A few days later, Damian was sitting in his office, having coffee and working with his friend and attorney, Ric Valdez, who was successful enough to have his own law firm. They had been friends since childhood. Though Ric's family moved away right after they completed high school, he and Damian had stayed in touch, well, at least as much as possible.

His morning was spent drawing up contracts with his builders and working on the specifics of some land acquisitions. Finally, after a gruelling argument over the various clauses in the agreement they were working on, Ric let out an exasperated sigh.

"King, you're nothing but a slave-driver! I curse the day I agreed to work with you... no, no, I curse the day you were born. You're nothing but a white supremacist taking advantage of me because I'm Mexican. Damn you and damn all the Kings!"

Damian eye-rolled at his friend's tirade. Though Ric was born and brought up in the US, he always garnered sympathy with the ladies by playing the race card. He was a total Casanova and an attention whore with his olive skin, long black hair, and dark eyes.

In high school, they'd been a formidable pair. Both were excellent sportsmen and also quite good in studies. Despite his tirade, he knew Ric was happy he had contacted him for help in setting up his business.

Though Ric had a funny way of showing his thanks, and by no means was his snit over with.

"Did you so much as ask 'How are you' when you met me? With you, it's work and more work. Did you offer to take me out for drinks for old times' sake? We spent our youth together, man! Remember when we used to sneak into bars? Huh? Why don't we do it now when we don't even need fake ids?"

"Don't fret, princess," Damian drawled, shaking his head. "Your King's chariot awaits! It'll take you wherever you wanna go, but we need to finish these contracts first."

Unsurprisingly, that led to more complaints, until it was Damian's turn to let out an exasperated sigh.

"What do you want from me? Isn't it enough that you are milking me for all it's worth by charging me by the hour? What else do you want?" he inquired, running his fingers through his hair.

He was restless today. Mia hadn't answered any of his calls, and he wasn't sure if she was deliberately avoiding him. The only way to get some respite was to immerse himself in work. But his friend was in no mood to allow him that.

"Well, to start with, I want to know what's bothering you. You've asked Natalie at least three times in a couple of hours if there were any messages left for you. And then you act like nothing's happened."

Ric pressed his lips, scanning Damian's face as if the answer was written there. "What's going on with you? You lost touch with everyone. No one had any idea where you'd disappeared. And now that you've resurfaced, seemingly out of nowhere, you refuse to talk about what you were up to."

"Uh-uh...!" Ric raised a hand as Damian opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't tell me you were an apprentice in your uncle's construction firm in Joburg. For God's sake, why did you move there? And what the hell happened to you there? You were never this serious, man!"

With a grimace, Damian moved to the window. Who better to confide in than his best friend? And he did need Ric's help in matters more than just official.

"Do you know any attorneys who handle civil cases? I, uh- may need one as my dear wife wants a divorce."

Ric choked on the coffee he was drinking and almost sprayed it all over their documents.

He turned to Ric with a displeased scowl.

"Damn man, control yourself!" he scolded.

"Control myself? Damn you... you... you!" Ric wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up.

"You're married? And you didn't even invite me? And now you want a divorce? What the fuck, man?" Ric scoffed, "So I'm supposed to do what ? Congratulate you?"

Damian pursed his lips, looking out of the window again. No one knew he was married, not that it was a secret. He had dropped off the social scene some time back, so no one was wiser about his marital status.

"What did you do to the girl? Eloped with her to Joburg and abandoned her there? Oh no! Were you that bad in bed?"

Damian narrowed his eyes at Ric, but cracked a smile. "Oh yeah. Why don't you ask your ex-girlfriends?"

"Hey, not fair. That was rebound sex! And they were too heartbroken after I rejected them."

"Or maybe they rejected you after they saw they were getting the short end of the stick," Damian drawled, his good mood restored.

"Yeah, dream on, bro!" Ric grinned. "It's good to have you back! We really need to catch up, reminisce about the crap we did in college all night long." Ric shook his head with a friendly smile and took a seat, going into his lawyer mode again. "So, what happened? Are you going to tell me yourself, or do I have to beat it out of you?"

"I'd like to see you try," Damian grinned. At six feet two, he was taller and had broader shoulders than Ric. But Ric was a worthy opponent in the self-defense lessons they had taken together.

He sighed, not wanting to rehash the past. But after spectacularly blowing it with Mia, he did need some guidance.

