Chapter 2

Alicia said as she breezed into the room leaving Helen wowed. She soon got over her surprise and continued to scribble on her notebook.

Lucy and Ruth had been Alicia's friends for as long as Helen could remember and she had been told that the three used to do everything together when they were younger and still had their parents. Now Ruth lived in London while Lucy worked at McDonald's as a chef. That was a lot.

Alicia did not have a steady job yet. She had quit her old job because she thought the pay was not good enough for her qualification and she had left when she did not get a raise. She had said severally that the cost of living in New York was high and she wanted something that could earn all three of them a decent life and some savings. She had not gotten the raise from her mean boss even when she had grown the company as an individual with her many contributions to different sectors and had even been a representative of the firm for a short time before she quit. Now that she had no steady job and the job offers she got were either from San Diego or Dakota, she had decided to stick around a little bit to see if there would be a good enough job for her in New York. She had used up her savings and they now owed the landlady but she was sure there would be a way to sort the bills.

As Alicia stepped into the tub, she remembered the mail that had come from the land lady only two days ago and she had threatened to have her evicted from the apartment if she did not pay up her rent in the next two weeks. How she was going to raise the money, she had no idea yet. Perhaps, she would ask Mr. Ford to lend her the money for the rent and then she could spend the rest of her life working for it. The idea seemed ridiculous. She just started working at his place and he would definitely find it amusing that she wanted to get a loan from him. And what if he demanded that there be an interest and if she eventually could not pay up?

She shuddered at the thought. There were bills to pay. Helen had been accepted by three colleges and she was yet to pick one of her choice. She needed money to fund Helen's schooling. And Tony? He had dropped out of college just the previous year when things had become a bit too tough and he had taken to doing menial jobs around town until a friend helped him secure a decent job where he earned well for the next six months until he had had too much to drink one time and had messed up before his boss. He was fired. They were back to scratch again. These days, Alicia worked extra hard to make sure they had groceries and everything they needed to be comfortable_except their rent which was the latest cause for fear_ .

She would take another job during the day before running down to Ford's at 8pm to work her shift that usually ended by 1am. She had been compassionate enough to stay with Ford and clean up the place with a few others and left by 6Am. She had her head throbbing and her feet aching by the time she boarded a cab back home. Things could not be any more difficult then they already wer. For her. She did not made up her mind on what to about her rent.

CLAYTON WESTMORELAND

Clayton westmoreland, first son and heir of the viscount, Hugh westmoreland is an Arrogant billionaire and lover, ruthless and brutal in his pursuit of endless wealth and fame and definitely the most desired man in the dating market. With his rich brown hair and sea blue eyes that always enchanted even the hardest and toughest of ladies. His hair was always trimmed to rest on the collar of his tank tops that he id fond of wearing and his skin, tanned and hard with muscles rippling are definitely worth dying for. Clayton was a man that knew the power and influence he possessed and never hesitated to put it into good use when the occasion presented himself. He knew he was in charge and would never settle for less in any setting. Clayton had never been known to simp over the ladies as they all drooled over him and he definitely was not known to make losses in business, probably why within the four years he had been the CEO of the company, they had become the multi billionaire firm dealing on real estate across the world. They bought, sold and owned properties across the globe and one could not deny that it was for Clayton's presence and seemingly unending wisdom that they achieved all of that in such a short time. Now they were recruiting people from all over the world and creating employment for many different qualified people from all around the globe. Clayton at thirty six did not think that marriage was a compulsory thing for anyone. He had all the women he wanted and had all the fun in the world when he wanted to but his father, viscount of Westmoreland and his mother, the viscountess, shared the opinion that as the only child and heir, Marriage was to be a very important aspect of his life. Infact, since the previous summer, they had bothered him so much and had made his life difficult by making him go on dates and meet with the most influential women from royal families some of whom he had once dated and had no desire to reunite and rekindle the old flames. His father had made him fly into England more than six times in the past few months just so he could be Introduced to several of the young women whom he thought would make good wives. It amused him on some occasions and irked him at other times that hos his parents would be that extreme in their pursuit for a future for him.

Clayton knew he already had his future planned, without a wife and kids but with more money than he could ever spend and at will, a mistress who would submit to him at all costs and would never question how authority. He was not exactly mad as he made his way to their home in England, the Westmore.

