Max sat with Neil beside him across the large desk in his father's office.

There was a prickling of unease at the back of his neck due to the heavy atmosphere of the room.

Robert finished talking on the phone to a client, and even before he could exhale a breath and look up at them, Max spoke up, "Why did you summon us with such urgency? Is there something to worry about?" Max asked with genuine concern seeing the blank look on his father's face.

Robert looked straight at Neil, not bothering to reply to Max's query. "Neil."

"Yes?" Neil had his elbows on the cold glass of the desk. Max could see him flinch lightly. Clearly, even that dear cousin of his could sense the tension.

"How do you feel about rising to a higher level in your career?"

Neil looked like he didn't know whether to run for the exit or bounce in joy. He gave an awkward side glance to Max before replying, "Ah... ecstatic?"

Robert nodded. "I've decided to make you the director of our headquarters in London. By next month all the paper works will be completed." Robert announced. "Do you have any objection to my decision?"

Neil's mouth fell open.

A frown immediately emerged on Max's forehead.

"But, dad," he objected with his heart beating fast at the shock of this sudden drone his father had just decided to drop. And he could tell this was not all, and there was more to come. "Didn't I affirm my plan about settling down in London? I thought I would be the director of our headquarters over there after working as an intern there for the last couple of years. I've even shown my efficiency by helping the attorneys win some of the most complicated cases, let alone all the cases I've won on my own." He paused to take in an agitated breath. "Are you planning to demote me, or am I being kicked out from the institution I'm apparently the heir of?"

His father shifted his gaze towards him with the kind of calmness that could only be a prelude to a vivacious storm. "No, son, kicking you out or demoting you are the last things on my mind. I'm retiring next month."

Max could feel a beginning of a panic attack, dreading it was heading toward where it absolutely shouldn't.

"And you'll be taking over in my place as the lead director and operate all of our headquarters from here in Asthel."

Max's hands curled into tight fists. "You're forcing me to stay here," he stated the obvious through gritted teeth. "But there's more, right? Why do I feel like you're not done bashing me? You wouldn't put a plan into action without having all threads of the net secured first."

"I wouldn't call it bashing, Max. It's a father trying to make his son settle down where he should and have a future with stability and happiness in it, and definitely not away from his family," Robert's tone was wistful. "You're walking blind, Max, and how can I not stop you when I can clearly see you're walking towards a drop-down to a hollow pit."

Now, those were some profound ideas his father had tracked down out of day dreams, it seemed.

Max let out an incredulous huff. "Come to the point, dad. What do you exactly want?"

"I want you to get married."

Max stilled. "Don't tell me you've chosen the bride as well?"

He was hoping it was just a joke.

"She's already agreed to the proposal," was Robert's instant response.

Max closed his eyes in trepidation.

So, it was not a joke, but perhaps it was a nightmare and would cease to exist when he opened his eyes again. But unfortunately, it didn't. Everything was still the same even when he opened his eyelids.

"How could you even think about doing this to me? No one else but only I have the right to choose the woman I will marry-if I ever marry, that is. And who does this these days? Isn't arranged marriages illegal at this age?"

His father's unruffled expression gave the answer-it wasn't.

Bloody hell.

Max might just have to take the initiative and try to pass a law against arranged marriages, even better, banning matchmaking of any kind. After all, he was a lawyer with his degrees from Oxford and should be able to at least kick-start such reformations.

"I believe you guys are meant to be. I've been observing you two for a long time now. In the long run, you'll see that I'm right. You'll see what I see now."

A face flashed before Max's eyes at his father's words.

"Who is it?" Max demanded with a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. He bent his head and closed his eyes to try and gather some patience and calm to face this exasperating situation.

Silence fell over the room.

Neil, who had been a close-mouthed audience all the while, cleared his throat.

That did it to breach the stubborn silence, and suddenly his father's voice resounded ominously, "Sofia."

Max's eyes snapped open. He shot his head up so fast that it made a cracking noise.

The walls of the room seemed to be closing in on him as he gaped at his father, horrified.

--

"Why would he even make such a proposition?" Sofia asked, bewildered, once again perched on the rickety chair in his grandfather's room and having another life-altering conversation.

Grampa stared at her from the armchair for a couple of seconds before giving her a reply, "Thinking that it would be the best for the both of you. He wants Max to settle down here in Asthel and stop running away, he has been hiding away for a long time, and Robert's decided he'd had enough. And I will never take help from outside the family."

The news Sofia just received returning home felt no less than a nine-magnitude earthquake.

With the promise of destruction coated all over, it was a freaking marriage proposal that could lead her to nowhere else but a lifetime of hell.

The moment her grandfather told her of the senior Wilder's visit and his wish to have her as his son's wife, indirectly in exchange for that humongous amount of money, Sofia couldn't help but feel her dignity slipping away.

"And us getting married would solve everything?" she asked, her voice quivering in disbelief.

"We came to that conclusion, yes," he looked guarded.

Sofia rubbed her temples, feeling overwhelmed.

