Prologue

Prologue

The pain in her head was miserable. Sophia had difficulty even in opening her eyes. But when finally she did, a chord struck in her throat.

A very handsome man was sleeping beside her in his half naked glory with his head ducked to the pillow.

Alarm leaped like a hurricane in her head. How did she end up with an unknown man in her bed? Oh wait! This was not her home. The place looked eerily quiet and was way too costly than hers. It screamed power and money.

Sophia panicked. She was not drunk nor on drugs. How come she has no memory of her past?

She carefully slipped away from under the covers. But it was too late. The man beside her had already woken up. “Who are you? Why are you in my bed?” Sophia squealed in worry.

Much against her expectation the guy was very much composed. He signaled to the ring on her finger and opened the drawer beside him before throwing the marriage testament on her face. “We are married. You are my wife now. Be ready to welcome the life of thorns.”

“What?”

Chapter 1

He slipped away the covers covering his muscled body with a simple flex and walked to the washroom attached to the room, completely nude with not even a trace of reticence.

Sophia did not know till then she was holding her breath. Her shivering hands reached the mobile beside the bed on the side table before she dialed her father. 

Lawrence Brown was spontaneous attending to his daughter on the second ring. Before she could speak he started, “I'm sorry princess. Whatever happened, please consider it as a part of destiny. It was unavoidable. We needed to save our company. Saul Campbell was the most prosperous investor who had applied for our company shares. And I had to accept his offer to save our business.”

Sophia was shocked by the act of her father. “What do you mean? Dad! Did you just sell me to an alien without my knowledge by drugging me to save our company?”

Lawrence was about to speak but before he could do so, Sophia cut the call. Saul walked out of the washroom with his towel hanging low and water droplets passing through his sturdy sternum. He was surely a man to impress. “Get ready within half an hour. You don't have the time to gawk at me like a bloody hawk. We need to sign the contract. The lawyer is waiting downstairs.”

“What contract?” Sophia was perturbed, was an understatement. But before she could finish her sentence the door closed with a bang.

The bath took more than the time planned for it because the tears in the eyes of Sophia wouldn't dry up! She felt her entire life shattered just within a fortnight. Who is this man?

Ten minutes later Sophia walked down the stairs in a sky blue floral gown which was placed on the bed after she came out of the shower. Her eyes were red but she did little to cover the sorrow leaping out of them.

“Good Morning ma'am, I'm Peter Scotland, the lawyer of Waratah Vineyards. Here is your marriage contract with Saul Campbell. Please read it and sign the contract.” He shook hands with Sophia and handed the document to her.

Saul was comfortably seated in the executive couch before her. He was sipping his morning coffee, guarding her emotions carefully. “You have no excuse but to sign it. Otherwise I withdraw my shares in your family company and your firm will be sealed. I think you are smart enough to save that humiliation. Your creditors are already waiting on when that happens so that they could get their share from the bank for the firm’s insolvency.”

Thankfully her brain was still functioning. “Why would you want to buy a company which is on the verge of insolvency? Waratah Vineyards is a big name.”

Saul extended his hands on the couch’s backrest and with one leg above the other in all his ascendency like a king. He looked at Sophia with contempt as if she was some old piece of rag. “Because taking over seemingly white elephants, studying the mysterious gains hidden in them from the world is my profession and is what is called smart business.”

“I will never allow you to take over my company.” Sophia yelled angrily but Saul was not the person to get his hackles rise over petty issues.

He shrugged and pointed to the document in her hands. “Sign it. I don't have all day to argue with you.”

“The contract says that Sophia Brown will be the lawfully wedded wife of Saul Campbell for the next two years. After the expiry of the term both the individuals have the choice to continue on the marriage or opt out. But as long as the wedding is alive, Sophia can't be in a relationship with anybody or have sex.” The lawyer stated the contents in the document to Sophia.

“Why is the condition only for me and not him?” She asked the lawyer?

“Why do you want to marry me? You could have simply bought the shares of my company.” Sophia wanted clarity about her wedding.

Saul allowed his head back and left a loud conceited laugh. “Because killing is single time suffering for the person you hate. But if you marry, every day is a living hell!” 

“What?” Sophia's face turned pale with uncensored fright in her eyes. “Why do you hate me so much? We did not even meet each other before.”

Before she could realize she felt a sharp sting on her cheek and the composed man before her till moments ago was like a ferocious monster with vile in his cool blue eyes.

No words were found in her brain and neither were they required. She was clueless about his unlimited hatred for her and the man before her wouldn’t give away any reason. Sophia’s hands shook with shiver while she signed the contract and ran back through the stairs to her room crying.

He just married her out of vengeance. But why?