Chapter 9
Josiah escorted her from the house and into the back of the black SUV that was waiting for them outside the front door. He let her slide inside first then followed her. She looked around curiously as she settled in. There was a huge man in the driver's seat and the man that had opened the door for her was slipping into the passenger seat. Josiah pulled up a button on the door panel that resembled a window control and suddenly a black partition rose from between the front and back of the vehicle. She looked at him confused, surprised that was a feature in the SUV. She'd only seen that featured in limosines, not that she'd ever rode in one but everyone had seen movies.
"I have all my SUV's altered to have this feature. I enjoy my privacy when I have drivers." He said catching her look.
"Very convenient." She said as she turned her attention to the rest of the SUV.
She noted it was pretty standard, if more comfortable than any other SUV she'd previously been in. She slipped her seat belt on as the driver started moving out of the driveway. "So where are we going tonight?" She asked him out of curiousity.
"I figure we can have dinner at one of my favorite spots then go to one of my clubs in town." He answered.
"Oh, okay. One of? How many do you have?" She asked.
"I have four clubs in this city. I also own a few clubs in Las Vegas and New York." He said then decided to divulge a little more information. "I also own several real estate companies as well as several hotels. Though those are listed through proxies so that they're not tied to my name. I have a bit of a reputation, you see." He waggled his eyebrows at her playfully with the last statement.
"Indeed." She said, though she couldn't help a little laugh at his joking. "So it would be fair to say you have a little money." She asked raising an eyebrow in question.
"Yes, it'd be fair I have quite a bit of money. Why do you ask?" Josiah asked, though he didn't seem overly concerned on her reasons.
"I'm just surprised you haven't mentioned anything about a pre-nup. Since I bring nothing to the marriage as far as assets." She said.
"As I said, I don't foresee a divorce happening. I'd never allow it." Josiah said with a shrug.
"People go through contested divorces all the time. There are certain things that you can't control you know." She pointed out.
"As far as my life, my world, I control everything. I do not believe in divorce, nor do I believe that you'd ever want one badly enough to seek it out. Not if you give this half a chance." He said with a sigh. "But I can have a pre-nup drawn out to be signed if you want. But it'd be for your peace of mind, not mine. The fact you're even concerned about it to begin with more or less proves my point that you're the type of woman I'd want to marry."
She thought about that for a moment but gave a bit of a defeated sigh. She'd brought that up as a way to set things in motion that if she did try to legally get away from him that he'd be less likely to fight her too hard on it. If she signed an agreement that if she walked away from their marriage that she'd leave with nothing more than what she came with, she hoped it would be less dramatic if she did that. But his statement that he wouldn't allow it made her nervous. Would he not allow her contact with an attorney? It wasn't like she could file divorce from a man like him without representation. She figited in her seat, feeling uncomfortable. She never even considered the possibility of ever being someone thinking about divorce. She'd been careful to not legally tie herself to someone because she never wanted to be put in that situation. She firmly believed a marriage should never be entered with the thought that there was an escape clause. They did at least agree on that. But she always thought she'd marry someone of her choosing and for love.
"What is going through that beautiful mind of yours?" Josiah asked watching her worry her hands in her lap and frown at the window.
"I just never thought I'd ever be in this position. I don't believe in entering a marriage with thoughts of leaving it. But I never thought I'd be marrying a complete stranger as well. I mean, I know we have a week to get to know each other a little bit. But no one can decide a marriage is a good idea in that time frame." She said.
"What about all of those people that had arranged marriages that were married, even happily, for the rest of their lives?" Josiah pointed out.
"Well, back in those days, they were raised to marry strangers and unite families. Marriages were not about love or even friendship. Sometimes that came later, but most of the time they came together for the breeding of children and not much else. They lived their lives separately. Typically with the men having mistresses and the woman treated as a nun. Besides, this isn't the middle ages." She said and rolled her eyes.
"I know this isn't the middle ages, but could you not think of this like an arranged marriage? It may help you if you start thinking of this as something that you have the option to control. You can choose to make this a happy marriage, or you can choose to be miserable in the marriage. I assure you, I'll treat you how you treat me. If you try to be happy, I assure you it'll be very easy for you to be happy. We don't have to love each other to respect each other. We don't have to love each other to be friends. But I bet if you work with me that you can grow to love me." Josiah pointed out.
Rossalyn didn't say anything in response, just contemplated his words. Josiah gave her the space to work things out in her mind. They sat together in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. It seemed to be only a few minutes, though a half hour had passed, when the vehicle came to a stop outside of a restaurant. Rossalyn brought herself out of her thoughts when she noticed that they were no longer moving. During the rest of the drive she thought about his suggestions and agreed they made the most sense. There was a saying, 'mind over matter', and most of her discomfort and reluctance stemmed from her mindset that she didn't choose to marry him for reasons that made her life better. But she felt like he was right about the fact that she could choose to be happy and build their marriage rather than cling to the fact that she agreed to marry him since it was the lesser of the bad options.
"I'll take your suggestion and I promise that I'll do everything I can to help build our marriage up. I won't fight it." She told him when she caught him watching her as they waited in line to move up to the door of the restaurant.
"I'm very glad to hear that." Josiah said and gave her a dazzling smile. "Now lets have a meal to celebrate our union, shall we?" He asked as the SUV's door opened for him to exit.
Josiah had just exited the SUV and she was starting to slide over when a commotion broke out outside the vehicle. She froze, unsure of what was going on and was starting to look around. She heard a name shouted then Josiah was shoved back in the SUV and the door slammed behind him. The man from the passenger seat quickly got back into the SUV and it was taking off before the door even fully closed.
"What is going on?" Rossalyn demanded as a loud pop sounded from the rear of the SUV and Josiah shoved her to the floor and ducked over her.
"It's alright. It'll be fine." Josiah's voice was strangely calm considering they were being sped through the city much faster than what would be safe with traffic around them.
It took a moment before Rossalyn realized that the pop she'd heard was gunfire. That realization came when she heard another pop from behind them and felt her heart slam into her throat. "Someone's shooting at us?" She asked faintly.
"Yes, George is apparently in town." Josiah said with a deep sigh, but his calm was faltering. Anger was creeping into his tone at the thought of what could happen before he got Rossalyn somewhere safe.