"Do you remember Sharon?"

"Sure, you guys were thick in high school. Didn't you date her? Oh, so you're saying you married Sharon?"

"No!" Blond, blue-eyed Sharon was touted as the classic beauty and had admirers who attested to it. Never once was he among the ranks of her smitten, even when they were pretty close. Mia, on the other hand, had dark hair and stunning gray eyes. Although she looked poised and polished when she met him, he had a sudden urge to play connect the dots with the smattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose.

The girls didn't look similar, which was perhaps expected, and no one would mistake one for another. However, both girls evoked quite different feelings in him.

"Not Sharon. I married her sister. Do you remember her younger sister, Mia?"

"Wait, what? So, you're saying that you married Sharon's sister? What did Sharon have to say about that?"

He let out a long, tortured sigh and closed his eyes. "Nothing, she died in a car crash nearly three years ago."

***

Mia was staring moodily out of the window that overlooked her garden. It had been more than a week since the encounter with Damian, which affected her more than she would like to admit. She was embarrassed that she burst into tears around Violet, hinting at her vulnerability and insecurities.

It wasn't easy coming face to face with her husband, who had left her without a backward glance. It was even more painful to admit she had built elaborate fantasies in which he came looking for her and apologized for leaving her alone. In each of those fantasies, she had forgiven him.

Her husband had finally come back, but she had been the one who chased him down. She was afraid to admit, even to herself, what her feelings regarding Damian meant. She was nervous and excited, even concerned. Should she ask him what drove him to South Africa?

But, if she cared for him, even a teensy bit, where would that leave her?

Alone, heartbroken, and morose.

It should be easy for her to hate the man who married her and then left the country. She felt hurt and abandoned. But the circumstances weren't ideal for him as well, she supposed.

After all, he had done them a favor by marrying her against his family's wishes.

When the news of Sharon's death had reached her, she had rushed home from the university. Her sister Sharon, so vivacious in life, was laying lifeless in a coffin, dressed in white like a bride, but never going to see her wedding day. The somber funeral had ended, leaving her with unsettling anxiety and sobbing. She retired to bed feeling all alone again that day.

The next day, she gathered herself and ventured out to talk to her father. Jack West was sitting in his rocking chair on the porch with a beer. She kissed him on the cheek and sat at his feet. He took her sister's death the hardest, especially as she looked like their dead mother with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Her mom and dad were two people very much in love; their home had reverberated with laughter and love.

Her parents owned the Santa Rosa restaurant in town, and even though money was never copious, they had enough to send their girls to college.

The tragedy struck their content life when cancer intervened, capturing her mom in its clutches. She was ill for a long time and passed away despite everyone's best efforts.

Her papa changed after that. He missed his wife and wasn't around the restaurant at all. Slowly, unknown to them, their business started losing money until he had to borrow some to keep it afloat.

The place where he borrowed money from was King Investment, owned by the King family. He borrowed huge sums and was defaulting on it for the past six months. He never told Mia any of this before. He just declared he was bankrupt and received the final notice that they were about to pull the plug, foreclosing his restaurant within a week.

"Please don't let them do this to me, Mia." Her papa pleaded, his tired eyes filled with tears. "Not now! I've already lost Sharon; I can't lose Santa Rosa too!"

She remembered being shocked, speechless, having no idea things were this bad. "Please, Papa, let me know how I can help you? I've received Teaching and Research Assistance at the university, but I have little money saved up. How much do you need?"

"I need a hundred thousand dollars." Jack's gaze slid away from hers.

That sounded a death knell to Mia's hopes. There wasn't any money left. They were going to lose their only means of livelihood and, with that, all the memories of her mom.

She sat on the porch, her mind a jumble. "Isn't there anything else we can do? Please, Papa, let me know what else I can do to help."

Her emotions, raw after her sister's death, caused tears to spring up in her eyes. This couldn't be it. There had to be a way out!

"There's one thing, and only you can do it. I'm quite ashamed to ask you, but it's the only thing that can save your papa."

Only she could do it? "Please tell me, I'll help you in any way I can."

She had no idea that what he was going to ask would change the course of her life.

"Do you remember Damian King?" When Mia nodded, Jack continued, "If you marry him, Santa Rosa could be ours again."

"What?" Her head was spinning. Marry Damian?

