Chapter 3 A Deal

The next day, Caroline was woken up from a terrible

nightmare. The same nightmare that has tormented for years refreshed her

memory, as lively as ever. She panted heavily and ran her fingers through her

hair. After she calmed down, she got up from her bed and went to her bathroom

to take a shower.

            After

getting ready for work, she went to the dining room, where Susan was setting

the table. Caroline took a sit as Susan placed Caroline’s breakfast in front of

her as Caroline rubbed her aching temples. Caroline looked up and saw the

mimosa in front of her. “Please take this away and get me an Alka-Seltzer.”

Susan took the mimosa away. “Yes, Miss King.” Caroline spoke, “thank you.”

            After

having breakfast, she felt better. An Alka-Seltzer has and always will be her

ultimate hangover cure. She called her chauffeur to go to work. She went to her

room to grab her purse then went down to the lobby of the building. She went

out of the building and got on the white Maserati.

            When

Caroline arrived at the company, her assistant, Joseph, was waiting for her at

the entrance of the building. “Good morning, Miss King,” Joseph greeted with a

smile. “Good morning,” Caroline replied. They walked to the elevator together.

            In the elevator

Joseph was updating Caroline on what had happened while she was away. When they

reached the top floor of the building, they walked out of the elevator past the

secretary division and went into Caroline’s office.

            Caroline

sat on her chair and Joseph handed her some files. “Here are the reports you

asked for. On today’s agenda you have: a conference call at eleven with the

hotel manager from Cancun. Then, I have scheduled lunch with your father and

your brother. After that, another conference call with the acting CEO in the Seattle

branch. And at seven p.m. you have dinner scheduled at the Sabbatini residence.”

            Caroline

was looking at the files while Joseph explained today’s agenda. “Okay. That

would be all, thank you. You may get back to work now.” Caroline went over the

files until it was eleven a.m.

            Caroline

read Liam’s file, there was not much on it because he likes to keep a low

profile. His file stated that he was the son of Dante and Gabriella Sabbatini. He

became the CEO of the Sabbatini Group at the age of twenty-one. Studied in

Harvard University. “This information is useless,” Caroline spoke, “this could

be found by a simple google search. There is no way that is all Joseph was able

to find on him.” Caroline kept looking through the files but there was nothing

that was really relevant. She even found that he was featured as one of the

most handsome eligible bachelors in the country. “Why am I not surprised?”

At eleven a.m. Caroline got a

conference call from the manager of the hotel in Cancun. The meeting continued

in Spanish. During the meeting, Caroline asked the manager of the hotel for a

copy of the CCTV footage taken the day of her birthday. Specifically, she asked

for the footage from the bar by the pool area and the footage from the floor

she was staying. She wanted to find out exactly what happened and why she could

not remember.

When the meeting was over, it was

lunch time already. Caroline called Joseph in her office. “Are you ready? Let’s

go have lunch.” Joseph nodded and opened the door for Caroline. Joseph is

Caroline’s personal assistant, so it is normal for Joseph to be invited by

Caroline to many places. The chauffeur drove Caroline and Joseph to the

restaurant, White Pearl. This restaurant is owned by Roxy King.

Caroline and Roxy have been close

since they were little. When Caroline walked into the restaurant, she was

welcomed with a warm hug from her cousin. “Oh, I’ve missed you, Care. Why don’t

you come here more often? By the way happy late birthday.”

“I’ve missed you too, Rox. And

thank you,” Caroline spoke, “are those new glasses? They look good.”

“Yes, they are.” Roxy chuckled. “I ran

out of contacts.” Caroline complimented, “you look beautiful with or without

glasses.” Roxy smiled. “Thank you.” Caroline asked, “where’s my dad?”

“Victor and Mason are over there,”

said Roxy as she directed Caroline where they were sitting. “Hi dad, Mason.” Caroline

greeted the men sitting at the table as she took a sit. “So, what are you guys

going to have today?” Roxy asked. “I will have the usual please,” Caroline

stated. “I will have the lobster,” said Mason. “I will have my usual as well,” Victor

spoke. “

 “Okay coming right up,” said Roxy as she went

to the kitchen.

            Five

minutes later, Roxy went over to the table and sat next to Caroline. “The food

will be out in ten minutes.” Ten minutes later, the food was brought to the

table and everyone sitting at the table were enjoying their food. Roxy’s

restaurant was a five-star restaurant with great food. The food has an amazing

taste and incredible flavor. Most of the dishes, she learned to prepare

herself. She learned to prepare Caroline’s favorite dish in Italy.  After having lunch, Caroline went back to the

office and resumed her work.

            At five

thirty when most of the employees were leaving, Caroline went home to get ready

for the dinner at the Sabbatini’s penthouse. Caroline took a nice relaxing bath

and went to the kitchen to prepare a baklava. She could not go to the Sabbatini’s

home empty handed. She planned to prepare the special recipe Persephone taught

her. “Miss King? Is there anything you need?” Asked Susan as she stepped inside

the kitchen. “No, I will be preparing a dessert for a dinner I will be

attending this evening.”

            “Alright,

do let me know if you need anything.”

            “Yes, I will.”

