From Dust To Dynasty

4

Why, you are asking me why? Well!" Diana shrieked, her voice sharp and laced with an icy fury that sliced through Caleb's drunken haze, and when she realised nothing happened he was just a drunk man she scolded. "Get out! Disappear before my brother gets here! He'll completely misunderstand this!"

 Caleb blinked, his vision blurring. "What's happening? What happened? Why did you slap me?Where am I?Why disappear?" His words slurred, thick with alcohol and confusion. He tried to push himself up, his body protesting with a fresh wave of aches.

 Despite her anger, the sight of his battered state seemed to override her fury, the raw, bleeding gash on his palm, and the swelling rapidly blooming on his face from the bouncer's beating. Her doctor's instincts kicked in, momentarily overriding her panic. She knelt beside him, her brow furrowed with professional concern.

 ---

 "Hold still"" she muttered, pulling a small first-aid kit from a drawer. She dabbed at the blood on his palm, her touch surprisingly gentle. "Nothing happened, alright? I think You were just… you came into the wrong room. And I lashed out. I'm sorry." She sighed, her gaze softening slightly as she met his bewildered eyes. "You clearly need a hospital, but you can't be found here. Not like this."

 She worked quickly, cleaning the cut on his hand and applying a bandage, then gently inspecting his bruised face. "Here," she said, finishing. "I've gotten you patched up for now. Take this and leave. Here's my contact information, just in case you want to get it properly checked at the hospital later." She pressed a sleek business card into his uninjured hand.

 Caleb clutched the card, still disoriented, and speechless 

 Diana froze, her eyes darting to the door fear gnawed at her. Her brother, Michael, had been relentlessly watching her, hoping to catch her in any misstep that would justify his own agenda with their father. If he walked in now, her life would be over.

 She looked at Caleb’s dazed eyes. "Listen to me again, you need to snap out of it, nothing happened between us, I fixed you up because I couldn't ignore you so don't misunderstand" . "

 "But... why, Who? Why ?" The incomplete questions tumbled out, he was lost in the situation, he didn't even know what to say, everything was moving so fast he couldn't make sense of it.

 Diana Reed had to think fast. "No question, get out now, hurry!" she urged, her voice low and urgent. She placed her hands on his shoulders, physically pushing him towards the door. "Hurry and get out before my brother or father sees you!"

 Still shirtless and dazed, Caleb stumbled into the brightly lit hallway, fumbling with his belt. He clutched his own work jacket in one hand, and in the other, without realizing it, Diana's silk robe, mistaking it for his own shirt. The corridor was long, lined with expensive art. He just needed to get to the service exit.

 As he shuffled away, a new set of footsteps approached. Michael, Diana’s brother, rounded the corner, a smirk already forming on his face. Behind him, Mr. Reed, their father, walked with a measured, imposing stride.

 "Look, Father! There's a man coming out of Diana's room!" Michael gesture wildly, snapping a photo of Caleb’s retreating, back with his phone. He turned to show his father, but in that brief moment, Caleb, still moving sluggishly, had managed to slip into a service stairwell and disappear.

 "Hurry!" Michael ordered his private guards, already pulling up the photo of Caleb he'd just taken. "Look for the man wearing this! Find him!" The guards, well-trained and efficient, fanned out immediately.

 Caleb successfully escaped the Drip complex, his drunken state ironically aiding his clumsy evasion. He still didn't remember exactly what had happened. He just knew he had to get home.

 On his way, still astride his bike, he spotted a familiar figure in the pre-dawn light: Mr. Reyson, his boss from Drip club, standing by the roadside, looking impatient.

 "I was about to go look for you," Reyson grumbled, holding out a white envelope. "Here. This is your payment for the few hours you worked. Don't show your face around here again. You're fired."

 Caleb stared at the envelope, then at Reyson’s disgusted face. The words "fired" hit him harder than the blow from the bouncer. Something clicked. He looked down at himself, confirming he was shirtless beneath his open work jacket. He wasn't wearing his shirt; he was clutching a soft, silky fabric that definitely wasn't his. Part of the memory started to return: the tequila, the fall, the blurry faces, the beating. He clutched Diana's card in his hand, a strange mix of confusion and a faint recognition of his predicament beginning to dawn. He remembered being fired, but the events in the room were still a gaping hole.

 ---

 Meanwhile, back in the hotel suite, Mr. Reed turned to Diana, his face stern. 

 "Who was that young man that just walked out of your suite?" He questioned 

 "Who?, father are you sure you are not mistaken?" Diana tried to write it off but her brother 

 Michael eagerly showed his father the blurry side-profile picture of Caleb on his phone.

 "He looked so poor, Father," Michael sneered, "and so dirty, I told you but you didn't believe, she sleeps around with different men."

 Diana’s gaze hardened. She knew this was Michael’s play to force her hand regarding the arranged marriage. She also knew her father's rules.

 "Fine," Diana said, her voice surprisingly steady, considering the tremors in her hands. "You caught me. He is my lover." She met her father's eyes directly. "And I don't want to marry the person you've set me up with. In fact, I don't want to get married at all right now."

 Mr. Reed's eyes narrowed. "Find the mysterious man, Michael," he instructed his son, his voice low and dangerous. "If he turns out to be exactly what you thought—give him money, and make him disappear from her life." He turned back to Diana, his expression unyielding. "This is the last warning from me, Diana. By the end of next month, I want you to present the man you intend to marry. Otherwise, you will marry the one we've planned for you."

 He delivered the ultimatum, knowing full well that he had just instructed Michael to ensure Caleb would never

be seen near Diana again, thereby forcing her into the pre-arranged marriage.