Victoria POV.
"Mom? Dad? What's going on?"
My question hangs in the air, as I continue to watch those strange people in the living room of my house, keeping their countenances full of seriousness. This has turned into something very strange and even scary, I don't see my younger siblings anywhere, and there are so many strange people in my house now... Why is this happening on my birthday?
"Tory, there is something important we need to tell you" My father says to me.
From the tone of his voice, I can tell that the situation is serious indeed, I have rarely heard my father talk like that. So looking curiously at all that crowd of strange people in my house, I walk through the living room to the couch where my parents are, approaching them.
"What's going on?" I ask curiously, focusing my attention on my father.
Entering the conversation, my mother is the one who answers me, telling me: "Tory, there is a situation we were unaware of about your grandfather and about some posthumous documents he left for us."
Cocking my head curiously, I ask: "Posthumous documents?"
My grandfather died... Almost 15 years ago, maybe a little less. He passed away when I was just a little girl and going to preschool, it's been so long since then, and we're just now learning about more documents my grandfather left behind during his lifetime? This is very strange.
Taking a breath, my mother continued speaking: "Your grandfather's intention before he died, was to try to rejoin our family to the company he created so long ago, so together with his great friend Derick Meyer, they both made a legal document to certify an arranged marriage."
"Arranged marriage? Is that still in use now?"
It's kind of funny because I already knew about those kinds of arrangements, indeed, I think we all know about them from history classes. But now we are in a different century, in a different world, arranged marriages are no longer used, now we all have the opportunities to decide the path to take in our lives.
Crossing glances with my mother, my father says, "Today it's not so common in this part of the world... But when this document was signed, when your grandfather was younger, it was still legal. So the document that he left for our family, it's still in effect bequeathing now."
"I'm not understanding..." I say sincerely.
"Your grandfather stipulated in this document, that the heirs of the Mayer family and our family must contract nuptials to rejoin the company when both heirs had reached the legal age of majority".
Putting on a quizzical face, I start to feel a little dizzy. I don't want to sound like a fool, but either because of the fear that is running through me, or simply because I know the answer to those words but don't want to admit it; I pretend that I don't understand their meaning and what my parents are talking about.
Looking very distressed, my father tells me: "Victoria, you are the female heir of our family. According to this document, you are the one who must marry the heir of the Miller family".
Looking ahead immediately, I watch all the strange people sitting there; something that makes my stomach twist. The four visitors sitting in the room are in fancy clothes, those I would rent to go to a gala party or a wedding, and although three of those four visitors are adults, there is one last person that... I wouldn't quite know how to describe him.
He is a man who looks older than me, but not as old as his companions, he has black hair and well-combed, with a cold face of very hard features, with eyes in a tone as dark as his hair and well-shaped cheekbones that make his face very attractive. Just looking at him makes me more nervous, with that neck and those broad shoulders, and that body that I can assure you is well worked in his musculature under that luxury suit he is wearing.
Is that the man I should marry?
"Are you kidding? Of course not!" I refuse in fear.
That's my immediate reaction to knowing what I have to do and what's going on, refusing is the only thing I could do. Well, I don't know yet who the person is that I'm supposed to marry, and even if it's that beautiful man with black hair and such an attractive appearance, I'm obviously going to refuse.
I'm not going to marry a stranger whom I just saw just because of a silly document from my silly grandfather created more than 10 years ago...
"Tory..." My father says, trying to calm me down, realizing that I'm raising my voice.
"Deny it! Break the contract!" I demand, not being able to keep my cool.
Are they trying to force me to get married? Of course not! I won't do it! I have too many dreams and aspirations to settle for just being the wife of a pretty man sitting in my living room. I already have a life planned out that no one will make me change!
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Miss Miller" says one of the male guests in the house, interrupting our conversation.
Turning again to look at the strangers, I watch as one of the adult men stands up, who is also wearing a fancy suit but looks much older than the other guests, even older than my parents; who takes his leather briefcase to pull out some papers from inside.
"Your grandfather and Mr. Derick stipulated that whoever breaks the contract, must pay the opposing family a total sum of one million dollars as compensation" explained that man, handing us a new document.
