Her mouth curves into a smile. From every pore of her flawless skin exudes good breeding and finishing school class. She is pure style.
You can live in a fine home, wear the right clothes and even go to the right parties but you will never be one of us, her very being seems to say.
‘Hello, I’m Victoria. May I come in?’
Lana cannot stop staring at her. So this is the woman that Blake is going to marry. This is the woman who will have his babies and live with him.
‘Please,’ Victoria says.
Lana opens the door wider and stands back.
Victoria enters. She looks around the room, but refrains from commenting. Lana precedes her into the living room and turns around to face her.
‘You are prettier in real life,’ Victoria says.
Lana doesn’t know if she should acknowledge the compliment.
‘May I sit?’
Lana nods and Victoria perches. Her movements are all dainty. She puts the small pink purse she has been holding in her hand into her lap and crosses her legs at her slim ankles. She smiles again. ‘Will you sit too?’
Lana flushes and sits. This is not the woman’s place and yet it seems she has somehow taken charge.
‘I know you are shocked to see me here and even more shocked to see that I neither hate nor feel angry with you.
You see, our ways are different. You’ll probably never understand so I won’t try to explain too much. Suffice to say that I don’t think it is ideal, but I have been trained to understand that men must sow their wild oats before they settle down, so I allow it. I can see what’s going through you.’
Lana makes a strangled sound in her throat.
‘You are thinking and hoping for exactly the same thing that every woman who has signed one of these sordid agreements and who then falls in love wants. You want Blake to fall in love with you and marry you. But he never will. Men like Blake have been taught since they were knee high how to take, how to have their cake and eat it in every situation. Marrying you or staying with you will not be that. This agreement until he gets bored and then marrying me will be the options most desirable to our men. And that is what Blake will do too. Has he in any way suggested more than this arrangement? Perhaps given you hope for a different future with him?’
Woodenly, Lana shakes her head.
‘You see, the most important thing for us is to secure the right bloodlines for our children and ensure our wealth is not dissipated away into careless hands. Blake knows where his loyalties lie. Consequently, I fear nothing from you. If anything, I feel sorry for you and want to be fair to you. I can see that you are in love with him, and in the end, you will be left with nothing more than a broken heart.
‘Well, I guess I might as well come to the point.
Nobody knows I’m here and Mummy would scream blue murder if she knew I was.’
‘So why are you here?’
‘I know about your contract and I know it will expire in six weeks.’
‘How?’
‘I have my ways. It is not important to our discussion today. Strange as it may seem, I am now your only friend.’
Lana has been staring at the carpet but at her words her head snaps up. She cannot imagine a scenario where this proud, self-assured woman could be her friend. Let alone her only friend.
‘What is important to you must be that you are adequately compensated at the end of your time here.’ She pauses meaningfully. ‘Of course, there is a possibility that Blake will extend or renew the contract for another three months. Then again there is the possibility he will not. I am here to offer you a hundred thousand pounds for you to leave…not at the end of the contract, but today without any explanation. There is no punitive action allowed in your contract if you end it earlier than its term.’
Lana looks at her with shock. She has glanced through the contract so fast she has not even registered that clause.
Yet this woman has perused the contract carefully and is here to bargain with her. ‘I will increase the amount to two hundred thousand pounds if you will leave the country. No note. No goodbyes. Just gone.’
No note. No goodbyes. Just gone.
Wow! Lana looks at the young woman who sits so brazenly before her and feels a bubble of hysterical laughter forming in her throat. She stands up and walks to the glass wall. Far below there are small children playing with a dog in the park. With her back to the woman, she closes her eyes. She tries to think, but her mind is blank.
‘Did you think that the billionaire’s son would marry the poor girl from the council estate?’
Lana flushes. ‘Of course not.’
Except for that once when she tasted her name joined with his, she has not really thought that. Always from the start it has been made clear to her that it is a purely temporary arrangement based solely on sex. He has only ever wanted her for one thing and he has been brutally honest about it. There have been no protestations of love or flowery words. Just an animal craving for her skin.#p#分页标题#e#