Chapter One - The Catch

Vanessa's point of view

And the award for the most broke and bored person goes to me for the seventh time in a year. Whoopee.

I checked the figures on my account statement for the umpthenthed time and groaned again at what I saw.

"What were you expecting V? That some mysterious stranger had sent you money within the last five minutes you checked it?" Mary asked. She raised an eyebrow at me and gave me one of those 'Be serious' faces.

I sighed, groaned into my hands "Perhaps" I said innocently.

Mary just rolled her eyes at me and said nothing. She was getting ready for her date with someone she connected with on tinder and I knew she was excited about the prospect. It's being about two years since she got a date.

"And you know why you don't have money, you send whatever you make in that crappy job to your crappy big sister and your dad" Mary sneered at the end of her sentence. She continued "Who even allows their younger sister to take care of their needs, she has a husband"

I gave her a glare "You know Victoria is going through some tough patch with her job and her husband at the moment"

"She's always been going through some sort of rough patch since I knew her"

I knew better than to argue with Mary when she was in one of her argument phases. I watched her instead as she expertly applied her makeup without the need for any assistance. I always wondered why someone like Mary had become friends with someone like me, someone as beautiful as her would have found someone equal to make her friend but she chose me.

Perhaps I should also stop such thoughts. I am good enough to have her as a friend.

"You know I only want to look out for you baby girl" She said again, her voice had softened now "I feel like you should take care of yourself more"

I nodded but said nothing. I was too damn exhausted to say anything at this point. And I knew she had a point, I knew she was saying all this for my own good but the only thing I could afford at the moment was a pleasing smile and a nod.

Mary sighed and kept quiet for the remainder of her makeup routine. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I wished her goodluck and to call me if he tried anything inappropriate.

Would I need to find another job to pay my bills? Something like a side hustle that wouldn't take much time from my real life and my job but would pay me well enough to survive.

Gosh. I fell down on the bed and just stared at the fan as it rotated countless times. I counted the cracks in the ceilings and think about the different ways I could die if the fan decides to fall on my head.

And then Mary would arrive to find my dead body with blood splattered on the walls. She would scream bloody murder.

This is the exact reason I don't have much friends.

After what felt like hours of procrastination,I brought out my phone to check out jobs I could do from home as a side hustle. A notification at the side of my phone caught my attention and it was even sent minutes ago, was I so lost in thoughts that I hadn't realized that my phone had vibrated.

It was a text from Mary and that text made me abandon the quest for a side hustle as I dashed out of the house in my pajamas.

******

She was sitting at a corner of the bar, the light from her phone reflecting on her face and highlighting the fact that she had stripped her face bare from the makeup she spent hours applying to her face.

"Where's he and how bloody do you want the body?" The words tumbled out of my mouth without me even thinking or second guessing it.

This close, I could see the tears streaks and the tiny drips of mascara she could not wash off completely. She wasn't drunk but she wasn't sober either.

Mary laughed, that type of laugh she gave whenever she was annoyed. High pitched and totally fake. She took the glass from the table and drowned down whatever was left in it.

"Can you believe I waited for this guy for half an hour and when he finally came, he wasn't even prepared for the date he invited me on, then he told me he wanted nothing to do with me and he has a wife"

The fuck. That was some pretty serious thing to do to a person.

"Where does he live M, I'm ready to do some serious damage"

Mary laughed, that high pitch sound again. "And what do you think we're going to do Vanessa, egg his house and slash toilet paper everywhere. We're not fifteen anymore" She spat the fifteen like it was a bitter medicine.

I sighed before taking a seat. She was going to be resentful for the rest of the week.

"So what do you want to do Mary? I'll do whatever it is to make you happy" I pleased with an excessiveness that I knew wasn't necessary.

Mary wasn't buying into what I was saying but it got her to try to hide a snort and a smile at the end. She downed another glass of whatever she was drinking.

"You know what Vanessa, I think going to his house and telling his wife everything would make me much better"

She had that look in her eyes now, a twinkle that suggested she had a plan and she was weighing it out. She sprung up quickly that I thought she might tumble over.

"I have to go to the bathroom, wait here and don't go anywhere"

Without waiting for my response, she had turned already and was tumbling towards where the bathroom might be situated. I would wait for ten minutes and then venture there in the event that she did not come back soon.

I wasn't dressed for this type of a place and it was evident in the type of clothes I wore and the way I held myself. Mary might call me a prude but a club or bar or whatever just wasn't my type of thing.

"Not exactly the type of place I thought I would find you in" Someone said from my right.

"I'm here with a....."

And not exactly the type of person I was expecting to find here.

She gave me a small smile and dropped down on the seat Mary just got up from but not after giving the seat a disgusting look. She wasn't looking bad at all, beautiful and tall and radiant as ever with a smile that could stop a crowd.

Elizabeth Thorn, owner of the biggest chain of hospital in the states. Elizabeth Thorn, one of the richest women I have ever met. Elizabeth Thorn, who treated me like a daughter until I became disposable.

"What are you doing here?"I asked willing myself to keep calm and not act irrationally.

She chuckled "Is that anyway to talk to me? I see a few years away from me has taught you some despicable manners" She said, her tone as pleasant as it can be. She's talking as if we were still friends.

"It taught me to be weary of you" I shrugged as I said that and reclined into my chair. Maybe she would disappear if I didn't engage her.

"Well you're certainly ungrateful but that isn't the reason I came here today"

"I hope you're not here to say I don't call often because last time I checked, you threw us out of your life" I sneered back at her. I wasn't in the mood to entertain all this type of conversation.

I was tired and irritable. I was getting angry.

She waved her hand at my words as if they didn't matter. I was sick and tired of sitting here listening to her so I got up, deciding to go and find Mary instead so we can go home.

"Sit down Vanessa, I'm not done" Elizabeth ordered. She seemed to have grown weary of me too. That makes the two of us.

I did not sit down but I did not leave either. I just stood there, halfway between walking out of there and obeying her.

"I'm going to make you an offer because I felt like what I did wasn't the best way to end things, you were just children caught in the worlds of adult who couldn't decide" Elizabeth started "I want to make everything better for everyone, I'll pay for your dad to get clean and go to rehab and I know everything happening to your sister so I'll help settle that too and you'll get to see your brother again"

I did not understand what was happening anymore.

"How do you know about my sister?"

Elizabeth chuckled "I have my ways" She said.

I watched her waiting to catch some signs of dishonesty, some signs of a catch and a reason for this.

"I would see my brother again?" I asked slowly.

She nodded but said nothing.

Elizabeth Thorn found me in a lowly bar in the middle of New York and offered me everything I could ever want. There must be something I'm not getting, something I do not understand. She never does something without a reason.

"And what's the catch?"

That cracked her demeanor, I caught the hint of a smile in it though and she cleared her throat before answering me.

"Well you'll marry my son of course"

And that's the catch.