I feel dizzy for a moment, all this seems so unreal... One million dollars? I don't think that amount of money is possible to obtain in a lifetime for any member of my family, is that the only way out of all this?
I have no way out.
My parents look unsurprised by all this, and with a sad look on their faces, they just receive all the documents handed to them, but neither of them says anything about it. On that same couch, next to my parents, my grandmother is the only one who looks extremely sad, with her eyes lowered and unable to look at my face.
I feel hurt, betrayed, why doesn't anyone in my family say anything? I expected them to refuse, that upon receiving such a crazy proposal like this, my parents and my grandmother would have refused immediately, kicking those people out of my house, protecting me. But my family does nothing, they just stand there silently, unable to look me in the eyes or do anything, managing to disappoint me.
Are they waiting for me to... Accept the proposal?
"Tory..." my mother says, looking me in the eyes.
Disgusted, I immediately refuse: "No... Don't even think about it".
In this way I confirm my suspicions, everything I fear the most, my parents were planning to really ask me to accept the proposal, to agree to get married abandoning all my life and dreams...
"Of course not... I won't do it!" I say furiously.
It is now my father who intervenes, and looking me in the eyes he says: "Tory, please, it is something very important for you and for our family, we only ask you to think about it carefully before making a decision".
What exactly do I have to consider, whether or not to marry a stranger? That's not up for discussion, it's not something I have to reason about.
"No, I won't. And this is the last thing I plan to say about this nonsense" I flatly refuse.
I can't stand to be there anymore, with such unpleasant strangers, and with how disappointed I feel in my parents. So wiping some tears from my face, without saying anything else, I turn on my heels and quickly leave my living room, walking to the stairs to go to my room.
"If you change your mind, just go to the main offices of the 'MedM' company and look for the legal department..." I hear a calm but very stern voice say behind me.
For an instant, I turn to see who had spoken. But I'm already in the main hallway on the first floor, so I can no longer see inside the room or who spoke to say those words. But honestly... I don't really care now, I'm too tired and overwhelmed by this whole strange situation. So hurrying to walk to the stairs of my house, I quickly climb them to get to my room, where I lock the door and finally stay alone, finally being able to burst into tears...
Victoria POV.This all seemed like a bad nightmare. Lying on my bed, while hugging one of my pillows, I couldn't stop crying. How could this all have ended this way? I was supposed to have a nice dinner at home today, surrounded by the people I love, with my parents, my grandmother, and my siblings. But instead, I just have... A horrible obligation.So even denying myself to this truth, to what is happening to me, in my head I keep praying that this is just a bad dream, that from one moment to the next I will wake up in my bed, starting my birthday all over again, where I would just have to laugh at my silly dreams and have the 18th birthday I always wished for.But as I keep crying and the minutes go by, I don't wake up from this "nightmare".I don't know how much time passes, but after a very good while, soft knocks are heard at the door of my room. After leaving the meeting with those unknown people in my living room, I ran to my room, where I locked m
Victoria POV. Sighing, I look at my closet not knowing quite what to do. I was feeling extremely exhausted, because I had stayed up all night, crying and thinking about what was going on in my life, with the whole thing with my birthday ruined and my marriage arranged. It's not the first time I've stayed up all night, I've done it before for school when there are exams or I have an important project, but last night was different, as I didn't stay up working or studying, I stayed up crying and lamenting about my horrible life all night. I couldn't say that I had already decided what I was going to do, in a way I felt in the middle of a big predicament. My family is not doing well financially, but that doesn't mean that I practically have to prostitute myself to get a little more money for them, we are not that destitute. However... Not just for getting my grandfather's company back, but also for my brothers, I was beginning to consider it. I mean, you just hav
Dominik POV.Very attentive, I was going through some of the documents that were left for me this morning. They were not very important documents as work has been pretty quiet these past few weeks, however, I prefer to give them a look now that I have more time, because I don't want the work to pile up for me when it is already the deadline to send in the revisions.As usual, I review the documents that talk about the sales of the new drugs that we bring to the public with the pharmaceutical area of the company, something that was beginning to be worrying, because it generated losses, at least in these first two months since its launch. In my company it is not very common to see losses, we have very competent professionals, so everything we bring to the market has a good use for us, making us one of the most prosperous companies in recent years. But I personally believe that the pharmaceutical division of the company is our weakest part, as it does not generate good sa
