possibly get some time to think this through?" I ask in a squeaky voice that I do not recognize as mine.

"Certainly" She chimes happily. "I will be back here tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I ask in horror. I asked for time to think things through and she's saying she'll be back tomorrow. I can't possibly make such a huge decision in such a short time.

Without waiting to respond to any more questions, the chairwoman turns on her heels with her bodyguards flanking her and heads towards her car. The moment she's out of the door, I feel my insides turn to jelly. Everyone starts to murmur about what just happened and Hailey rushes to my side to prevent anyone from giving me trouble but I can feel their stares. Mariah, the manager of Giancarlo is looking at me like she's about to strangle me. I have no idea why that woman hates me so much.

"Everyone, back to your jobs! We open in ten minutes." Mariah's voice rings loud as a bell. We all scurry back to our places but the chairwoman's announcement is all that everyone can talk about. It isn't until evening, when her shift is over, that Hailey walks up to me in the kitchen where I'm kneading a giant dough.

"Well, well, if it isn't the star of Giancarlo," she says.

I give her a stern look to shut her up but she just laughs it off.

"Come on. I want to hear everything."

"There's nothing to tell"

"Don't even start with me, Natalie. What do you mean there's nothing to tell? Rebecca Martinez, chairwoman of the Martinez empire walks into this restaurant to ask you in front of everyone to marry her son, who by the way, is one hell of a catch and you say there's nothing to tell?"

"Shhhh! Keep your voice down, Hailey. You're calling attention to us." I say in a hushed tone.

"Girl, you better start talking before I bring the whole staff into this kitchen with my voice"

"Hailey" I whine. "I'm working! I need to focus"

"Nat, you and I know you can knead that dough with your eyes closed. Spill already!!" She shrieks.

"Fine, fine. Look, when I met her, I had no idea she was Rebecca Martinez. She walked into this place looking deathly pale one night and I just helped take care of her. That's all." I finish but Hailey continues to give me a blank stare that I know means she's expecting details.

In truth, I only met the chairwoman by chance last week. Although my job description says assistant chef, Mariah sees to it that many other menial jobs in the kitchen fall to me. This means that sometimes, I stay back to clean the kitchen after everyone is gone. I complained once but Mariah asked me to leave if I thought it unfair. Of course, she knows I can't leave. She literally made me grovel for this job before employing me.

It was one of those nights. Hailey was off duty that day so she couldn't stay back to help me clean. I heard someone hit the restaurant door and stepped out of the kitchen to check. What I saw outside the restaurant was a very ill looking woman curled up on the floor.

Feeling skeptical and scared, I went towards her and saw that she was breathing heavily. Under her breath, I heard her whisper the word, "hospital". I immediately helped her to a position that allowed her to rest her back on the door, then, rushed back inside to get my bag and lock up the restaurant. After calling for a ride, I rushed her to a hospital not so far from Giancarlo. I didn't go home that night. I stayed back to ensure that she was fine. I had never met the woman before but I felt connected to her somehow.

When she woke up the next morning, I was at her side. Her coloring was better, and she was able to tell me what had happened. Apparently, the chairwoman had been robbed. The robbers had shot her driver and pushed them both out of the car, making away with the car and some money. Because they hadn't been far from Giancarlo, the chairwoman had managed to crawl to the restaurant. All this time, however, she didn't mention to me that she owned Giancarlo.

We talked some, and she told me she ran her own company but how was I supposed to know that she was the chairwoman? When the doctor confirmed that she was fine and would be ready to be discharged that evening, I hugged her and asked her to take my leave. For the first time since my father's death, I felt a true connection to an older person. She took down my contact and promised to put a call through to me and I'd been waiting to hear from her since then.

When she walked into Giancarlo today with two bodyguards at her side, I thought she'd come to see me and I ran to say hello. Imagine my shock when Mariah walked up to us and started bowing and sucking up to her. I was even more surprised when all members of staff came out to greet her with reverence.

Call me slow, but I didn't catch up until she told me who she was. Being the most recent employee at Giancarlo, I was the only one who didn't know her. At that moment, I wanted the ground beneath my feet to open up so I could make a quiet exit.

All the while as I narrate the entire story to Hailey, I see her expression go from shock to humor to pity and then again to humor. All of a sudden, she stops laughing and gives me a serious look.

"You have to agree to her offer!" She says gravely and my mouth falls open.