With his eyes fluttering close, grampa added with a sigh, "You think I've not noticed."

Sofia's face snapped up. "Noticed what?"

"You'll see...," was his murmured vague response.

Sofia didn't know if she should delve more into what her grandfather was actually talking about, fearing it could be harmful to her own mind.

She didn't want to see what wasn't there at all.

She was scared of expectations.

Grampa didn't know how much Max hated her.

How much he would not willingly agree to this wedding even if she was the last girl standing on the face of the earth.

From her grandfather's perspective, however, Max was meant to be her prince charming now, her knight in shining armor who would barricade her from this enemy, this loan. And then he would whisk her up in his strong arms and take her to a happily ever after.

Only the reality was the exact opposite.

After years of waiting for his return, he did turn up on her doorstep one morning with all his charms, but to whisk her away to a battlefield where he could slaughter her with ease.

Undoubtedly, Max was a charming guy with a regal aura about him, and he possessed the kind of agility that matched that of a knight. She wasn't blind to not noticing it all.

Max Wilder might indeed be a prince to some knight to some others. To Sofia, however, he had turned into the very devil of her life.

"What should I tell him, Sofi?" Suddenly, making her jump, grampa's voice broke through her web of dreary thoughts.

Damn, she thought he'd fallen asleep. But clearly, he was very much awake.

And as grampa patiently waited for her answer, looking somewhat excited, she wanted to scream - no, say that she would not sign into a lifetime of darkness and hatred, not for even all the money in the entire world.

Or she might just run away from it all, and she might just disappear to where it was safe-without the death sentence of a million dollars hanging over her head.

But then what?

Even that safe heaven away from all the troubles wouldn't let her live in peace. The guilt of her family losing their home would choke her to a slow, torturous death. She could never live knowing that the people she loved were suffering every moment-penniless, without the security of a steady roof over them.

Sacrifices are meant to make things better, but not without the cost of the sacrificer's misery.

However, no matter how much she was wary of the consequences, she knew she had to take the step.

"Tell Robert that I've agreed." Sofia's tone was deadly quiet.

In the excitement and joy of an upcoming wedding and a narrow escape from the doom of an extravagant debt, grampa perhaps failed to catch the quietness in Sofia's voice. "Are you sure, Sofia?"

No.

"Yes, I am," she mumbled.

She turned around, eyes glistening and chest heaving while she stared out the window and hid the stubborn tears from her grandfather's view.

She was sure that she had just sold herself to the devil.

A heavy stone settled on her chest where her dignity used to reside. She just hoped to learn quickly how to live with this burden and the unbearable suffocation that appeared alongside.

--

"What if I disagree? What if I say no, dad?" Max tried controlling his temper while trying to reason with his father. "You and I both know that you cannot force me into marrying someone, whoever it is."

But his father was as stubborn as a mule. He declared indignantly, "Then begin practicing out of my firm."

With narrowed eyes, breathing agitatedly, Max got up to his feet, and the chair he was sitting on got pushed back, screeching by the force. Then, in lightning speed and with wrathful, booming steps, he was out of the room.

That vile girl had yet again shown her evil demeanor.

Sofia had manipulated his favorite cousin first, and now she'd successfully cast a horrid spell on his father as well.

Damn, those teary eyes at the reunion party! Now, he was sure it was one of her tricks to gain sympathy or whatever, perhaps. But Max was no fool. He would not fall for anything she did or said like all the others. She'd got another thing coming if she thought he would.

Max Wilder was the worst nemesis of his rival.

Now, it was up to Sofia whether she wished to find it out the easy way or the hard way.

--

Like in all the other discussions between the father and son, Neil had been quiet the whole time. He looked up nervously at Robert Wilder's clever, thoughtful face.

After a minute of silence, Robert sighed and tiredly looked at Neil. "Do you have anything to suggest about this extremely outrageous situation?"

"Uh... I... I," Neil stammered. He gulped at last, not being able to finish his sentence.

He didn't know why this man always managed to scare the living daylight out of him, maybe because he had seen way too many demos like earlier.

Robert Wilder was a beast of a lawyer, and Max had taken after him dutifully.

Suddenly, Neil felt really worried for Sofia.

It was another thing that the complicated case between her and Max had constantly tested his wits.

"I..." he gathered himself to speak up at last. "I understand your perspective, uncle. I'm just not sure about the way you're going ahead with it."

His uncle didn't comment on that. He fell extremely quiet on the contrary and stared absentmindedly at the white wall of his office.

Neil left with a sigh.

~

A/N:

Another quick update! I hope you enjoyed it.

Sofia and Max both have got some deep perspectives. Both of them have made bad choices and did some cay-cay stuff because of the pain in their hearts. That's how most characters in this book are going to be.

This is truly life. We're driven mainly by our emotions and excuses. And that's why we're neither saints nor evil. We stand in the line in between.

Love and more love (that's new),

Lara.

P.S. Did you miss Marla in this chap? ;) Another evil aunt from the groom's side coming up soon.