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One
Annalise Conrad held the paper in front of her as if it was a ticking bomb ready to explode. The situation was surreal. And she wasn’t dreaming either. The document was a marriage registration. Once she signed it, her life would be dramatically changed. She would become the wife of Sven Torvik—the man who up until one hour earlier hadn’t existed in her life.
Sitting across her old kitchen table was Sven himself. Annalise guessed he must have come from Russia or Northern Europe, where the sun was shy and the winter was brutal. The cool, expressionless manner emanating from him could really freeze a room. Ice King, Annalise secretly nicknamed him. Sven Torvik was also a man of imposing stature. He was in his mid-thirties on paper, but he appeared to be in his late twenties.
Besides being very good-looking, he was also tall and athletic. When he had entered her kitchen, Annalise noticed that his head almost touched the door frame. He must have been at least six feet five or more. He had dark auburn hair and piercing blue eyes. His wore a three-piece black suit that screamed expensive in every stitch.
He carried himself like those who lived in the upper crust of society. Every fiber of his being exuded raw power and absolute authority. Sven was supposed to be a man with great wealth, the kind of person who would never patron a lowly establishment like the diner where Annalise worked. The way he wound his way into her little crummy apartment in the rundown part of Brooklyn on this cheery Saturday morning was sort of a miracle.
She had been reading the employment section of the newspaper, looking for a third part-time job, when someone knocked on her door. An impeccably-dressed handsome young man introduced himself as Sven Torvik, and he was the executor of Annalise’s estranged uncle’s estate.
Torvik came with two men. One was Torvik’s attorney, Hill Abbott, a man in his sixties with silvery hair. His friendly, grandfatherly demeanor had put Annalise at ease about welcoming strangers into her apartment. The third man just called himself Thompson. He was the city clerk whose services were engaged by Torvik and Abbott for a rare house call.
After the men were seated, the attorney explained to Annalise that her mother’s older brother, Seymour Dune, had recently passed away and left everything to Annalise.
Annalise was shocked. She had only met the man a few times when she was little. Uncle Seymour had always been an eccentric. He was a doctor and brilliant scientist, working for a giant pharmaceutical company. He traveled to exotic countries when he was young, and later on quit his job to establish his own company. From what she heard, Annalise knew Uncle Seymour was quite successful. But she hadn’t guessed he was that wealthy.
However, Uncle Seymour’s inheritance came with strings attached.
Annalise would be able to claim it if she married Sven Torvik for at least one year, during which she would take over as the chairman of Dune Industry. Sven himself was Uncle Seymour’s protégé, until he had decided to go solo and started his business. Uncle Seymour had requested that Sven would teach Annalise everything she should know about the pharmaceutical trade.
It took a good fifteen minutes for the news to sink in. She was surprised, happy, and then deeply concerned. She was glad she would receive some money that could be used toward her brother’s medical costs, but the joy quickly dissipated when she learned she had to marry a stranger for a year.
Uncle Seymour’s strings were a tall order for a reserved person like her.
The lawyer added that the married part was important even it was only a pro forma. By becoming Torvik’s wife, her position as chairman would be backed by Torvik’s credentials and influences. The board of directors and Dune Industry investors would have to think twice before they could plot something sinister to oust her from the company. Apparently, there had been constant struggles between Seymour Dune and the others for the past few years. Uncle Seymour had hoped Sven’s invisible presence would smooth out the tide for Annalise to sail on.
She focused her attention on the document before her.
The marriage registration had been prepared in advance. Some requirements had been waived due to the urgent nature of the business. All Annalise needed to do was to sign on the dotted line.
Still, she wasn’t sure that this was what she wanted to do. It didn’t feel right, marrying someone for money—even if it was money she desperately needed.
Her guests saw her reluctance. She hadn’t been given an opportunity to sleep on it at all. Torvik must have expected her to say yes on spot; therefore the city clerk was brought to her home.
Torvik glanced at his lawyer, but didn’t say anything. After a minute of awkward silence, Abbott cleared his throat and offered a sympathetic smile.
“Do you need more time, Ms. Conrad?” he asked in the creamiest drawl.
