chapter one

Ava's POV

"Just give me an extension please." I pleaded with Mr Walker.

"Have I not been linient enough with you Ava? Your rent has been due for the past three months. I'm sorry, but that's just as far as my kindness goes." Mr Walker declares, still standing in front of my apartment door, with an eviction notice in his hands. 

My shoulders deflated and I exhaled heavily, he was right. 

I had lost my job some months ago and I've barely been surviving since then.

My rent was due since three months ago but I had been begging Mr Walker for an extension and he had been kind enough to me but I think he had just been pushed to his limits now. 

I would be too, if I was him. 

"I'm sorry Ava, but you have twenty four hours." He said before handing me the eviction notice and leaving. 

He was very clear with his warning, I either had to pay up by tomorrow or find somewhere else to live, but with no money in my bank account and no stable job in sight, how was I going to make it happen? 

I better start packing up my things then, I had nowhere to go but I would figure something out. I just had to pack first. 

The buzzing of my phone woke me up a few hours later, looking around my apartment, I saw it laying on the countertop in the kitchen. 

Glancing at my phone, I saw it was an unknown number, hesitantly, I answered the call and placed it by my ear, "Hello?"

"Am I speaking to miss Ava Rivers please?" I heard a male voice ask from the other end of the call. 

"Yes, this is Ava."

"My name is Barry Anderson, I'm a lawyer representing the estate of Edward Langston." He announced like I was supposed to understand what or who he was talking about 

"I'm not sure I follow." I told him, voicing my confusion. 

"I need you to come to New York immediately. Mr. Langston has passed away and you've been named in his will."

I blinked, "I think you have the wrong person sir."

"Your mother's name is Amelia Langston, it was after she married your father she changed it to Rivers, and her father is now desceased too." He informed me. 

I knew I had heard the name before, that was mum's maiden name from her family which she never spoke about, so how does a stranger know this?

"Who are you and how do you know that?"I asked him accusingly. 

"I know you have a lot of questions but if you come to my office, you'll find out." 

That was all he said and I had to admit, I was really curious to find out what was going on here. 

"I don't have money for a flight." I muttered. 

"It's already taken care of. A first-class ticket has been sent to your email, with details of where you'll go once you land and I expect you in my office by noon tomorrow." And with that, the call ended. 

I continued to stare at my phone and my heart was racing wildly. This had to be a mistake, who was Edward Langston? 

I found myself in New York the next morning and my nerves were a tangled mess.

The structure and view of the city was a lot to take on, it wasn't like what I was used to, back in the little town of Smallville where I lived. 

I was still standing in front of the airport, trying to hail a cab when a sleek black car pulled up in front of me. 

"Ava Rivers?" The driver asked as he rolled the window down. 

"Yes?" 

"Get in. Mr Anderson instructed me to bring you." He told me, I remembered that was the man I spoke with yesterday.

Hesitantly, I entered the car and it sped off immediately. I wished the car ride lasted longer but it was over just as quickly as it started.

I stood at the entrance of the glass office building, I wasn't sure why I was here but something told me whatever happened next would change my life forever. 

Entering into the towering building felt like I had stepped into a different world. The receptionist led me to a grand conference room where a tall, silver-haired man in an expensive suit waited.

"Miss Rivers." He started, greeting me with a polite nod.

"I am Barry Anderson, please take a seat."

I did as he had told me to do, choosing the seat that was opposite him, my pulse pounding as he slid a thick envelope across the table.

"This is your inheritance."

I wanted to reach out and pick it up, but I caught myself, hesitating before picking it up, "You haven't explained to me what's going on here."

"Your mother's name before she got married to your father was Amelia Langston and she was the daughter of Edward Langston, the richest and most successful business mogul in all of New York." 

He started but I cut him off, "My mother never mentioned any of this to me."

And I spent all night surfing through the Internet and sure enough, there was no link between my mum and this man, not one, so I was having a hard time believing what this man, seated in my front, was saying. 

