From Escort To Fiancée

MARCUS

"What?! You can't possibly mean that!" I yelled, hitting my fists against the dinner table in anger. The stoic look on my dad's face told me that he was very much serious before he even spoke.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, Marcus but that is my condition and if you don't fulfill it–"

"Dad, you can't be serious!" I reiterated. I looked at my mom for support but she didn't even glance in my direction which could only mean that she and my dad were in on it. Unbelievable!

My name is Marcus Wayne and I'm the heir to Wayne Enterprises, well, was the heir until my dad dropped the bomb and told me that he wasn't stepping down from his position as CEO of the company until I brought a girl to him and showed him that I was in a committed and stable relationship. Blackmail at its worst.

How could they do this to me?

"Dad, you know how much work I've put into for the company. I literally worked my way up from the bottom to the top. You can't do this to me. Not now." My voice cracked and I could feel myself nearing tears.

Probably noticing my distress, my mom glanced at my dad who sighed and said, "Marcus, I know how hard you've worked and the last thing I want is for you to feel like your hard work was all for nothing but you're not getting any younger. You can't just focus on work all the time. There's more to life than Wayne Enterprises. Also, before you think I'm doing this just to spite you, the Board also feels a little skeptical about appointing you as CEO."

"Why? I'm the best one for the job and they know it."

"That's true but you're well aware of how messy your personal life is. The flings, the scandals, it's made the Board and your mother and I very concerned. We don't want to put you on the spot, Marcus. We're just concerned for you."

"Sure, I definitely feel the concern and love. Thanks for dinner, Mom. It was great," I said as I stood up and walked out of the dining room, ignoring the pleas of my mom and dad behind me.

On my way outside to my car, I made a call to Jonathan Watson, my best friend.

"Hey, Marc. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just my life going to sh*t. Are you still at the bar?"

"Yeah. You coming?"

"Yup. I'm already on my way."

I got in my car and began the drive to the bar Jonathan owned. I used the drive over to calm myself and clear my mind and I felt slightly better as I pulled up in front of the brightly lit building.

I walked in and headed into the office in the back where Jonathan sat behind his desk, waiting for me. I wasted no time before flopping down on the leather couch he kept in his office.

"Make yourself comfortable, why don't ya?" Jonathan commented snarkily but I wasn't in the mood for jokes. "What happened to you? Why do you look like a kid finding out that Santa Claus isn't real?"

"My parents invited me to dinner tonight, made my favourite dish, waited till I was done before telling me that I'm not going to get the position as CEO of Wayne Enterprises when my dad steps down."

"Wait, really? How come? You're probably the best one for the job."

"I said the same thing. My dad said something about the Board worrying about my personal life interfering with the way I did business. He also said that if I did want the job, I had to get married or be in a stable relationship which is just absolute bull!"

"That's not so hard though. You made it sound like you weren't getting the job at all. All you have to do is find a girl and date her. Easy-peasy," Jonathan concluded like it was that easy.

"That's the point, Jonathan. I'm not interested in getting into a relationship and my parents are trying to use my affinity for Wayne Enterprises to get me into one. It's blackmail."

"Maybe but would it be so bad if you did? I mean, the Board does have a point."

I sat up and glared him. "I came here so that you'd advice me or at least give me support. Instead, you're supporting my parents and the Board. What kind of a best friend are you?"

"The kind that tells you things as they are. Your dad's stepping down in a month or so. That's still enough time to find a girl you like and date her. It's not that big of a deal. I'll even help you out if you want," he added, sounding a little too excited in my opinion.

"Remind me why I'm friends with you again?" I asked, staring at him with narrowed eyes. Jonathan chuckled and batted his eyelashes at me. "Because you love me."

"That's an overstatement if I ever heard one," I grumbled as I laid back on the couch, a sigh escaping my lips.

Maybe Jonathan was right and this wasn't such a big deal.

*Three Days Later*

Jonathan was very wrong. I had been on seven blind dates in less than three days and each of them had somehow managed to be worse than the last.

This was why I didn't date or even attempt to keep a relationship. Flings and casual s*x was way better especially in the long run.

Now I was stuck on yet another date, this time with a blonde bimbo who had the table manners of a three day old. I couldn't count the number of times she'd spit on me while talking.

I might love Wayne Enterprises but this definitely wasn't worth it. It just wasn't.

"...and that was how I got this scar. Pretty cool, right?" the blonde sitting across from me asked as she once again unloaded another round of spittle on my face.

"Yes, yes. Pretty cool," I answered despite having no idea what she'd spent the last fifteen minutes talking about.

"I just realized that we've spent all this time talking about me but I barely know anything about you. Tell me about yourself."

"Me? Oh no. There's nothing to say," I tried to make up an excuse on the fly. Anything to keep from making conversation with Christina... or was it, Crystal? Whichever one it was, I didn't want to talk to her.

"I'm sure you're not as boring as you think. Come on. Talk to me," she insisted as she coyly placed her hand on mine.

I chuckled nervously as I slowly withdrew my hand from under hers and thought of something else that would make her launch into one of her stories.

"Tell me. Have you ever been to Vegas?"

"Oh yeah! Vegas... It's a pretty crazy story but–" she started and I exhaled softly, thankful that my plan had worked.

I tuned out Chantelle just like I'd been doing since this date started and played around with my food, hoping for a way out of this date to appear. It did appear eventually even though it wasn't quite what I expected.

About five minutes into my date's elaborate story, two waitresses collided into each other beside our table and one of them ended up falling right into my lap along with the tray of leftovers she'd been carrying.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, jumping out of my seat almost immediately. The waitress ended up falling backwards and seemed to be in pain as she tried to stand up but I didn't care about that.

