Lana Castroff

After more than a week investigating all the products, we found no acid on every single product that we launched that day. It was weird for us to see. We did get the medical records of Phoenix's employees for it and they really contains acid inside that product.

I was more than confuse at this point. I even asked my team to check it again but the result was the same.

I walked to Phoenix's office building and his secretary led me his office. I brought the files with me and I saw him having all his lawyers ready. I guess I should have brought my lawyers but let's just see.

I walked in and Phoenix turned to me. He gestured me to sit on the sofa beside him. I took a deep breath and walked towards him. I met his lawyers already and they greeted me politely.

"Ms. Castroff, we already have the exact amount for the settlement." One of the three lawyers said. I nodded and gestured him to continue.

"We want 1 million euros for this." He said and I was not surprise. We're talking about Phoenix Sterling, a businessman and a billionaire who always deal with this things on a daily basis.

"I paid for their hospital fees, I gave them more money for the damage and that cost around fifty thousand euros. I know that your company can't operate well without your employees but one million is too high." I said trying to negotiate with him.

He was about to say something but his phone rang from his pocket. When he saw who the caller ID was, he immediately asked his lawyers to go. He turned off his phone instead and he turned to me.

"Play along and I'll reduce the settlement." He said and as he finished his sentence, someone bursted the door open. Phoenix immediately held my hands tight when I saw 2 women walking into the office.

"Pho-" I'm assuming the woman who is in her 50s is his mother.

"Mother, what are you doing here with Lorena?" Phoenix asked.

"Mrs. Sterling." I smiled to her politely and she rolled her eyes at me. Well that's rude.

"We're having lunch together, Phoenix. Don't tell me that you forgot." She said ignoring me and Phoenix nodded.

"Meet my girlfriend, Lana Castroff. This is my mother and my friend, Lorena." Phoenix introduced me to them.

"I'll be waiting for you at the lobby, we're going to have lunch together." His mother immediately left the room leaving us alone. I pulled my hand away from him and he sighed.

"Stay here for ten minutes before leaving my office. I'll contact you later on." He said and he walked out from the office. I sighed and sat down on the sofa. I have to wait for a solid ten minutes before going out and I don't know why I have to wait.

I took out my phone to check my emails when the door bursts open revealing Adrian. He was surprised to see me in Phoenix's office.

"Hi.." He said as he walked to me giving me a light hug.

"Hi."

"Where's Phoenix?" He asked as he sat on the sofa across me.

"He went out with his mother and his friend, Lorena." I said and Adrian raised his eyebrows.

"That's a definition of a shit show." He chuckled but I didn't respond anything. I checked my watch to see if it's already 10 minutes or not.

"You're waiting for him?" He asked and I shook my head.

"He asked me to wait here for 10 minutes before leaving his office."

"She's planning to marry him with Lorena again." Adrian sighed and I shrugged. I don't really care about other people's business.

"Are you free now?" Adrian asked.

"Why?"

"I was wondering if you want to grab lunch together." He smiled to me and I nodded. "Sure." I got up from the sofa and he walked to the door opening it for me.

"Thankyou."

He forced me to get into his car and his chauffer can take my car to the restaurant. He asked me what I kind of food I like and don't like. Adrian is really sweet and no wonder he got his playboy title, he knew how to pleased a woman.

"What did his mother say when she saw you?" Adrian asked as he stopped on the red light.

"She didn't say anything, I mean Phoenix introduced me as his girlfriend." I said and Adrian turned to me with his mouth wide open completely confused.

"He.. oh no.."

"What? What's wrong?" I asked because his reaction seemed like I'm in a big trouble.

"Did he ask you to be his girlfriend that second only or.. for the rest of.. I don't know..?" He started to drive again.

"That second only, why would I date a guy like him? Even though it's a fake relationship." I chuckled and Adrian laughed.

"I agree, he's such an ass." I laughed more because of his statement and Adrian suddenly gave me his phone.

"We can hang out sometimes, Lana. You're kinda cool." He said and I took his phone from him typing in my phone number.

"You're pretty cool too, I thought you will act like Phoenix since you both are friends."

"No way, Phoenix is an ass. As for me, I have ass." He smirked and I laughed. The tone that he use was pretty much joking around.

"He's a mama's boy huh?" I asked curiously.

"He's not but the only thing that his family wanted was for him to settle down and give them grandkids." That's surprising.

"Where's the fun is that? Settling down? In this young bachelor age?" I laughed at his statement because his own siblings were already settle down except him so I bet he got the same shit from his family about settling down.

"I mean.. if you already meet the right person, why not?"

"That's true but seeing my family act so stupid makes me not wanting to fall in love. I don't want to look dumb and follow my wife everywhere. I don't want to turn myself into a possessive maniac." He hissed and I laughed.

