CHAPTER THREE

I watched as my assistant made his way through the flight of stairs. He reached for the door handle, letting me step out of the car.

"Good morning, sir."

"Shoot." That was my response to his greeting. And almost immediately he began talking.

"The Chairman of West World Suite will be meeting with you by 12PM prompt. Precisely by 10:30 AM, today, the contract with H.M. holdings will have been signed."

"Are there any other morning schedules?"

"No sir."

"Good. Get the board members ready. We're having a meeting now," I said as I climbed the stairs leading to the entrance of the building.

I turned the revolving door and was greeted with a number of stares and of course, greetings from most probably my employees. Not even acknowledging their presence, I walked to the elevator.

My office was exactly the way it had been when I left the week before. I hadn't been at work since Wednesday—though I had always been in touch with my assistant—all thanks to the dumb family reunion I unfortunately had been part of.

I walked into the conference room which was partitioned from my office by a glass wall.

"Let's get this over with," I announced.

"Anything else?" I asked my PA.

"Mr. DiCaprio has suggested that the floor plan for the proposed project be looked into once again."

"And why's that?" I asked, getting distraught. "The entire blueprint has undergone enough scrutiny. It's time to get things going."

"Noted."

"And the summit, how far gone are you with the preparations?"

"There isn't much left to be done, sir, except that we are yet to select a hotel for you since you stated your displeasure on the conference suite."

"Yes. I'd need a different suite. But be sure it's close by."

"Yes sir."

"See that everything runs smoothly while I'm away," I said.

"Understood."

"Send my driver to drop the car." I motioned him to leave. And almost immediately, the telephone rang.

"Mr. Sanchester is here to see you, sir," came the feminine voice.

"Let him in."

A few seconds later, the door opened to a young man in grey tuxedo. He strode in, wearing a questioning look and then sat across me.

"Your loyal receptionist wouldn't let me in and I'd to wait for sixty awesome minutes," he said as he unbuttoned his suit jacket.

"My apologies. I had a lot on my way." I pinched my nose bridge, my eyes closed.

"Rough day, huh."

He kept mute for some time. I guessed he was staring at me or had picked up a magazine, as he usually did. I was on the verge of zoning out when he spoke.

"Hey, how was your trip to OZ?"

"You know, the usual," I said without enthusiasm.

"By 'the usual', you mean it was uneventful?" he asked in surprise.

"Well if you call an attendance to a ridiculous family get together where I have not an iota of idea why I'm present, visiting relatives I never knew existed or being constantly reminded of my status, an uneventful trip...then yes...the whole thing was a flop."

Steve slowly blinked twice before bursting into laughter. I stared blankly as tears streamed from his eyes. His face had become a pop of colour and the artery on his temple became visible.

"You've a poor sense of humour, I must say." I finally spoke when the fit of laughter had died.

"I'm sorry, mate." He dabbed his eyes with a hankie. "I mean, you should've seen your face as you said that."

"Ah, forget it," I muttered.

He chuckled a bit before straightening up.

"Wait, you talked about being queried about your status." He looked serious this time.

"Yes."

"What am I missing?"

I was silent, contemplating on whether to spill the beans or not. The whole thing had come as a shock to me and still was. There was no point hiding it from Steve– he'd learn about it sooner or later.

"I've been given the ultimatum...to get married," I uttered.

"Ultimatum?" He asked, puzzled.

I couldn't believe it myself. It appeared as though the whole point of my trip home was to see to it that I tied the knot. My mother had been acting all strange the night I arrived: being disturbed that I'd come alone, without any lady, and the muffled tone she'd used when talking with my father.

During my nephews' christening, which was the sole purpose of the family meeting, a number of ladies were in attendance. And by ladies, I meant young, slender, attractive ladies. At first, I was proud of myself for drawing their attention: my bed was definitely going to be anything but cold. Every night I'd spend was going to be a whole new adventure.

However, I was turned off as virtually every lady I wooed hinted at settling down. I had this phobia—or would I call it weakness—about long term relationships, not to talk of actually staying married. All that was going to change.

I couldn't forget the glint in my father's eyes as he said those words...the life threatening words to me.

"You'll have to settle down, son." Even the word 'son' didn't make him sound less stern. "You are not getting young."

"I'm only 33, Dad."

"Enough of that mumbo jumbo! You go get yourself a wife or forfeit your share of the family's business."

Forfeit my share of the family's business? Hell naw. I'd never let that happen. It was true that I had succeeded in building an architectural empire of my own—of which I was greatly proud of—but, I was also involved in managing my family's hotel business. Letting go was going to be lethal for me.

The idea of getting married hadn't yet settled in me, no matter how hard I tried. And that wasn't to say that I found women distasteful. As a matter of fact they were the icing on the cake; I just needed them when my hormones tried to betray me or when I felt lonely. I had never been in any serious relationship and never imagined being in one.

No, I wasn't ready to lose my fortune to any gold digging slut. However, the story had changed. Hadn't it?

"I've been asked to get married as soon as possible." I didn't inform Steve of the threatening part. I couldn't risk doing so.

He mouthed a wow before speaking. "So, whatcha gonna do?"

I stroked my chin for a moment, feeling the brush of hair against my fingers. Steve still got the puzzled look on his face.

"Play along," I answered, though not certain of how that would come about.