"You two ruined my suit! Do you even know how much this costs?!" I exclaimed, looking down at my suit with disgust.

"We're so sorry, Sir!" they echoed in unison as they knelt in front of me.

On a normal day, I probably would have just let it go since I could easily buy the same suit a hundred times over but due to the anger at my situation with the crappy date I was on, I didn't.

"Do you seriously think that an apology will be enough? Will an apology clean my suit? You know what? I'll just go ahead and speak to your manager," I said and began heading to the manager's office.

"Please, Sir! You can't do this! I have a baby and I can't lose my job now. Please have mercy," one of the waitresses begged, almost in tears.

I looked at the waitress who'd fallen on me and asked, "Okay. What's your excuse then considering you're the one who did the deed?"

"I just really need the money. Please forgive me, Sir," she responded without meeting my gaze.

"Hmmm, let's see... If you guys can pay for me to get a new suit, I'll let you off the hook. How about that?"

"A new suit? But Sir–"

"And I won't be taking no for an answer," I cut her off.

Just then, the waitress who'd fallen on me groaned and rose to her feet.

"What's your problem? We already apologized for dumping a little grease on your suit. Why do we have to buy you a new suit? Can't you just get it cleaned or something?"

"No. I need a new one and you should probably go back to kneeling before I change my mind."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. There's absolutely no way in hell I'm going to apologize to an arrogant d*ckh**d like you anymore. If you want to tell the manager, be my guest, fuckface!" she said and proceeded to start packing the dishes on the floor.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. No one had ever spoken to me like this for as long as I could remember.

"Do you– Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Do you think I care?" she responded without even bothering to look at me.

Unbelievable. What was wrong with this lady?

Unable to control myself, I grabbed her arm and forced her to look at me.

"Listen here, b*tch. You seriously don't want to cross me. I can make your life a living hell!"

I expected her to back down and apologize or at least, look a little threatened but yet again, to my surprise, she shrugged herself out of my grip and pushed me to the floor while glaring at me.

It was at that moment that Christina, my date chose to step in and slapped the waitress across the face.

"Apologize!" she demanded but she'd barely gotten the words out when the waitress reacted by slapping her twice, one on each cheek. Both my date and the other waitress gasped while she continued to pass glances between both of us with clear hatred in her eyes.

"Let me save you the trouble, Mister. I quit and f*ck you!" she directed at me with her middle finger in the air. Then she turned and walked away.

As I watched her leave, the smug look she gave me before walking away was ingrained in my memory and fanned the flames of anger and revenge burning deep within me.

I didn't stay too long in the restaurant after that. My date wanted me to take her home but I wasn't in a very hospitable mood after my encounter with the demon in human flesh.

After cleaning up in the bathroom, I walked out of the restaurant and got in my car, still fuming mad.

Due to my anger, I wasn't very focused on the road and almost hit someone with my car.

I stopped just into time though but I still heard a thud outside. I rushed out and went to see if the person I'd almost hit was okay.

"Excuse me. Are you o...?" I trailed off at the sight of none other than the waitress from the restaurant.

My concern immediately dissipated and turned to anger. My eyes were narrowed and my hands were balled into fists as my eyes met her steely gray eyes. If she was a guy, I definitely would have punched her by now but she wasn't and the longer I stayed around her, the harder it was to control myself.

Deciding that she wasn't worth it, I took a deep breath and turned to head back into my car but she stopped me.

"Hey! Aren't you even going to apologize for hitting me?"

"I didn't hit you. Stop being dramatic," I said and rolled my eyes at her.

"How would you know that? I'm the one you hit. Can't you see that I'm on the ground?"

"Well, get up. Like I said, stop being dramatic. If it's money you want, here you go." I reached into my pocket and threw the bills I had in there at her. "There. Happy now?"

"Take your money. I don't need it," she told me as she stood up. I could see a bruise on the side of her leg from where I was standing but I refused to feel anything for her.

"What do you want then?"

"An apology."

I stared at her silently for a few seconds before throwing my head back and bursting into laughter. I laughed like I'd gone crazy for about two minutes before she interrupted me saying, "And what's so funny about me asking for an apology that it made you a lunatic?"

"It's the fact that you think I'll ever apologize to someone like you. Keep the money or don't. It doesn't bother me."

"Why won't you apologize? Because you have money and I don't? Does having money make you any more human than I am? You rich people are all the same: arrogant, entitled pricks who think they're better than everyone else. Guess what you're not!

We breathe the same air, have the same blood running in our veins, drink water, eat food even if it's not the same kind so get off your high horse and stop pretending you're better than me, douchebag."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at me as she kicked the dollar bills to my feet and jogged away, leaving me wondering why her words bothered me so much.

CIARA

I was still fuming by the time I arrived at the one bedroom apartment that was my abode for now. I tended not to stay in places for too long. In fact, this was probably the longest I'd stayed in one location.

I was still fuming by the time I arrived at the one bedroom apartment that was my abode for now. I tended not to stay in places for too long. In fact, this was probably the longest I'd stayed in one location.still fuming by the time I arrived at the one bedroom apartment that was my abode for now. I tended not to stay in places for too long. In fact, this was probably the longest I'd stayed in one location.

My encounter with the douchebag at the restaurant was fresh in my mind and I regretted not punching him. Pushing him hadn't been nearly enough considering how much of a asshole he was.

The worse part was that I'd actually liked working at the restaurant. It was a fairly decent job and paid well but I would have rather di