            Caroline

preheated the oven and began to prepare the recipe. She gathered all the

ingredients to make the Greek dessert. Caroline grabbed a baking tray and

buttered it to prevent the dessert from sticking. To prepare the filling, she smashed

four cups of walnuts and placed them on a bowl. In the same bowl, she placed

one cup of sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon. She mixed all the ingredients

well.

            Later, she

heated two cups of butter. Since the filo dough is quite thin, she decided to

place two sheets at the time. She placed the first filo sheet on the tray and

covered it with some butter. She placed another sheet then placed some butter

again. Then she placed some of the mixture she made for the filling. Then she

placed another two filo sheets. She continued until she ran out of the filo

dough. With the remaining butter, she poured it over the dessert.

            Once the oven was heated, Caroline

placed the baklava in the oven and went to get ready. Caroline put on some

light makeup, combed her beautiful long brown hair and put on some earrings

that matched the key necklace she wore. She put on a tight blue open leg maxi

dress that outlined her beautiful figure. She wore matching blue high heel

sandals.

            She went to

the kitchen once she was ready. On the stove, she placed one cup of water and

sugar to boil. Once the dessert was ready, she took it out of the oven. And immediately

poured the sauce she made with the water and sugar over the baklava. She let it

sit to cool. When it was time, she left to the Sabbatini’s penthouse.

            Caroline arrived

at the Sabbatini’s penthouse at seven forty, she was greeted by the butler. Gabriella

welcomed her with a warm hug. They really have not seen each other in years. Then,

Caroline said hello to Dante Sabbatini, Gabriella’s husband. “You are finally

here, pumpkin,” said Victor as he made his way to say hi to her. Mason also walked

over to say hi to her.

            Then, they

sat in the living room and started talking and laughing. Unexpectedly, a tall, handsome

man with his fawn-colored hair slicked back. His dark attire made him seem cold

and mysterious, attractive and intimidating. “Oh, you finally arrived. This is

my son, Liam,” Gabriella exclaimed excited to see her son. “Liam?” Caroline

wondered.

            “Well, you two

know him,” Gabriella spoke, referring to Victor and Mason. “Son, this is

Caroline,” said Gabriella as Caroline stood up from the sofa. When Liam looked

at her, he smirked. His smirk wore off soon thereafter. “You may not remember

since you were too young, but you used to hang out a lot. You were best

friends.” Caroline just gave her signature smile but was taken aback by the

man’s cold stare. She did not wear a ton of makeup like the women Liam is used

to meeting. He even liked the perfume fragrance she wore; he was used to

meeting women that wore too much make up and too much perfume. She was just

beautiful, elegant, and well… perfect.

            They

gathered at the dinner table to enjoy the flavorful dinner prepared by

Gabriella accompanied by the exquisite taste of Biondi Santi wine. “Okay, time

for dessert,” Gabriella spoke. The butler had cut the baklava brought by

Caroline just as she instructed and placed a slice in front of everyone. Dante

ate a piece of the baklava on his plate and spoke, “this taste so good, what is

it?”  Caroline put down her glass of wine

after taking a sip, she spoke, “Oh, thank you. It’s a special recipe my best

friend taught me. It’s baklava. A Greek dessert. Actually, this is the first

time I make it by myself. I was a little anxious about how it would turn out.”

            Gabriella praised

Caroline for her baking skills, “this is amazing. You have great talent,

Caroline.” Caroline’s smile shined brightly. “Of course, she does. She got it

from me,” Victor spoke confidently. Caroline interrupted his narcissistic

moment, “oh, please, don’t flatter yourself. You can’t even cook an egg without

burning it. I must have gotten my skills from my mom.” Caroline smirked as the

took a bit of the baklava. Liam looked at her from the corner of his eye and

slightly smirked. “She is quite bold,” he thought.

After dinner, Dante invited Victor a

bottle of scotch in his study. Victor agreed and they both walked to Dante’s study

at the end of the hall. In the study, they sat opposite from each other. Dante poured

two glasses of scotch and said, “are you going to keep your promise?” It took a

while for Victor to remember what he was referring to. When he finally recalled

he asked, “Is there any way you could let that go?”

“We have an agreement. You can’t go

back on your word.” Dante’s words made Victor frown. “Is there another way? I can’t

do that to her.” Victor thought his pitiful tone would make Dante change his

mind. “We made the deal; you can’t back out now. But there is another way, remember

we agreed on the company.” This made Victor remember of the mistake he made

when Caroline was four years old. “It’s either her or the company.” Seventeen years

ago, Victor and Dante were playing a game of poker. They kept raising the

stakes.

“How about this, Victor. If I lose,

you get my company. But if you lose, I get your company or when Caroline turns twenty-one,

she must marry Liam. Don’t worry they just have to be married for one year,”

Dante proposed. Victor was feeling confident because he had won the last four games

in a row. Victor did not think much of it at the time and he thought Dante was

just drunk, so he agreed.

To Victor’s bad luck, he lost the

game. He felt devastated, he could not believe he lost. Victor could not give

up the company, so he agreed on the arranged marriage. He thought that maybe

Dante would just forget about this later. That is the reason they lost touch. Victor’s

cowardliness drove him to lose contact with his best friend.