"Well.. I can't wait to see you going through that."

"In my second life, Lana. You'll see me like that in your second life."

Phoenix Sterling

I really hate it when my parents tried to set me up with the woman of their choice. I don't understand why they really want me to settle down as soon as possible when I'm only 26 years old. I'm the youngest out of the Illicit and why am I supposed to be the first one to settle down.

I don't want to settle down.

After I asked my chauffeur to send Lorena back to the hotel, I decided to have a word with my mother.

"You know now that I have a girlfriend so could you please stop trying to set me up with Lorena?" I asked her and she drank her tea slowly.

"Mother, I really like Lana and you can't treat her coldly like what you did in my office. She's my girlfriend so you shouldn't act like that."

"I don't believe you, Phoenix. You asked her to be your girlfriend last minute right? I've been watching you closely these days and you never went out with her." She said and I sighed.

"Mother, I'm still young and I'm not planning to settle down just yet. How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to.. settle down anytime soon." I said seriously and she suddenly smirked.

"Very well.. we won't force you to settle down but.."

"What? Please don't make me do ridiculous things!" I sighed.

"You know your cousin will have her wedding next week and the family planned to have a vacation together in Maldives. Why don't you bring Lana with you? Let's spend a week together and maybe I'll consider taking my hands off from your love life, darling." No shit sherlock.

"Mother, I'm still young and please stop th-"

"Do you know why me and your father keep trying to set you up with women?" She asked and I raised my eyebrows.

"You want grandchildren and that's it.." I said and she chuckled.

"I'm so thankful for you, Phoenix, my son. You've been working so hard to get where you are now. You've been working non-stop since you're 17 and you've done so much for me and your father."

"You know why I did that." I said and my mother grabbed my hand.

"Yes, you wanted to save your father. You did everything just to keep him alive."

"I can't live without you both so.. it was worth it." I said as I looked down to the plate in front of me.

"You've been working non-stop for the past 9 years and you're a billionaire now. Me and your father really want you to be happy and having a family is the most wonderful feeling ever." She said as she squeezed my hand.

"Mother, I'm happy now. I'll be more happy if you and father stop setting me up with a lot of women."

"If your definition of happy means sleeping around and get drunk, I will slap the shit out of you." There she goes again with her thick british accent.

"Mother, I'm young. You know my friends and I still love working."

"I really like your friends, Phoenix. I really do but the one thing that I hate about them is that.. you all are workaholics and.. playboys.." She sighed and I chuckled.

"You only live-" I stopped when she glared at me hard.

"Why don't you like Lorena? She's beautiful." She asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Phoenix Andreas Sterling!" She hissed.

"She loves my money, mother. I bet she's already plotting how to kill me once you force your son to say I do." She sighed and nodded.

"Very well, I'll get rid of her but.. you have to promise me to bring Lana to Edeline's wedding." She said and I nodded.

"Deal, I'll see you next week then."

After a long lunch and talk with my mother. I went straight back to my office to do my work again. I decided not to think about my mother's invitation for Lana because I rather make excuses than begging Lana to go and pretend to be my girlfriend.

Suddenly my secretary walked into my office and she gave me a report about the investigation for dangerous chemicals in Lana's beauty products.

"Mr. Sterling, we already did the investigation two times to make sure that the ingredients inside those products and the results showed that there's no acid. Mr. Castroff did change some ingredients but it was clear. There's no acid or other dangerous chemicals in those products." My secretary said and I checked the papers to see the results.

"Lana knows about this fact?" I asked and my secretary nodded.

"She knew and her team is still figuring out how that acid could be in those bottles."

"Check their CCTVs and ours, we might find something from there. Please make sure no one knows about this investigation except you, me and the investigation team. I want to know who dares to do this." I said seriously as I read through the result.

"Yes, Mr. Sterling." She said and I gestured her to go out from my office.

"Oh Mr. Sterling, I forgot to.. mention this but Ms. Castroff already gave your employees who got hurt a lot of money to cover their work and the damage that they got. She apologized again yesterday to them."

"Okay, thankyou for letting me know." I said and she smiled before walking out from my office. I turned my seat around and looked out the window to see the beautiful view of the Eiffel tower.

My phone rang and I picked it up right away.

"Hello."

"You're free?" Angelo asked me.

"I'm busy, ask Adrian." I said as I turned my seat around again.

"He's busy dating." I laughed at Angelo's statement.

"Dating who?"

"Lana Castroff." My eyes widen that second.

"He's dating?"

"Yeah, they're having lunch and apparently.. coffee date too." That mother F. I ended the call and immediately dialed Adrian's number.

"Yes, Phoenix my darling." Adrian answered immediately.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the office?"