His mother, Abigail had been extremely nice and had touched his cheeks endlessly with her gloved hands. She still loved all the colors that she used to love in her youth, pink and yellow. Her dress was embellished with bright pink and yellow and so was her hat and gloves!

She looked dazzling as he looked at her and she made so much fuss when he had stepped down from the carriage. Coming back home compelled him to ride in the carriage and sniff the green leaves and thereafter, the cow dung and horse feed at the stables. Again, he would live the typical English life In England for the time he was to spend.

"Why, my dear, you look so tanned! Have you been running around in the sun?"

His mother asked. For as long as he could remember, she made no jokes with her complexion and her skin care routines, she had all the anti wrinkling creams from the best stores in london and she definitely did her best to look good at every hour of the day. One would see her at every hour of the day and she would look good and perfectly dressed at all time. Once, he had asked her if Perhaps, she did all she did because she did not want her husband, the viscount to keep a mistress and she had shook her head in defense.

"Hugh loves me. He would never keep a mistress. I am only doing all these for myself son" , she had said, even though the words did not sound true to even her ears. Two months later, she had called Clayton, crying. She had found out Hugh's mistress, a women who was divorced and was living off money of the rich English men as Hugh who funded her exorbitant lifestyle. It had saddened Clayton that his father had done that and then he had become very angry that he had called his father and demanded why he would hurt his mother so badly and his father had had no good excuse for his action. It was not a scandal. His mother had not made a show out of it. She had been quiet until her husband had disentangled himself from the mistress and had began to the husband she was satisfied with.

Clay had always thought that his parents were not happy together and he was right. Their marriage was one that had been arranges for political reasons by their parents. Once, while he was growing up, he had been aware of a scandal caused by his mum. She had kept a lover outside her home and she had planned to elope with the man but the words had gone round before she could do it and it had been one of England's big scandals for a family as influential as his. The man she had planned to elope with happened to be the lover she had kept since she was seventeen. Her first love.

His father did not divorce his mother after then . They had probably decided on something and they had agreed to remain together.

All of those things, the fear of losing interest In a wife and the demand to stay faithful to one woman or even the fear of ending up with a woman he did not love was all that made Clay decide to stay single. He did not want to have an arranged marriage like his parents did and he did not want to have kids whom might have to live all their lives trying to please him and practice the savoir faire of society and royal life. He would really hate to have them carry such burden..

His father was in his study and he turned swiftly when he heard the doorknob twist.

"Father, good to see you. How are you doing?"

" I am fine, my dear. I am fine."

" I see you were busy with that".

Clayton said, acknowledging the pile of books and magazines lying on top each other on the low table that sat right in front of his father.

" Yes, I was reading.... The london times. Have you seen the latest marriages in the news? The Earl of Edinburgh finally got himself a bride but it has caused so much trouble. She is American and she had been divorced twice."

" I do not follow the news, I never knew of the marriage and everything you just said but still, none of those things concerns me. "

" You sure it does not ? "

" Absolutely"

" Then, what is the news circulating about you? I saw in the papers that you have an affair with a woman of noble birth whom I know nothing of. How true is this claim, son? "

Hugh asked. Clayton was as surprised as one would be if he was told he was not a human being!

" What news? "

He asked as he reached a hand to his father and grabbed the papers he had been holding, sure enough, there was him holding a certain lady by the waist. He recollected very fast and burst into laughter. Hugh watched him keenly to see what he would do next.

"I am not involved with any woman. Definitely not that one in the papers. I had only been twirling with Mary Clark in a ball I had attended in london two days ago. A friend had invited me and I had gone. I have no affair whatsoever with the woman in the news.. what's with these London papers circulating fake news?"

He asked suddenly. His father only touched his glasses and balanced it on his nose bridge..

"So what now, what would you do now that the news is fake?"

"What do you mean, sire?"

"I had wished the news was true and I had been ready to accept this woman, but now, there is no woman. You do realize you just turned thirty six, don't you?"

" I know my exact age, sire. "

"I was married at twenty six. Ten times younger than you are now. Your mother had only been twenty one and we had been married. "

" You two were so young and hardly in love. You were match made, sire. "

That reminder was not necessary but Clayton could not help pointing that out. He had said it to his father several times and now, like every other time, he began to speak in defense of his marriage and confessing all over again his love for his wife, Abigail.

"It had not been very easy the first few years of our marriage but we had grown accustomed to being married.. everyone grows accustomed to marriage. There is no one person who does not adjust to marriage."