Chapter 1

• Corey stared at the very much older man in front of him in shock as he ran his hands through his hair. He almost couldn’t believe what the old man was saying.
• “You want me to get married first?” he asked in shock as the older man pursed his lips in a stubborn way while folding his arms together like a child.
• “Why? You can’t?” he asked as Corey turned to the woman seated beside him peeling apples.
• “Mom, you aren’t going to say anything?” He asked as the older woman also smiled at him.
• “You should listen to your grandfather. You are old enough to get married” she replied as Corey stared at her for a while before chuckling.
• “As if” he muttered as he turned to the older man while a huge pile of gray hair.
• “Grandpa, this wasn’t the deal. You said you would give me the company if I could revive that food factory and I did. What’s this nonsense about me getting married first?” Corey asked as the older man turned to him.
• “By becoming the President of the corporation, you need to have a sense of responsibility” he replied while Corey frowned and chuckled.
• “And you think I don’t have?” Corey asked with furrowed eyebrows and his grandfather shook his head.
• “I know you have. But getting married is like having a responsibility. You are responsible to your wife and everything she has. If you get married, I’ll feel more secure about you being responsible” he replied as Corey folded his arms.
• “Hey old man; I know your logic doesn’t even make sense to you” Corey started as he sighed.
• “Is it my fault your other grandchildren have refused to provide you with a great grandchild? Why are you hounding me of all people for one?” Corey asked as he sighed softly.
• “Get married my ass” he muttered as he walked out of the hospital ward not forgetting to slam the door behind him.
• He slipped his hands into his pockets as he gritted his teeth together while walking towards the elevator. A young man around his age dressed in a tight fitting black suit quickly pressed on the elevator button and Corey stepped in while he stepped in after him.
• “Fucking old man” Corey muttered as he rested his back against the steel wall while still spewing all kinds of curses underneath his breadth.
• He is the seventh grandson of Caleb Amante, a popular business tycoon. The Amante family could be said to be one of the biggest families in North America. They had a chain of businesses everywhere and anywhere. They were a family no one could mess with or get too familiar with. Corey’s parents were supposed to inherit the business as his father had easily proved to be the best option out of his children but he wasn’t in the least interested in business and had a much greater interest in the entertainment world. He started up his own entertainment business and in less than five years, his entertainment company was one of the biggest in the country thereby also expanding the Amante’s family business. His wife likewise, Corey’s mom wasn’t in the least interested in the company and quickly ventured into the health sector of the Amante business becoming one of the best surgeon’s in the country and overseas. Thus the responsibility of taking over the family business fell to the grandchildren. The Amante family had always produced excellent children and so were the grandchildren; to get their grandfather’s favor, they had had to work hard to beat each other since they were little.
• And among the grandchildren, Corey had easily stood out among the rest. Unlike the others, he never did really have to compete with them as he had always left them all behind and since he was little he had been the old man’s favorite. Since he knew he would inherit the company at the end of the day, he had worked twice as hard emerging as the best student from preschool to middle school to high school, he didn’t spare the University as he participated in all kinds of competitions with him emerging as the winner or the first runner up.
• By the time Corey was 24, he had a stack of certificates in his drawer and a room filled with awards in his grandfather’s house. He was already well known in the country and in the continent, everyone already knew that the Amante family business would be handed over to him.
• Few months after Corey clocked 24, his grandfather had sent for him and Corey had finally thought that it was time to take over the family business only for the old man to give him of their declining businesses and asked him to put it back on track, disappointed and livid, he had rejected the idea until the old man had promised him to give him the company if he could bring revive the company. With that promise he had gone to the company and almost a year later, the company was booming alongside with the other business. And according to the deal he and the old man had had back then, it was time to give him the company and now the old man was asking him to get married.
• Married?
• Corey scoffed as the elevator made a ‘ding’ sound and the doors slid open and Corey stepped out of the elevator as he walked out slipping his hands into his pockets while ignoring the giggles and whispers from the people in the hospital lobby. There were several guys clad in black suits outside the hospital and one of them immediately opened the door and Corey got into the car as the bodyguard who had been walking behind him got into the car with him.
• “Where to?” he asked quietly as Corey reclined in his seat and rubbed his forehead.
