Chapter 2
"You are always so caring, Grandma. I wonder what I'd ever do without you."
Grandma dropped her knitting tools and wrapped her hands around me, returning my hug.
"Of course, I'd care about you. You are my grandchild, and I love you. When you showed up at my apartment all those years ago, battered and broken, I swore to myself never to let you go. I lost your mother once. I don't ever want to lose you. That's why you need to forget about this revenge thing.
"Baby, you need to let this hurt go. Getting revenge on your family will not make you feel better ."
"It will! It will, Grandma. I will only have true peace when I have burned the Saunters family to the ground! I have nightmares, Grandma, I still have nightmares! Every night, I sleep, and I dream of my years in that house. The days when my stepmother would shove my head in soapy water, suffocating me and causing my lungs to hurt. Or the times when my brother would fling me down the stairs and laugh at my helplessness when I tried to crawl away in so much pain, or is it Estrella who not only beat me but spread rumors about me in school and ."I choked, tears falling down my eyes, "Stole my boyfriend."
Grandma wrapped her arms around me again.
"Don't cry, Sandra, all that's in the past."
"That is why I can't forgive them, grandma. They must suffer just as much as I suffered! I will get my revenge on all of them! Only then will I be able to truly rest."
The next time I saw Desmond he made a bizarre proposal.
He suddenly showed up at my office and dropped a file on my table.
"Miss Sandra, I have a proposal for you," Desmond said, his eyes locked intensely on mine. "Marry me for a year, and I will give you whatever your heart desires."
I stared at him, incredulous. "You can't be serious," I said, laughing nervously. "Is this some kind of joke? Or is this just a new way to flirt with me?"
But Desmond 's expression remained deadpan, his jaw set in determination. "I'm completely serious, Sandra," he said. "I need a wife, and I need her now. My parents are suffocating me, constantly breathing down my neck. If I get married, they'll finally back off and give me the space I need to focus on my business."
He paused, his eyes burning with intensity. "I have a new project launching soon, and I need to be able to focus on it without distractions. My parents' constant meddling is affecting my business, and I need a way to shut them down."
I laughed again, trying to process the absurdity of his proposal. But Desmond just waited, his eyes never leaving mine, as if daring me to refuse him.
I stared right back into his eyes, not intimidated.
"So why me? Why not any other woman on the street? Or one of your status?"
"I know you have a project you want to embark on as well. You need more funds and investors, don't you?" He asked.
"I do."
"If you agree to get married to me, I will provide the funds you need for this project, as well as the personal and advice. Someone once told me you will do anything for your business. Marrying into the Willis family will also bring a lot of opportunities for you."
"Even at that, I can't just get married to you anyhow Desmond ."
"Look, it's a contract marriage. We are only going to get married by law, nothing else. We can live separate lives and would have nothing to do with each other. Exactly after a year, we will get divorced. It's as simple as that."
I thought about all that he said. There was a benefit in marrying Desmond , but it was not because I needed his funds of family name. Marrying Desmond would bring me closer to my revenge.
If I needed to take down the powerful Saunters family, I needed all the help I could get. Though I had become successful, I did not currently possess the capacity to destroy them.
"I will think about it," I told Desmond .
Desmond stood up and smiled at me.
"Then I await your humble response. "
Resentment burned in my heart as the dream had reminded me of why I had become successful. To have revenge on my family.
It was their fault I had gone through that experience and they must pay dearly for it.
And in that moment I decided to marry Desmond Willis .
I was going to get revenge on the Saunters family, which I had left years ago. I had worked so hard to be successful so I would be able to exert vengeance on them.
All I needed now was a good plan and more power. The Saunter family was a big and wealthy family with a lot of power and though I had worked had to achieve all this, it was not enough to completely ruin them.
I needed more power and influence. I needed Desmond Willis so I immediately phoned Desmond .
The moment he picked up the call, I said to him;
"Yes Desmond, I will marry you."
It was a cold August morning, the day I got married to Desmond Willis .
I wore a cream suit with short sleeves, wore a small white hat on my head and held white flowers when Desmond came to pick me up.
My Grandmother had eyed Desmond suspiciously when he arrived at my house. She still hadn't agreed to me marrying Desmond but I did it anyway.
I had agreed to marry Desmond on only one condition. I would hand me thirty percent of the shares of his company as soon as we got married.
Desmond had been surprised, but had still agreed I wanted nothing else, only those shares. They were what I would use to elevate myself and climb up even higher on the business ladder.
As we arrived at the Marriage Registration center that day in Desmond 's black Maybach, I couldn't help but wonder how life would have been if I had not caught Armin sleeping with my sister that evening.
Perhaps, Armin and I would have gotten married this way; a low key wedding with only few people around. Desmond did not even inform his family yet.
Or perhaps, we would have had a grand wedding and our romance would have been the talk of town.
Either way, being together with Armin was no longer possible. Being with any man was no longer possible. This marriage was solely for business and nothing else.
Desmond got out of the car and held out his hand to let me out.
"Shall we?"
I nodded, took his hand, and we both walked into the Marriage hall.
By the end of that day, I, Sandra Saunters, had now become Sandra Willis .