Victor tried to avoid Dante as much

as possible. Though recently, Victor and Mason had started a project with

Sabbatini Group, to their good luck, they were doing business with Liam. Dante had

asked his lawyer to make a contract which they both signed, and each got a copy

of the document. Victor still believed that Dante would just forget about the deal.

“I still have the document we

signed,” said Dante, which brought Victor back from his memories. Dante handed

the document to Victor and Victor read it. He did agree for just one year, and he

felt that one year was just going to fly by. “So, what’s it going to be? The

company or marriage?” Seeing Victor’s hesitation, Dante spoke again. “you seem

quite hesitant. If you can’t choose, I will be forced to destroy you. I made

you the man you are today, I can end you as well.”

Victor was taken aback by Dante’s

statement. “Don’t look at me like that, you know more than anyone what I am

capable of.” Such a difficult decision for Victor to make. He could not just

let his little girl get married yet. She is still too young, but he also would

not give up the company that he worked so hard for. Victor made the decision,

“just for a year?” Dante replied, “they have to be married for one year.” Victor

agreed, “fine, she will marry Liam, but you have to give me some time to talk

to her and convince her.” Dante answered in a cold tone, “you have one week.”

Victor nodded. “Now let’s go back to the living room,” said Dante as he stood

up from his chair.

When Victor walked back to the

living room, he wore a frown on his face. Caroline noticed and could not help

but worry. “Dad, what’s up?” Caroline asked in a concerned tone. “Nothing, I’m

fine, pumpkin,” Victor responded with a forced smile on his face. Caroline just

nodded, but still thought that something was up. Caroline looked at Liam who

was sitting in the armchair across from her. The more she stared at him the

more she thought he looked familiar.  Caroline

and Liam made eye contact. She looked into his green eyes and suddenly got some

flashbacks from that night.

Caroline was shocked, how could the

man that took advantage of her be sitting so casually in front of her? Liam’s

cold gaze sent shivers all over her body. Caroline felt a bit intimidated by

him. But she also felt attracted to him. His entire demeanor fascinated her,

making it impossible from her to look away.

As Caroline continued to get

flashbacks, she looked away. Her cheeks reddened, more than usual. She bit her

tongue and curled her hands into a tight fist, pressing her nails onto her skin

to suppress the tears that tried to escape her eyes. She came up with this

technique at a young age.

When Caroline was young, she was

taken by her uncle and was submit to training with her older cousin. Unlike

him, she was rather weak. Her uncle swore to not stop her training until she was

no longer weak. Those years with her uncle were a nightmare. She was

mistreated, punished, tortured. She cried and begged for her mother’s help, but

her mother did nothing. She would cry for her mother all the time and whenever

she did, she was punished for it. She got beaten, neglected food and water

until she learned that nothing good will come from shedding tears. She learned

that showing emotion was for the weak.

As the traumatic years went by, she

was brainwashed into thinking that the training that was forced upon her was

the best thing that could have happen to her. When her younger brother was old

enough to start training, her mother finally got the courage to cut ties with her

lover and escape. Just then, Caroline’s uncle was assigned to leave the United

States, right when Caroline’s training was over.

After the training, Caroline decided

to not recent her uncle for the torture he brought her, because thanks to him, she

was no longer weak. She did not recent her mother, either. She knew that

Elizabeth could not help her. Caroline knew that she could only help herself. Which

was what drove her to growth. Caroline continued to train and work hard as the

years went by. Thankfully, as the years passed, Caroline learned to not bottle

up her emotions. Or all of her emotions that is. She still refused to show

weakness in front of people.

Gabriella looked at Caroline and

noticed her sudden change. “Are you alright, dear? You look a bit blushed.”

Caroline answered, “yeah, I’m just tired. I should go home; I have to work tomorrow.”

 “Yes, it is best if you get some rest.”  Caroline stood up from the sofa to say her

goodbye. “Why don’t you take her home?” Victor murmured to Mason. Mason nodded

and stood up from the armchair. “Are you alright, sis? I will take you home.”

Caroline looked at Mason and responded, “okay.” Caroline and Mason said their

goodbyes before leaving.

As they made their way towards the entrance,

Caroline turned around to look at Victor. She made eye contact with Liam first

then shifted her gaze towards Victor. “Dad? Shouldn’t you be coming with us?”

Victor shook his head, “I have to talk about some business with Dante. I will

meet Mason at home later.” Caroline nodded and turned around.

 In the car, Caroline quietly looked out the

window as Mason drove to her penthouse. “Are you alright?”

“You can drop the act; dad is not

here.” Mason chuckled. “You can see right through me. Father should be grateful

to have such a talented daughter. I mean, what can’t you do? You can cook, you

can bake, you can develop a company from nothing and most importantly, you can

act.” Caroline rolled her eyes she could sense the sarcasm in his tone since he

opened his mouth.

 When they arrived at the building, before

Caroline got off, she said, “just remember that I play nice just for the sake

of dad.” Mason agreed, “likewise. I just want father-.” Caroline got off the

car and closed the door before Mason could continue.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***