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."

Phoenix Sterling

"But on one condition.." She said as she took a step back and sat down on the sofa.

"What?"

"Let me stay in your house but with seperate rooms." I raised my eyebrows completely amused by her condition.

"That's easy, I will gladly grant your wish."

"You want to pleased your parents and I want to pissed off mine. I hope you can cooperate with me when it comes to that." That made me wonder if she hates her parents.

"No one can know that we're married and don't even wear the wedding rings on a daily basis except when we're meeting our families." She said and I nodded.

"That's easy for sure. Anything else?"

"How long should we do this?" She asked.

"Maybe 7-8 months, I think it's enough for my parents to leave me alone." I said as I sat down on the sofa across her.

"But I want you to play the role of a good wife. I want you to make my parents love you so they will leave me alone." I added.

"It won't be hard." She said and I let out a breath of relief.

"My mother asked me to bring you to Maldives this Saturday for my cousin's wedding. We will be staying there for 8 days or maybe less than that."

"Okay.. so are we going there dating or married?"

"Married couple, we will surprise them with our marriage there. We can sign the legal documents as soon as possible. I'll buy us rings to convince them." I said as I took out my phone writing it down on my notes.

"Okay." She said as she looked up to me without any emotions.

"I'll call you for further information." I said and she nodded.

"No one will know about this except us right? Only your family and mine then.. we can get divorce too quitely."

"Yes, that's true. I will make sure no one leak it to the media or trying to sell this kind of information to anyone." I said seriously and she got up from her seat.

"Very well." She said as she put her hand in front of me.

"Good." I smirked.

After that conversation, I made a contract myself for this matter because I don't want anyboby else to know about us being together. A day after that, I prepared a room fornher to move in with me and the contract done. She signed it without reading it and I wonder what's going on in that head of hers.

We both prepared a lot of documents for our marriage and we went to registered our marriage together. Everything was done perfectly and there's no flaw in it. We both got married officially without anyone knowing about it except us both for now.

We looked at each other after we both finished signing the legal papers. She put her hand in front of me and I shook it. I pulled out a small black box out from my pocket and opened it. She looked at it without any emotion.

"I think it's too big.. we're not real and you will have to sell that later on." She said as she looked at me raising her eyebrows.

"It's a statement, Lana. I'm a billionaire so I have to give my wife the biggest ring that ever existed." I said proudly and she just put her left hand in front of me. I slipped the beautiful diamond ring to her and she sighed.

"I hope it will go smoothly for the both of us." She said and I caressed her hand. She looked at me and tried her best to smile. I always wondered.. if something is bothering her. She seemed to have a lot of things going on in her mind.

"We will go to Maldives the day after tomorrow so.. be ready." I said as we walked out after registering our wedding.

"Yeah, I know."

"When will you move in?" I asked as I opened my car door.

"Tomorrow." We both got into the car and I quickly started the car driving it out from the building.

"Very well."

"Your wedding ring?" She asked.

"At home, don't worry."

I thought dealing with Lana would be difficult but it was an easy deal. She accepted it and I still can't believe that I'm married now. Not technically married with love but still married to someone so I could get my parents off. I will make sure that no one knows about this relationship except our families. She agreed to that too so that's easy.

I gave the both of us freedom to be with someone else. We both won't be staying married forever, we're doing this for show so if she or I happen to meet someone in the middle, we can freely date them.

I'm a little nervous actually. I hope she can act smoothly in front of my family without being awkward.

"You and Finn.. you like him?" I asked her in a careful tone.

"I loved him but I decided not to go for him anymore. He has a low taste in women and I rather not be with a man like that. Besides he's rude to me so.. I'm not the type of woman who will stick around and wait like an idiot." I can say that I was surprised hearing her answer. I was expecting her to be obsess with him.

"Julie is not that type of woman, Lana. You shouldn't judge people without knowing them."

"I hate commoners, they don't deserve to hangout with us." She hissed.

"Why do you say that? You know that there's a lot of good people out there who's not wealthy like us." I said as I stopped at the red light.

"My mother left us for a low class commoner, she abandoned me and my father for that man. She's living in poverty when she can get everything that she wants in this world." That's the reason why she.. hates commoners.

"She left me and my father when I was 2 years old. She didn't even try to get in contact with me and I hate my father for keeping in touch with her. She's basically having an affair with that man and my father. I can say that my father is stupid for going back to my mother when he can have other good woman who's the same level as us." I turned to her and grabbed her hand.