“Just…just for a few more minutes, please.” Annalise scrutinized the document for the thousandth time.
I can’t do this. I don’t know this guy. What if he turns out to be a homicidal maniac? Handsome rich men don’t just come to my door step and want to rescue me from my problems…
Annalise pursed her lips. Her hands trembled.
But I must do this. These men are the only ones who can save Robby…
“If I sign this, my brother can stay in the hospital, right? He won’t be transferred into the county hospice?” she had to be sure.
“You have my guarantee. I even have the power to admit Robert into the best state-of-the-art facility. He will be treated by the best doctors in the country,” said Hill Abbott.
His reassurance made Annalise feel a little better. The main source of her woes was her little brother’s health. She and Robby were very close, especially after they became orphaned. Robby had always been an active child. But a
year after their mother’s untimely death, Robby was diagnosed with leukemia. Then his kidneys started to fail. At fifteen, Robby spent most of his days in and out of the hospital. Money from their parents’ estate, and more recently from the sale of their house, all went towards the medical bills. And still, it wasn’t enough. Annalise had been working part-time to supplement the family income since she was in high school. She now worked full-time in a diner downtown. Five times a week, she also picked up a waitressing gig at a local dining hall. And still, even with all her hard work, she watched as her little brother slowly died.
Annalise put the document down and picked up the pen. Despite the reassurance from the kind lawyer, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to pawn her soul to the devil. But she’d be damned if she’d just sit around and do nothing. She would do anything for Robby. She had promised Mom she’d take care of him.
Annalise signed the document.
Hill Abbott and the city clerk looked relieved. Thompson checked the document and pointed out where she needed to put her initials and additional signatures. After he was done, he put his stamps on the document and declared that Sven Torvik and Annalise Conrad were officially husband and wife.
The attorney congratulated them. Sven smiled a little, then his expression slipped back into unreadable mode. Annalise couldn’t force herself to look happy. She was too nervous. The uneasiness didn’t go away after the city clerk gave her a copy of her marriage certificate.
She wondered if she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
Two
Sven Torvik had never thought the day he became a married man would come, nor had he ever entertained himself with such a notion. Nevertheless, at this very moment, he was happy.
He was a practical man, not a sentimentalist. His business dealings and work occupied most of his time. And there were special circumstances that made him wary of taking a mate. A secret that he closely guarded.
He dated. Quite often, indeed. But if things got too emotionally involved, he broke it off. The fear that his secret would scare away the woman he’d formed an emotional attachment to prompted him to put up an invisible barrier. You can get to know me, but never fall in love with me. Because of that, most of his ex-girlfriends labeled him as a player. Sven was fine with that. Being condemned as a Casanova was nothing compared to the freak of nature he really was.
Sven wondered if the source of the warm and fuzziness he felt right now came from the woman he had married.
On paper, Annalise Conrad was his legal wife.
And on paper, according to the prenups they had signed, he was only to teach her to run the company and then dissolve the marriage a year later.
Now that he’d met her in person, Sven had no desire to give her a divorce, no matter what. He planned to keep her as his.
Forever.
He had never believed the ‘love at first sight’ cliché. But when he saw her face to face, he was overwhelmed with an unexplainable feeling that she belonged to him. As Annalise contemplated her decision, the beast under Sven’s skin threatened to take over. Wanting, wanting, and more wanting; the primal instinct within him nagged so severely he had almost lost it. Luckily, he was a master at concealing his expression.
Later that evening, after picking up Annalise, Sven parked his vintage Bentley in his reserved spot. Now, in the passenger seat, his new bride looked tense.
“Why do I have to move to your house, Mr. Torvik?” she asked in a small voice. “I thought this was only a fake marriage.”
Her reluctance was palpable. Sven could understand her hesitation. Marrying a man she’d just met that morning, and then moving in with him in the evening, could be a nerve-wracking experience. Especially for a young woman like her. She’d just celebrated her twentieth birthday in the summer, but it seemed she was far more innocent than her age indicated. From the information he’d gathered, Annalise didn’t date or socialize much outside work. She devoted her free time to her little brother Robert.
