"I sustain myself with the love of family."

Ashley Davis

"You're a smart girl. Do the math yourself."

I wrecked my brain, to remember any episode related to what this vicious man had said but came up empty.

"No." I shook my head in denial, unable to comprehend his information. "Papa never said anything about this. You have wrong information."

"Trust me, princess. These are as right as they come." He smirked, flipping the spreadsheets once again. "And as far as I heard about your Papa, he never discuss business with his family. Am I right?"

Who is this man? And how does he know Papa so much?

"You still have not mentioned who you are and what is your relation with papa?" I inquired, crushing my nervousness at his mysterious golden eyes.

In all my life, I had never been as close to any man as I had with this man in a first meeting.

Wearing a fine tailored suit with branded cuff links and watch, this man had to belong to a wealthy family but I had never seen him in any of the elite parties.

The dark blond hair, fashioned into a neat style enhanced his sharp facial structures but the stubble on his jaw gave him a reckless look. He was tall, taller than me with at least five inches.

Turning away from me, he unbuttoned his jacket before dropping it on his majestic chair and started folding his sleeves until his wrists, elbows were exposed.

My heart quickened when I noticed a pattern of black ink disappearing under his sleeve on his bicep.

Tattoos were forbidden in our family but they intrigued me relentlessly.

"Should I do it again?" He asked as he flexed his arms, amusement lit up in his dark eyes.

I stepped back and cleared my throat, embarrassed at getting caught by him. "Are you going to say anything about you?"

Crossing those firm arms over his shirt and waistcoat, he shrugged. "Let's just say I'm a gentleman who's going help you and your family."

I laughed, humourlessly. "Your behaviour tonight hardly declares you as a gentleman."

Never in my life had I been that angry when two massive men abducted me. I knew I would had been fine because Papa was going save me, but meeting the man behind my abduction crushed my hopeful heart.

Since we were in a corporate building, I had thought of him as a well-mannered businessman but as soon as he uttered I want you, my mind blanked.

His touch had been unwanted but thrilling. I should be ashamed to feel any excitement caused by this brutal man, but never in my life, someone had spiked up my blood flow like he had.

You have a fiancé. This man abducted you, hurt you.

Not as hurt as I had shown him. Yes, his grip had been painful, but after he screamed out an unknown female's name and jumped away from me, he looked ashamed at his deed.

That hinted, maybe he was not as bad as he seemed. I knew from the faraway look in his hazel eyes that his mind had been somewhere else, but I had clamped down my sadness at his anguished expression because he did brought me here against my will, he did misbehave with me.

"And my apologies for that." He gritted out, caressing my chin with his mysterious eyes. "But you shouldn't have slapped me."

"Then you should not have touched me." I retorted back.

One corner of his mouth lifted as he raked his eyes over my body. "But your body draws me in like a moth to a flame, princess."

My traitor of a heart fluttered and I felt an unfamiliar tightening below my stomach. No one had ever talked to me this way. This was disgraceful yet exciting.

I must be delusional.

Ignoring my warm cheeks and his admission, I looked down at the file once again. "How did you get this?"

Giving me another once over, he answered. "I know someone who can get any information in the city."

"Do I know that someone?"

"I don't think so." He cocked his head and flaked his hand in the air. "Now..about your dear Papa's company, what are you going to do?"

Silence because I did not know what to say. What was I supposed to do? Papa had never informed about this distress in his company.

"Since you don't know, let me tell you." He stepped forward until he was within reach then picked up my left hand but instantly, I snatched it away. He clicked his tongue and forcibly picked it once again.

Touching my engagement ring, he started circling it around my finger until abruptly, he pulled it off me in one swift move.

"What...?! Give it back!" I gasped, trying to retrieve it back but he lifted his arm over his head and inspected the ring thoroughly. His black shoe dropped on the lever of the steel dustbin beside his table and when the lid opened, he glanced at me and smirking, he dropped the ring onto the pile of papers inside the dustbin.

"No!" I cried, pushing him away and crouched down on my knees to open the lid.

"I could get used to this. You on your knees in front of me." I heard him say behind me. I stood up with the ring cradled in my palm and glared but he only grinned. "Next time, no clothes okay?"

My cheeks reddened and I stomped my feet in frustration. "Shut up! Why would you do that? This is my engagement ring!"

"Because..." He pulled out a small rectangular box from his pocket and opened the lid, making me gulp at the sight of a beautiful jewel nestled into it. "...of this."

"Wha--what is this?" I stuttered out, clutching Eric's ring tightly to the point where it hurt my skin.

He glanced at my -now- bare finger then down at the ring that had a huge mysterious black diamond in the middle, adorned with many smaller version of same diamond fitted inside the sliver veins which were circled around the platinum band.

"A bigger rock."

The ring looked glamorous and expensive but why was he showing it to me? What was the meaning of this?

"Marry me." He said and my heart started beating at the rate of a racing horse. My limbs froze and I felt dizzy all of a sudden. "Marry me, Ashley Davis."

