'That woman was right there, in my store'. Lucian kept on with the inspection like she wasn't there. One of the employees had no idea he bosses boss was present. The employee kept touching jewelry sets and taking pictures.
'Fired', they both ordered at the same time, they all shifted their gaze, wondering who the h*ll was that. Lucian quickened his pace and left this store, causing all others to move as well.
After uttering 'fired' a dozen more times, Lucian finally satisfied himself. He left straight for the airport. Adamantia on the other hand, headed for the hotel after filling her hands with shopping bags.
At the hotel,
Adamantia had a feast laid in front of her, in her hotel room, after having her fill, she proceeded to business. A few minutes later,
'Name- Cane James, Age- 22, Height- 5ft 7inches, occupation- secretary, hobbies- none, status- single, favorite food- none....', 'that's enough, thank you Zoe', Adamantia cut in.
'I have no business with his secretary whatsoever Zoe, I asked for his background not his secretary's'. Adamantia spoke while twirling her wine glass. 'He did the exact same thing we did ma'am and logged in with his secretary's name, there wasn't much I could do....' Zoe spoke, embarrassed. Adamantia waved her of telling her to leave. 'Who was this guy exactly?'.
Lucian on the other hand, was leaning his back with his eyes closed.'Age-25, Name- Zoe McNair, Occupation- secretary, Nationality- citizen of country A.....' Lucian opened his eyes, sensing his unsatisfaction, Cane rushed to explain,' They did the exact same thing we did sir president, a few more days sirs and you will get all you need' Cane tried his best to appear calm, even though he was trembling inside. 'Hmm, two days' Lucian closed his eyes after speaking.
City Z,
Adamantia was ready to crash into her bed, when, buzzz....buzzz....buzzz.'ugh, What is it Zoe?', are annoyed voice rang through the phone. 'President ma'am, you have a dinner meeting scheduled for 6pm to night with the president of ML Holdings', Zoe spoke with clarity.
'I have a meeting but I wasn't informed, Zoe?'. 'ML Holdings currently ranks first in the supply market President ma'am, their president insisted he meet you in person, president ma'am'. 'Hmmm' and the call came to and end. Adamantia slept anyways, it was still 2pm.
4pm,
Anna walked into the room with a cup of tea, surprised to see her asleep. 'Ma'am, tap....tap..tap..tap, ma'am', no response. Anne picked up a pillow and hit the the blank space right beside Adamantia, that woke her up alright.
A few minutes later, after having her bath. Adamantia was at her vanity getting her hair done by Anne. 'Should I go with feisty or domineering, Anne?', Adamantia suddenly spoke out of nowhere. Anne chuckled at her words. 'Are you meeting a man or woman ma'am?, a woman would feel intimidated by a feisty outfit,therefore angering her,a man on the other hand will be interested'. After getting her answer, Adamantia responded the best way she could, 'hmmm'.
On the sixteenth floor of Zeus building, the best Chinese restaurant in the city resided. Wondering what man had such guts to commmand her presence, Adamantia headed straight for the sixteenth floor.
Lucian arrived at the restaurant, 6pm on the dot, while Adamantia arrived 10 minutes earlier, they both had their habits. Lucian was gobsmacked, this woman actually looked good in her grey over coat, white shirt and black pants. Seeing the look on his face, Adamantia smiled with satisfaction, her aim was to give off a ' I am not trying to hard kind of vibe', while looking good at the same time.
Lucian had his seat, 'so she wasn't a hooker, she was the real thing huh?'. Adamantia had no idea what he was thinking but what she interpreted his look as was 'she looks to good to be real'.
'No wonder you were so cocky since we met, you are pretty loaded too', Adamantia was ready to start a conversation when Lucian brought out his ipad and a portfolio. It was clearly a sign he was here for business, Adamantia wasn't that unserious either.
After two hours of talking business, they agreed to sign the contract and have it processed the next day. Adamantia was about to leave when Lucian said to stay for a glass of wine, she was surprised he knew how to pronounce words that had nothing to do with business.
'You own the largest enterprise in this country, second to mine of course. I won't argue you are the best in clothing and design, but nothing else. You are 29 years old, an orphan and the empress of an empire. I on the other hand is the emperor of an empire'. That was the most words she had ever had him say in her life.
'And your point exactly Mr Lucian Macquinn?'. Adamantia had done her homework as well, she knew his age, background, Height, even to how much air he breaths a day, she knew it all.
Lucian hummed with satisfaction, if this woman was to be his side, she had to be competent.
Not caring about whatever he was humming about, Adamantia settled and was half way through her steak when Lucian made her choke on her steak with his next sentence.
'Marry me' , Adamantia looked up to guess whether he was joking or not, but his face was as hard as stone. 'Cough..... cough... cough'. Lucian was getting irritated really fast, he dropped a contract on the table and stood up to leave.
Adamantia was left behind simply gobsmacked. After five minutes of getting herself together, she stood up and waved at the waiter, asking for the bill, turned out the rude guy already paid. After tipping the waiter she took her leave.
The next day,
Zoe walked in to the office, Adamantia was behind her disk looking busier than ever. After Zoe placed a distraction on her desk and left, Adamantia lost all her concentration , who in the world would send this to her, she could think of one person and one person only.
On her desk right there and then were anemones with a blend of red roses, it looked oddly pleasant. Adamantia thought about how red roses represented respect while anemones on the other hand represented expectancy.
She picked up the roses and found a note, expecting sweet words she picked the note. Her smile dropped immediately, all the note said was 'sign the contract'. She could imagine his cold voice saying those words.
At exactly 2pm, she received two hot meals. One of the meals from miss Anne and the other from Lucian. The meal from Lucian had a note, 'I don't like skinny women'. What the h*ll was he trying to say, she was society's standard size, she worked hard for this shape and he dared to call her skinny.
After eating the meal miss Anne sent, Adamantia gave herself a break and made time to go through the contract that rude guy sent her. She didn't know why she even bothered to check it, but then the thought of getting married to a rich guy wasn't such a bad idea.
The more she went through the contract terms the deeper the frown on her face got. The first term about how they had to join their companies together made her happy. After all who wouldn't want to join hands with someone powerful.
The second term however didn't make her as happy as the first one. It stated that had to live together permanently. She got the fact that the were meant to be married, but a contract was still a contract,why would they need to live together ?. She simply found that term to be void.
The next term almost made her choke on nothing at all. Living together wasn't the only issue she 'they' had to visit his family three times a week. First of all she didn't expect him to be a loyal family man kind of person, secondly there was no way she was acting three times a week, If she had to do this he might as well pay her and make her an actress.
The most significant term of all made her fling the contract with so much force if it was metal it would have pierced through the wall. It stated she had to make an 'heir', what exactly did he take her for, a baby factory?. It stated in clause that they could have a surrogate if it was uncomfortable for her to have a baby with him.
On the last page of the contract, his number was stated so she could call him when she was ready to sign the contract. Adamantia dialed her phone angrily, almost cracking it's screen.
Lucian was on his break as well, he didn't sleep at all last night and relied on coffee to keep him awake, while staring at the view from his office window, Lucian got a call, that left him speechless.
'Are you crazy!!!, do I even need to ask, you are crazy!!!'.