"You don't know the reason why he's like that, Lana. You can't judge people without hearing their side of the story." I said and she shook her head.

"Just drive, Phoenix." She said as she pulled her hand away from me.

Lana Castroff

I brought the last box into Phoenix's penthouse and put it in my bedroom. I looked at all the boxes and stretched my arms out because it's been a tiring day moving in from my house to his penthouse.

Phoenix's penthouse has two floors and he even has a private pool on the second floor which is amazing. I can't believe he's living alone in this penthouse and manages not to feel lonely most of the time.

I agreed to get married to him because I want to pissed of my father. I bet one though percent on it that he will be mad at me. I'm tired of him having an affair with my own mother who already got married with her commoner boyfriend.

My father must be somewhere in Europe with my mother and his secretary just informed me that he will be back by the time I'm going to Maldives. Suck for him because I will be back in Paris and he will know that I'm married to Phoenix.

"Lana." I heard Phoenix knocking on my door.

"Yeah?" I answered and walked towards the door opening it.

"Your appointment, they're already downstairs." Shit! We both agreed to have a fitting for our dress and tuxedo to go to his cousin's wedding. We need to match and make a statement to announce our wedding without taking over his cousin's night.

"I think I have to take a quick shower because I'm sweating right now. Do you mind giving me 10 minutes?" I asked and he smiled nodding.

"I'll let them know." He said and I closed the door. I quickly jumped into the shower because I don't want to have a fitting with my sweaty body. I bet the don't mind but I'm not comfortable enough for that.

After taking a shower, I put on a black tank top and a black short. I went down to the first floor to see around 6 people ready to help me and Phoenix together.

"Caesar, this is my date to my cousin's wedding." Phoenix introduced me to the head of the styling team.

"Oh my gosh, Ms. Castroff. I've been dreaming to style you." He said as he took my hand kissing it.

"I'll be the one who will thank you." I said chuckling.

"Should we start?" Phoenix said and I nodded. The team started to measure my body and brought me the dresses that will fit my body perfectly. I looked at it one by one when I felt Phoenix has his hands on my waist from the back.

"I think this color will suit you." He whispered to my ear giving me goose bumps all over my body. He pulled out a beautiful emerald dress.

"Don't you think it will too much?" I asked as I looked at the beautiful dress.

"Trust me, my family will over dress and the bride will still.. over power them." He said as he kissed my cheek. That actually caught me of guard because I never thought he would kiss me.

After that, Caesar's assistants helped me to get in this dress. Caesar styled it with some accessories and I tried 3-4 more dresses before deciding to go with the first one. Phoenix already tried his tuxedo and he looked incredibly handsome.

After 4 hours for fitting and trying to find a suitable hair for me, we're done. I sat down on the sofa relaxing because fitting isn't my thing even though I love shopping.

"How will we announce your wedding without them being shocked and suspicious?" I asked and Phoenix sat down as he gave me a glass of water.

"Well I'm planning to announce it on the after party so let's not wear our wedding ring until then." He said and I nodded. I sipped on the water slowly.

"You've been hanging out with Adrian a lot huh?" He asked and I chuckled.

"He's really cool and fun to be with."

"Really? That's a really weird statement." He said in a weird tone and I raised my eyebrows wondering if it's a sarcasm or just a pure insult to insult his friend.

"Is he an Illicit too?" I asked bluntly.

"I can't tell you who's the other members, Lana. It's not a study group type of vibe." He said as he looked down the window.

"I'm a little nervous." I said as I looked out the window again. I drank all of my water and sighed.

"Don't be.. they will love you."

"So you think marriage will solve your family problems?" I asked and he nodded. Phoenix chuckled before turning his head to me.

"Oh yes, they've been dying to see me get married but I've never been planning to really settle down sooner or later. When we have our divorce later on, they will disappointed at me but they will think we have problems so.. they won't force me into another marriage again until I'm in my 30s.. I assume." I nodded and put the empty glass on the table.

"We will be good at playing it, I know that." I said confidently because I think it's easy to act like someone's lovers. It won't be hard to fool everyone. All you need to do is just have your hands around them most of the time and give them a kiss once in a while and maybe stare into their eyes sometimes.

"I know but don't even think about getting comfortable with me, Lana. I don't do love and shit so.. I fucking hate clingy girls." He hissed showing that he really hates the idea of settling down.

"Don't worry, I'm not that type of woman. I will never long someone who won't even look at me. This will be easy as long as we both give each other spaces when we're not doing this." I said in a serious tone.

"We both can date anyone we like, you can date Adrian if you want to."