Chapter One
"Rosalie, you should be ashamed of yourself. Mr. McAllister has taken out a little time to have dinner with you and you are still lazing around? Get ready, now. His chauffeur will arrive in 10 minutes to pick you up," yelled Mrs. Jennifer Edwards, Rosalie's mom.
Rosalie hated this life. She hated her parents for forcing her into this. Now when she had completed her degree in Agricultural Practices and Research and got a good job at Go Organic, an organic farm in Houston, her life was finished.
Her father Gregory Edwards, got her forcefully engaged to his employer Mr. Allen McAllister, who was 11 years older than her. From the time her father joined his firm McAllister and Sons as a financial advisor, Mr. McAllister had his eyes on her. He tried to approach her in many ways but she hated him. He was an average looking man above six feet tall. His first wife had left him ten years back and remarried. His 11 year old son hated Rosalie but still Mr. McAllister wanted her. He was too busy to spend time at home with his son and needed a wife. Being a billionaire, he had lots of power and offered a lump sum money to her father in return for her hand in marriage.
Her parents took the money for educating her two brothers, Ryan and Ryder who were six years younger to her. They wanted to go into engineering and her dad wanted to fulfil their dreams. No one cared about her dreams, her happiness. Her parents thought that marrying a billionaire was everything that a girl could wish for.
She was different. She valued feelings more than money. She stared at her ceiling and sighed. It had been 9 long years since she'd lost the love of her life. She sighed deeply. Maybe he had moved on. Maybe he had married. Surely he had forgotten her.
Her father's one mistake cost them their freedom, their happiness. Her father earned some money illegally from a client and they all had to leave Travis Springs forever and hide for a year at a small village near Dallas. After a year when everything died down they settled in Houston and started afresh. Her dad got a job and they survived. When Mr. McAllister found out about her father's past activities, he started threatening her father. He threatened that he would have her father arrested if her dad didn't let him marry Rosalie. So here she was, trying to please her future husband.
Rosalie dragged herself up from her bed, saved her work and shut her laptop down. She had a presentation tomorrow to promote Go Organic at a conference but for now that had to take a backseat. She had to get ready for dinner with her future husband. Grimacing at the thought she got up and chose a simple back dress and went to her en-suite for a shower.
Mr McAllister's chauffeur appeared fifteen minutes later to drive her to the restaurant where he was waiting for her. Reluctantly Rosalie got into the BMW and left for the place. In 25 minutes, she was dropped in front of an upscale, five-star fine dining restaurant in one of the poshest neighbourhoods of Houston.
She went inside and the maître d'hôtel led her to a corner table which was reserved for them. Mr. McAllister hadn't arrived yet, so she sat playing with her mobile unaware of a pair of hazel eyes watching her every move from a table at the far end of the restaurant.
She waited for thirty minutes, looking like a fool, sitting all alone, waiting when she looked up and scanned the front entrance. If he didn't appear in another ten minutes, she would leave. Her eyes fell upon a pair of hazel eyes staring at her.
Rosalie froze. What was he doing here? Was he a figment of her imagination or was he really sitting here and watching her? She looked down and pinched herself.
"Ow," she said silently when the pinch really hurt. So she wasn't dreaming. Looking up to where she saw Jaden Meyers, her first and only love, she was perplexed to find the seat empty.
Was she dreaming? Maybe. She sighed and waited, frustrated as ever. An SMS alert on her mobile, brought her attention to her mobile phone.
Looking down she saw a message from Mr. McAllister,
Couldn't make it to dinner tonight. I'm stuck in a meeting. Will see you tomorrow evening at your house. Inconvenience regretted.
Allen
She stared at the message. Who writes like that to one's fiancée? It seemed like a formal cancellation of dinner. She seethed with suppressed anger. He could have informed beforehand instead of making her wait for 45 minutes, looking like a fool.
She got up and walked out of the restaurant. Mr. McAllister's chauffeur hurried to fetch the car but she simply walked out to the streets. As she stood, seething, staring at her mobile to book an uber, a husky familiar voice which she missed so much spoke, "Why are you marrying him?"
Startled out of her wits, she looked up into the hazel eyes of the one and only Jaden Meyers. So he hadn't imagined him. He was really here. He had grown devilishly handsome since she last saw him. His hair was a bit longer but it suited him. He had grown much taller, his body had nicely filled up with muscles.
"J Jaden?" She stammered, not able to believe her eyes. How did he find her? Was it a coincidence?
"Yes Rosie, it's me. Why are you marrying him?" He asked again. He saw that she had been waiting for her fiancé who had ditched her.
"I l like h him," she lied, looking down into her hands. "Wait, how do you know about my marriage?" She asked, confused.
"I know everything about you. I've been following you around for the last three years," he said with a forlorn look. He wasn't the reckless, defiant, bold type of a person. He was quiet, reserved and sensitive. He couldn't do what Xavion did to snatch Juliette but he would try his level best to get his girl.
Rosalie stared at him with her jaws dropped. He followed her around? Why?
"Why?" She asked.
"Because I still love you. I haven't moved on Rosie. Be mine. Forget this marriage," he said with deep suppressed emotions.
"It can't happen Jaden. Forget me. My dad had fixed my marriage, six years back to Mr. McAllister. I'm his fiancée now," she said, bitterly.
"Why can't it happen? Do you love him?" He asked, looking seriously pissed off.
"It's not that, just leave it," she said, turning to leave.
Jaden caught her wrist. "No, I can't leave it. Tell me why you can't break off the marriage?" He asked stubbornly. He had to know why she was marrying a man 11 years older without being in love with him. A man who treated her like shit, who didn't care about her.
"Jaden, I told you it can't happen. So please don't disturb me," she said, trying to extricate her wrist.
"I won't leave you till you tell me. Do you love him?" He insisted.
"No. My dad sold me to him. You won't understand, so just leave it," she said and ran to a waiting cab and sped off, leaving an astounded Jaden standing on the streets.
How could her dad sell her? In this age such a thing was a crime. Would he give his love up? No, he would find out exactly what the deal was between her dad and Mr. McAllister.
He had to save Rosalie. He would make her his. He loved her, Mr. McAllister didn't. He cherished her, Mr. McAllister didn't. So he had a right to be with her, Mr. McAllister didn't.
