Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ novel Chapter 3

Monique and Marco saved my life again, taking care of the cleaning and bringing the order upstairs in a brand-new un-messed-up version. Certainly not that any of them would ever let me forget what had happened. Glancing at the upper floor, I could see that with me gone, Mr. Lan acted composedly-slash-indifferently or even politely! What the hell was his problem anyway?!

 

I stayed put behind the counter, waiting for all three businessmen to leave. I treated it like my personal bunker, keeping me safe from any nuclear reaction that this black-haired man could induce within me. I could breathe again only when the door closed behind him. I crawled out of my hiding place and started wiping the tables, preparing them for another tourist attack.

 

Monique walked over to me with a mischievous smirk. “Here,” she said, giving me a hundred-dollar bill.

 

“What’s this?” I asked, dumbfounded.

 

“Mr. Lan said that I should give you this. He said that you should buy yourself some good ointment for the hand you burned.”

 

That son of a… He was bringing out the worst in me! How dare he trade “I’m sorry” for a hundred-dollar bill?! I crushed the bill in my hand and rushed towards the door.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Monique grabbed my hand before I reached the door handle.

 

“I’m going to find him, and shoved that money deep into his freaking mouth so he can choke!” I roared.

 

“Are you crazy, or do you have a death wish?” Marco cut in, pulling me away from the door. “First of all, don’t treat money this way. What has this poor Benjamin Franklin ever done to you? Second, it’s more than 5% of your rent, and the hell I’m going to let you throw it away; you deserved it, hon! And third of all…” he paused to take a deep breath, looking straight into my eyes, “you don’t want to mess with a guy that owns half of New York.”

 

“I don’t care who he is! Do you think he should be able to get away with anything just because he has money?!” I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest.

 

Marco sighed and stroked my head. “Why do you hate money so much?”

 

“I don’t hate money, I just hate people who have a lot of it.” I shrugged.

 

The truth was that I would love to have money. I loved money; it just didn’t love me in return. Money could solve at least 90% of my problems. I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for my Grandma’s next medical procedure. I wouldn’t have to worry about paying my rent, and maybe I could even get back to Oxford and finish my studies. I used to see those issues differently when I was still on my full scholarship. The rest of my living expenses were covered by the inheritance I received when my Grandpa died. He wanted me to get the best education I could get, and I respected his wishes… Everything changed when my Grandma was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Her health insurance could barely cover the most standard treatment, which was far from enough to improve her condition. I had no other choice… I took a semester off to find the best treatment for my Grandma. I found it in New York, but it was a private and expensive clinic, and there was no way that the insurance would cover the costs.

 

I went to every kind of bank, hoping to get a loan, but I was a student without a job or working experience. My request was rejected every time. After I had exhausted every other option, I ended up asking my boyfriend for financial help. I knew that he was from a wealthy family, and I knew that I could pay him back quickly. I believed that as soon as I’d graduated, I’d start earning big money. I was confident because I had already gotten a few lucrative job offers. All I needed to do was to get the degree. I had only two semesters left…

 

You can imagine how shocked I was when my boyfriend called me a beggar and a leech once I asked him to help my Grandma. It was the most painful slap in the face I had ever received from someone I loved. I had never been so humiliated in my whole life. His heartless outburst equaled the end of our three-year relationship. Easy to say that he was my greatest reason for developing rich-man-phobia. Some would say that I was prejudiced, and I knew I was. I wasn’t an idiot. Inside my head, I created an image where every single rich guy was cold, arrogant, and rotten to the bone, but, sadly, after over two years of working next to the richest of Manhattan, I was yet to be proven wrong. Mr. Lan sure as hell wasn’t the exception to the rule I’d made. And speaking of the devil…

 

“Marco… do you know this Lan guy?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

 

Marco chuckled and went to get his phone from behind the counter. “This is him.” He pointed at his iPhone’s screen.

 

Monique looked at the post he found, and she read it aloud. “Aren Lan, a 32-year-old billionaire, owner of the Lan Diamond Corporation and Lan Industries…”

 

“Aren Lan…” I repeated softly, glancing at his picture in some article.