• “The company” he replied quietly as the driver ignited the car as a line of black cars rolled out of the compound.
• “Who was that?” one of the nurses asked as the horde of nurses turned to the nurse who had asked.
• “What did you just say?” another asked as the nurse who had asked the question looked at the other nurses nervously.
• “Ha, I don’t know who he is. I’m curious” she replied as another nurse laughed.
• “You don’t mean it”
• “You don’t know Corey Amante, the number one bachelor of New York city?”
• “Corey Amante? Who’s that?” the nurse who had asked the first question asked again as the nurses stared at her with furrowed brows.
• “I really don’t know him” the nurse said quietly again as another nurse shook her head.
• “I think taking your phone and searching about him would do you a lot good” she said as the other nurses nodded agreeing with the latter.
• “He’s so handsome,'' one of them gushed.
• “He’s always handsome”
• “I heard the old man of the Amante stays in the VIP floor”
• “Ye. I was on duty nice while the doctors were checking on him”
• “Really?”
• “Yes. The security is really tight and it’s hard to get to that floor without permission, the nurses and doctors who check up on him have special passes”
• “Special passes?”
• “Yes. Even the cleaners”
• ”Wowww”
• “That’s huge”
• “What do you expect? It’s Caleb Amante we are talking about here. The richest man in North America”
• “Whatever that is, I’m going to make a post that I saw Corey on my page”
• “Me too”
• “Me too”
• The nurse who had asked the question that spiked everyone’s interest glanced across at the horde of nurses who were talking and giggling among themselves while staring at their phones and chuckled. She walked out of the lounge as she stepped outside and walked into the restroom. She stepped outside less than ten minutes later wearing tight fitted jeans trousers and a bug round neck that hung loosely around her neck.
• “Amante Caleb is doing nothing at the hospital. He basically just eats and sleeps. Why the hell am I watching him though?” she asked no one in particular as a vice drifted into her ears.
• “Because we need to keep him in check” a male’s voice drifted into her ears and the girl chuckled.
• “Keep the Amante’s in check?” she asked as she shook her head.
• “I’m sure that sounded more like a joke to you than a statement” she said as the other party kept quiet.
• “Tell me the truth and stop feeding me lies. Why am I watching Caleb Amante?” she asked as she strolled out of the hospital building. The other party sighed softly into her ears and the girl swallowed her saliva feeling as if the sigh had caressed her ears.
• “You still won’t say anything?” she asked again as she walked into the café by the road side.
• “Last two weeks, a shipment of the Amante’s was hijacked by us but there was no movement from their end. They didn’t even make a report to the police” the male voice drifted into her ears and the girl furrowed her brows for a moment as she flashed a smile at the counter.
• “A cup of latte please,” she said quietly.
• “Sugar?” the girl asked and she nodded.
• “Lots” she replied as she walked to an empty table at the end of the café and placed her phone right in front of her.
• “Hijacking Amante's shipment? Are you guys crazy?” she asked in a quiet voice but her words were hard enough to pass her message across to the other person.
• “The organization thought they were shipping guns and rugs but the drugs in the shipment was for their medical facility and the drugs were approved by the Republic of China before they were shipped” the other person replied as the girl ran her hands through her hair.
• “So why wasn’t the shipment returned immediately?” she asked.
• “Boss wanted to see their reaction” he replied and the girl chuckled.
• “She’s crazy” she muttered, a small smile immediately spread across her face as soon as the girl brought her cup of latte.
• “Thank you” she said in a small voice as the girl smiled as well and dropped a plate of cookies beside the cup of latte.
• “This is for you” she said in a small smile and the girl chuckled as she smiled at her.
• “Thank you so much” she muttered as the girl smiled and walked away.
• “How many times has Bryan warned not to mess with these people?’ she asked as the other party chuckled.
• “No matter how we ignore them now, our paths are bound to cross in the future” he replied as the girl nodded.
• ‘You have an enormously good point but I’m not interested. I want out” she replied as the male party chuckled.
• “Why? You don’t like it?” he asked as the girl grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip.
• “No. The nurses are too annoying” she replied as the other party went silent for a while before a string of laughter that made her hair on her body stand on its end rang in her ears.