Victoria POVI felt like I might faint soon because I was so nervous. When I was finally allowed to go see Dominik, the CEO of this huge company, by getting on that big, luxurious elevator that took me up so many floors, I really thought I was going to faint. The emotions were too strong for me, and I was still unprepared for the unknown, fearing what I might find when I got to Dominik's office.When the elevator finally finished going up, in the middle of long seconds, I realized with surprise that I had reached the top floor of the tower, did Dominik have his office here? As I arrived, just outside the elevator, I was met by a stunning but friendly woman. I think she is Dominik's receptionist, but she really looks like a model, with a slender and well-proportioned body, wearing a beautiful light pink dress that clings to her body.Next to this beautiful woman, dressed in my most "elegant" clothes, which were just rags compared to her dress, I couldn't help but
Victoria POV.After leaving Dominik's office, I feel incredibly relieved, as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Closing the door by myself, I walk back to the elevator by which I had gotten here, remembering the way well. Lisa, Dominik's kind and beautiful receptionist offers to take me to the elevator, but I refuse, as I'm not so dumb as to not remember how to get there. So I just say goodbye and thank her for her kindness and help, continuing on my way to the elevator.My meeting with Dominik had been very quick, stupidly quick if I have to be honest. Since I had hoped that when we both met, we could talk at length about the matter of our engagement and what it entailed for us, but Dominik didn't seem interested, and ended the matter rather quickly as if he didn't care; which is irritating but reassuring at the same time.Reaching the elevator, I press the button to call it up to the floor I'm on, while still thinking about everything that happ
Dominik POV.A month passed since I signed the document that obligated me to marry Victoria Miller, and now we are less than two weeks away from our wedding.Just as I promised her, shortly after we signed the contract in my office that same night, I took care of making it legal with my lawyer, and when we finished the process of the stamps and legal validation for the document, I had her copy with all the signatures and stamps delivered to Victoria's house, along with a wedding ring that my assistant bought for her.I didn't want to give her the ring, it seemed like a silly waste of money because the contract that obligated us to get married didn't stipulate anything about a ring or any of that nonsense. But Lisa insisted, pointing out to me how important those silly details are for some women, and that even if I don't love Victoria, I should try to make her happy to have a healthy coexistence by her side when we both get married. So since Lisa insisted so much
Dominik POVAmid my mother's hateful and insistent complaints, which were about to drive me crazy, we made our way back from the outskirts of the city where my family's mansion is located to the city again where on this occasion we headed to the hall where my wedding was to take place.Thanks to the planning of the wedding planners I hired and the efforts of my mother, we had everything almost completely finished organizing, however before we could finish everything, we had to talk and finally confirm everything with Victoria's family, so we only needed to talk to them to finish everything that was left. We had already booked the date of January 4th to have the religious ceremony in one of the biggest and most colorful churches in the city, while the party would take place in the best event hall we could find for the same date, in an auditorium that belonged to a five-star hotel.We couldn't meet at the church, so we decided to have the meeting at the hotel hall
Victoria POV."Why did you do that?" my mother asks me upset, as we walk out of that fancy hotel together to go home.I didn't want to make a fuss right there, not with Dominik and his mother so close still, but my mother was very upset and scared, walking next to me to scold me for what happened at the meeting."Tory, listen to me, I'm asking you, how do you plan on buying those rings, we don't have enough money to afford something like that!" my mother says to me."It's just that I... I'm fed up" I answer truthfully, "Did you see the way she treated us? I couldn't stand her treating us that way, no more..."Stopping my advance through the entrance of that hotel by taking me by one arm, my mother tells me: "Victoria, you can't do this, you can't do something like this to us, we can't buy those rings, we can't afford that money.""I know, believe me I know, even better than you, it's not for nothing I'm marrying Dominik, I'm doing it because