"Your mother never mentioned any of this because she had disobeyed her father and married your dad and so Mr Langston disowned her."

"So if this Mr Langston disowned my mum, that means I'm not his granddaughter and I have no business being here." I reasoned out. 

"Even though your mother and her father never got to fix their relationship before she passed, Mr Langston still considered you as his bloodline. The only heir to his fortune."

I breathed heavily, this was a lot to handle at once. 

"But what's the catch?" I asked him, things like these never came without a price.

I just needed to know if it was a price I was willing to pay. 

Mr Anderson's lips twitched, "Straight to the point, I like that."

He folded his hands, "Edward Langston left his entire fortune, his estates, stocks, businesses and assets worth over twenty billion dollars to you."

I choked on my spit, "Excuse me?"

"However," Mr Anderson interrupted me, "there is one condition."

I exhaled sharply, "I knew it."

This was where I had to decide if I was willing to pay the price for this fortune I had been left with. 

"You must marry Jaxon King within thirty days."

A heavy silence descended upon the room. 

That name, I knew very well. You had to be living under a rock if you didn't know who Jaxon King was. 

I stared at him, waiting for him to tell me he was joking and this was all a prank but he didn't do that.

"That's a joke, right?" I asked him. 

"I assure you, it is not."

"What could I possibly stand to gain from marrying Jaxon King?"

"Jaxon is the heir to the King family empire and their family and yours have been in a silent war for decades, Mr. Langston wanted to end that feud. His will states that if you do not marry Dominic within the given timeframe, the entire fortune will go to an alternate beneficiary, someone whose identity is sealed."

My stomach twisted, "So my grandfather wants me to marry some rich stranger in hopes of ending a feud I know nothing about or I lose everything?"

"That is correct."

I let out a short, humorless laugh, all of this felt like a sick joke, "And what if I don't want anything? What if I walk out that door and pretend this never happened?"

Mr Anderson's expression didn't change, "That is entirely up to you."

Without saying another word again, I stood up and left the office, making my way back to the airport. 

Walking on the familiar streets of my neighbourhood was supposed to be calming but it didn't calm me down at all.

This was insane.

Utterly, ridiculously insane.

I was not going to marry some stranger just because a dead man's will told me to.

But then, I thought about my reality.

The fact that I didn't have a single penny to my name, my landlord banging on my door, my fridge that was practically empty. The dream of going back to school, forever out of reach.

Twenty billion dollars.

Was I really about to walk away from that? 

I was so lost in thought, I didn't notice the black SUV parked across the street, but as I started walking down the block, it pulled forward slowly, keeping pace with my footsteps. 

I grew nervous so I turned a corner, the SUV followed.

A shiver crawled up my spine.

It was probably just a coincidence, right?

So I decided to pick up the pace and sure enough, the car did too.

Now I was sure, someone was following me. 

Panic clawed at my throat, I quickly entered a coffee shop, watching through the window as the SUV drove away. 

Who the hell was that?

Had my dead grandfather's will put a target on my back?

By the time I returned to my apartment, my nerves had calmed down a bit, but I knew my time was up.

Mr Walter would come at any moment to evict me.

I locked the door and exhaled shakily, pressing my forehead against the wood.

I was still on edge thinking about what just happened on my way home, maybe I was overreacting, maybe it was just really a coincidence but the unease didn't fade.

I turned on the lights and I froze.

My apartment had been ransacked, all the boxes I had packed my things in had been torn open, clothes were strewn across the floor and the furniture overturned.

My breath was coming out in sharp gasps as I took a shaky step inside.

And then I saw it.

The mirror in my room, written on the glass in blood-red ink, "MARRY HIM OR LOSE EVERYTHING, INCLUDING YOUR LIFE."

My vision blurred, this wasn't just about money anymore, someone wanted me to marry Jaxon King and they were willing to do anything, including killing, to make sure I did.