"Remember, never let them get the upper hand unless they hold a life-threatening secret, understand?"
"Yes grandma," I nod for the millionth time as we stand by her G-wagon.
She beams at me, her eyes shifting for a moment as she clasps my face. "I'm glad leaving you to face the reality of the world made you wise enough to be able to make bold choices."
I blink. "What do you..."
"I'm a human too, Leilani. I feel pity, love, care, every other emotion out there, but my stubbornness always wins in my decision-making. If I weren't stubborn I wouldn't have survived in this industry with all the men undermining me. That's why I had to fight myself from taking you away after Alora tried committing suicide. I spoiled her when she was a kid and look where that led her. I had to let you experience reality a little before finally reaching out to you."
"For 22 years?" I ask before I can stop myself.
Grandma shuts her eyes as if my question is paining her.
"And what kind of reaching out needs you to put me in such a tight spot as getting married in a week?"
Patting my cheek, Grandma turns her back on me. "Get ready for a date tomorrow. I like strong women who can handle any challenge for business partners instead of ones who complain a lot. Good luck."
One of the guards shuts the door before rounding the car to the driver's seat. This time it's the black dude who speaks to me. "I'll be here by 1PM. Please be ready by then."
Bass voice coarser than any I've heard before, he could literally make an entire room of men bow to him just by greeting them. And don't get me started on his face. He's Hollywood material, made worse with the vitiligo forming a star by his left eye that looks like a scar from battle.
I'll name him Mr hot scar
"Yes sir," I reply before he turns to get in the car and they drive off into the car lift.
I'm left standing in the garage hugging myself. So this just happened. I finally have a chance to escape this house now, better yet, have control over the people who made my life a living hell. I don't know who's spinning the threads of my fate right now but I love whatever Cinderella shit they pulled on me.
Only, will my blind dates list have that one Mr. Perfect who'll agree to marry me without making my life a living hell?
Ugh! What am I doing thinking about something I'll deal with tomorrow? I just have to make sure everything is in order. Starting with research on blind dates. Also...the envelope. Right. I need to keep that safe before Amelia tears it again.
Immediately after the thought crosses my mind I rush out of the garage, heading into the dining room in a flash. I'm not surprised to see all three of my family members glaring at me when I step inside. Not that I care about them at this moment.
"Ah, there you are," I mumble to myself, taking the envelope and hugging it with a toothy grin. "Finally, my time comes."
Amelia scoffs. "You think you can find someone who wants to marry you in a week? Rich men don't fall into marriages just because you asked them honey, and I'm sure Noah doesn't want anything to do with you anymore. I heard you threatened him with a taser gun."
My heart thuds in my chest at Amelia's confession. "So you did plot to have Noah break up with me..."
She picks up her coffee mug, taking a sip as her lips twitch up into a small smile, but I notice it either way.
"Did you do what she just said, Amelia?" Dad asks, glaring at her.
Look at him being sober before she gives him the look again. I roll my eyes at him, not letting my heart waver at the sight of him backing me up.
"Stay out of this Dad," I tell him before placing my hand on the table, pointedly looking at the mother-daughter duo. "You probably don't know since you've never let me go to work but I'm good at persuasion. Otherwise, I wouldn't have graduated at the top of my class and received offers from five-star restaurants before you twerked up my records or whatever."
"And what's that got to do with finding a husband?" Briana chuckles, forgetting the way she was looking pitiful a while ago.
I stand up straight smiling at her. "You'll see how it works soon, hun. Not that I expect an idiot like you to understand," I retort and she looks at her mother, clearly waiting for backup.
Coward.
"So you're going to the blind dates then?" Dad mumbles looking at me.
"What'd you expect? That I reject my only chance at freedom and live in this shit hole where you're your wife's puppet all the way to hell?"
"Look at her getting bold just because she got an offer," Amelia sneers.
"Everyone gets bold when they get better things to look forward to mother. I mean, you got bold the moment you married a man with my mother's shares as his main income stream."
Amelia hits the table and stands. "I won't tolerate you talking to me like I'm one of your bitchy friends."
I smirk at her enjoying provoking her a little too much. "And what are you gonna do? Hit me? Mind you my grandma is one call away from coming back here. She did say I can call her if you become an inconvenience didn't she?" I shake my phone in my face just so she knows I'm not joking.
That manages to shut her up and I laugh. Hard. A villainous cackle coming from the depths of my soul from all these years I've suppressed myself. Finally, I get to watch them be at my mercy. I have to remind myself I've not yet attained grandma's shares to be this happy which makes me stop cackling.
But do I chill? No.
Smiling, I turn around and head over to the stairs. "Make sure you all stay out of my way for the coming weeks. You wouldn't want me telling Maria you were the masterminds behind Noah cheating on me now would you?"
When I finally lock myself in my room a few minutes later however, I flop into my bed, reality slamming me hard like a brick to the face after the adrenaline in my body has subsided. How the fuck am I supposed to convince a blind date I want to get married in a week and a half without scaring them off or sounding like I'm a gold digger?
"Ugh! So annoying!"
Sitting up, I glance at the envelope in my hand one last time before placing it on my bedside table.
"Whatever, let's go to the gym!" I yell out, standing and heading over into my walk-in closet before picking a purple gym set. That's right, for now, I burn the stress away with exercise.
Tomorrow we'll handle the rest at the blind date.
Please let the men be hot as fuck, emotionally intelligent, tall, smell good, whatever makes for a perfect man in the eyes of the average woman. At least I'll get tormented by a hot devil, if he even agrees to marry me that is.
Fuck my life. It's got too much drama in it for someone who's gonna end up dying anyway.