My name from his mouth attacked me like a high voltage and I choked out. "Wh...ah...thi....." Taking a deep breath,  I opened my mouth once again. "Are you insane?! What is the meaning of this?! I am already engaged to be married to a great man and even if I was not engaged, I would never marry you!"

"Great man. Sure." He scoffed then sobered his expression. "Have you forgotten who is the 51% owner of Davis Lumbers? Have you?"

When I bit my lips in shame, he continued. "Does Marcus Anthony Davis know his shareholders couldn't refuse an offer from me? Does he know that almost all the board members are on my side? That my vision would make the company more profitable thus winning them over? Does he know that I could kick him out of his own office just like that? Does he?!"

I shook my head, tears greeted my eyes once again, unable to believe his words. How could Papa not know any of this? How could all the business associates betray papa like that?

"You have no choice but to marry me, Ashley." He stated lethally. "You will be Mrs. Neil Harris at any cost. You will be mine."

Mrs. Neil Harris...no!

"Never!" I shouted, backing away from him. "I will never be yours. You think I would let you sleep with me to save Papa? No! I have my honor, my dignity! He would never want this for me!"

"Sleep with you?" He raised his eyebrow and stalked toward me until he had me locked inside his arms. His nose glided over my cheek, stroking me softly. "Who said anything about sleeping? As much as I want that to happen, I have many willing ladies on standby. You shouldn't worry about that. You should just worry about having my name as your last name and not your Papa's name."

"No!" My fists thumped on his strong chest until his arms let me go.

"I think I forgot to tell you something." He admitted with a malicious grin and picked up another file. "Do you know that the whole 1200 acres estate where you and your family live is registered under the company's name?"

My mouth snapped open in astonishment. No! Not our home!

He went on mercilessly. "Ofcourse you don't. Your papa didn't even bother to set the estate in his name when he had the money. How stupid!"

"You cannot take away our home!" I yelled. "What did we ever do to you?!"

"I will! I will bring you, your parents, your sisters....your whole goddamn family on the street!" He vowed, throwing the deed of the estate on my face.

The papers smacked me in the face with a bitter, cold reality. They floated down on the floor revealing my helpless face.

"No, please! I beg you."

Throwing away my pride, I clasped my hands as tears fell down from my eyes shamelessly. What did Papa ever do to him? What did he do to Neil Harris?

"Unless..." He told me, stretching the palm where the ring box sat still. "...you marry me."

"But I am engaged!" I shrieked.

"About that..." Stepping forward, he dropped his ring box on my palm and pointed to Eric's ring. "You break that engagement with him and wear my ring."

"Break? But I love him!"

"Love?" Neil made a sour face. "Are you sure you love that man?"

"What do you know about love?" I accused, my lips trembling.

"Right. I know nothing." He nodded with a closed off expression. "But he isn't that great you make him be."

I frowned, feeling defensive. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you really think Eric Hasting is a great man?" He questioned me, his face taking a comical look. "He's a money angry, bastard. He doesn't love you. He only wants you for your father's money."

"Are you describing yourself?" I raised my eyebrows, haughtily. "You're the one who's after my Papa's company, his estate."

"I have my reasons and I don't have to explain them to you!" He spat and pointed to me. "You break that engagement and I will show you proof of how great your ex-fiancé is."

"No! I cannot bre----"

Placing his fingers firmly over my chin, he brought his face closer. "You can and you will." Then pressed his lips on my jaw where his fingers hurt me before.

Curling my hands, I pounded his front but his free hand grabbed both of my hands tightly and continued kissing on my chin, cheek and finally pressed his lips on my surprised ones.

It was just a press of lips but it still robbed my breath away as if I had ran a marathon.

"Remember that when you visit your Eric to break off the engagement, princess."

Then he let me step away from his touch. Both rings belonging to two different men were in each of my palms and I had to make a choice.

Be with Eric and let the man before me ruin everything my family had.

Or

Be with Neil and save what my family had.

"Marco will take you home."

I lifted my head as he gestured toward one of the men who abducted me. Marco opened the door and waited for me.

Clipping the loose hair, smoothing the creases on my dress and rubbing the moisture from my face, I glanced at Neil Harris as he smirked at me one last time.

"See you soon, princess."

Without any response, I followed after the guard all the way downstairs, noticing the empty building, void of any living soul and entered the same vehicle.

Throughout the car ride, my mind was jumbled. I had my hands shaking, my insides quivering. I knew better than to inform papa about what happened with Neil.

Neil...

How come I never heard of his name before? Maybe because I did not read tabloids much.

When Marco left with a polite goodbye, the guards let me in without looking me in the face. Papa's strict rules with all the men outside the house was never look my daughters in the eye. For once, I was thankful for that rule as they did not get to see the finger marks on my face.

Thankfully no one was around in the foyer and the great room so I sneaked inside to my room quietly. Locking the door, I slumped on my bed, muffling my cries into the satin sheets from the ears around the estate.

Tonight, Neil Harris had done something unimaginable. He had ruthlessly made me realise how much I loved my papa, my whole family.

******