"You're with Lana?" I asked straightforwardly.

"I told you not to call me that." I heard Lana said in a not so friendly tone.

"I need to talk to you."

"You better reduce that settlement."

"I've got more to offer." I smirked.

Lana Castroff

I walked into Phoenix's office with his secretary and she asked me if I want tea or coffee. I told her the water will be just fine and she told me to wait for Phoenix for about 5 minutes because he's still in a meeting. I sat down on the sofa and laid back for a second.

I'm really tired of dealing with all of this alone. When will my father comeback because I'm ready to kill him for leaving me in the middle of something like this.

I bet he's with her again.

The door opened and Phoenix entered the room with his secretary. His secretary gave me a bottle of cold water and Phoenix asked her to leave us both alone.

"Ms. Castroff.. I have a proposition for you." I raised my eyebrows when he said that.

"I don't think I will like this." I said and he sighed.

"I know you won't but.. I have a better deal for you to cover that."

"What do you want?" I asked as I crossed my leg. He took a really deep breath and he looked at me seriously.

"I want you to marry me." I looked at him and blinked a few times.

"I know it sounds crazy but.. I have an offer for you and it will surely gives you more benefits." He said and I tried to take a really deep breath before answering him.

"Mr. Sterling, I'm sure that you're aware that we both currently under a lawsuit agreement. My products hurt your employees and I don't think marrying you even though it's just for show will make people believe our relationship." I said calmly trying to process everything slowly.

"I'm aware of that, Ms. Castroff. The thing is that nobody has to know that we're married except for my family of course." He said and I sat up straight opening my water bottle aggressively.

"What do you mean? So nobody will never know that we're married?"

"That's true."

"So what's the point of marrying then? We won't show it off to the public anyway." I said as I laughed nervously.

"I don't want my family to bother me again and arrange me with the women of their choice. I will make sure that no one except our family know about our relationship." He said proudly about his plan.

"Mr. Sterling, I don't think I want this arrangement. I rather pay you the settlement in a full amount than have to deal with you." I said smiling widely.

"You haven't hear about my offer yet.."

"I don't need to hear it. How about you ask Julie for it? I bet she will do it for the money. She's a commoner.. remember?" I said as I got up from the sofa.

"I will drop the charges, I will help your product become more well known and I will gladly use your product in all of my company." He said as he gestured me to sit down again.

"We're doing great on our own, Mr. Sterling. We don't need your help." I said as I grabbed my bag.

"How about I'll give you one million euros?" He offered and I sighed.

"The idea of us marrying will only help you not me." I said as I pointed my finger at him.

"Ms. Castroff, I guess.. I have to blackmail you then.." He said smirking as he got up from his seat. He suddenly walked towards the door and locked it making me a little bit anxious.

He took out his wallet and he showed me a card that says Illicit on it. He's proving himself as the member of The Illicit. The Illicit was known to be the strongest foundation of Europe. They're really good at business and make connections with a lot of countries. They're clearly a part of the elites who has a lot of privilege in every corner.

"Ah.. you know the Illicit huh?" He said and I bet he's judging by my reaction.

"I can tell everyone that you are the member of Illicit." I said seriously and looked at him coldly.

"No matter how much you're going to scream outside, no one would listen." He said as he walked closer to me.

"I don't have any other choice to blackmail you, Ms. Castroff. I have to say this desperately because I really need you to play this role." He said as he closed the gap between us.

"You know how powerful I am right? I can crush your business easily and your family legacy will be gone in a snap. I suggest you accept my offer and get the benefits that you will get than rejecting the offer." He said in a serious tone. His eyes was burning in flames showing that he's not playing games.

I can say that he's crazy. He didn't even give me room or time to think. He was busy blackmailing me and I just.. couldn't believe that I'm in this situation.

"Can you give me time to.. think?"

"I'm afraid, I can't." He said and I sighed.

"Mr. Sterling, marriage is a real deal for me. I can't just randomly marrying you. You can find another woman who would gladly help you in this situation." I said nervously and he shook his head.

"We will enter the marriage secretly and we will have a divorce secretly. I will guarantee you that, you can act like you never got married before." He said like it wasn't a big deal for him. I'm starting to have a headache all of the sudden.

"We will only act as a married couple when my family's around, you don't need to worry about that. I will give you freedom to date around and just.. enjoying life like you're single. Don't mind me because I won't mind you either."

"Mr. Sterling, I still don't think that this is a good idea." I said.

"I will help your business more and as a reward.. I will give you one million euros." He added and it made me want to smack the shit out of him.

"You can't think or decide this later." He said and suddenly I remembered about my father. Maybe this is one of the ways to piss him off. Maybe this will teach him something.

"Fine, I'll marry you."