Jack didn't look at her, but she could see the tears glistening in his eyes. "I don't want to lose the one thing that your mother and I built together. I've already lost a daughter-"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and surreptitiously wiped his tears, his eyes still not meeting hers. "You only have to marry him just for appearance's sake. Then, once he hands the deed of the restaurant over, you are free to get an annulment or a divorce."

She must have been staring at her father in shock, ill-equipped to process his request. He finally broke the lengthening silence with a strained voice. "Please! I-I won't survive if the last thing I love is taken away from me."

And what about me? She wanted to shout. Don't you love me? But only one coherent thought sprung to her mind, "Why do I have to marry him to get the deed? Why can't he just hand it over to you?"

Mia was jarred into the present by the doorbell. She rubbed a hand over her face and finger-combed her hair before hurriedly answering the door.

A young woman stood outside with a backpack and a suitcase. She had short, pink hair and wore a nose ring. Her light jacket covered most of her arms, but a few of her colorful tattoos peeked out. She had a pleasant heart-shaped face, and Mia struggled to place her.

"Hi, um- I'm here for Violet?" She tentatively looked behind Mia, as if expecting to see Violet behind her.

"Beth?" Violet had told Mia about her younger cousin Beth, who was a deacon's daughter. She had moved to Dallas recently. The last time Violet had spoken of Beth, it was to express her disapproval over her cousin's choice of career. Beth had gotten a job at a tattoo-parlor and was living with some guy.

Violet wasn't appreciative of her twenty-one-year-old cousin's rebellion.

"Do come in!" Mia gave her a welcoming smile and held the door open for her.

***

She shouldn't have come, or at least maybe called first.

Beth thought as she twiddled her thumbs while the bespectacled girl spoke to Violet on the phone. It was a fucking terrible idea to turn up at night without even calling first, but she didn't have anywhere else to go.

Johnny, her good-for-nothing boyfriend, oops, ex-boyfriend, had the audacity to smile when he told her he had bought pot with all the rent money she had given to him.

"C'mon, babe! Don't be mad. I didn't think about it. You know how I am! C'mon, you know you love me!"

For a minute, she really thought she would kill him. But after barely controlling her murderous impulses, she packed her bags and left for the address Violet gave her, saying she would always be welcome.

Except Violet didn't even live here anymore.

The girl who earlier introduced herself as Mia handed her the phone, and she got ready for an awkward conversation with her cousin. Oh, how she must have been gloating inwardly! She hadn't approved of what Beth was doing, not that working as a tattoo-artist was disreputable. But Violet was tactful enough to hold back the I-told-you-so.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry, I should've told you I moved out, and I'm sorry, I can't come over right now." Wait, Violet was apologizing to her?

She swallowed down her nervousness. "No, it's fine. I should've called."

"Nonsense! You're always welcome! I'm not there, but Mia will take care of you. She's an angel." Angel Mia was currently rummaging for something in the fridge.

"And if you're looking to stay longer, you can use my old room. It's furnished. Mia suggested it herself, so don't worry. You'll get along well with her. She's a sweetheart."

Beth thanked Violet and hung up with trepidation. As soon as the call ended, sweetheart Mia offered her some lemonade, which she accepted with thanks.

They didn't know each other, but Mia went out of her way to make Beth comfortable, plying her with homemade food after the lemonade. She was secretly glad; coming here had been the right decision.

"Just remember," Mia said as she backed out of the room after offering Beth bedding, "you're welcome to stay as long as you want. It's been pretty quiet around here since Violet moved out."

Beth smiled, feeling ridiculously choked up. Mia really seemed sweet, and with her glasses, she looked harmless, like she wouldn't hurt a fly.

Before she had moved in with Johnny, her previous roommate had been a stripper, and they'd got along famously. Maybe, unlike Violet, who could be stuck up sometimes, Mia was actually fun?

"Thanks a lot for taking me in!" Impulsively, she hugged Mia. "And if I stay, I'll pay my share of rent," she asserted, careful to not come across as a freeloader.

"Let's worry about that later. Why don't you get a good night's sleep? You must be tired."

She was exhausted, sure, but it was only eleven. Maybe Mia was open to hitting some pubs together?

"Do you need to be up early tomorrow? If not, could we hang out?"

Mia gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I have a class in the morning."

Just her luck. "Oh, are you a student?"

"Well, I'm studying for my Ph.D., and also teach a few classes. I'm a college professor."

Damn. She should've gone home to her parents.