Love in Troubled Times

by Gayle Riley

  THE END

  Bonus 20 of 30

  Soul Mates

  Description

  Rory wants nothing more than to put the past behind her. She ran off to New York city to become famous when she was eighteen-years-old to be discovered. But her only discovery was finding that city is cruel and expensive. She dreams of going to college and bettering herself while she waits tables and barely makes ends meet.

  Michael Venture is a famous billionaire who uses his fortune to change the world. On the outside, he’s charming and refined, but he holds a terrible secret. He’s a being from another world sent to protect the Earth from monsters that want to take it for their own.

  When Rory and Michael meet, she can’t help but feel that she knows him from somewhere and that feeling intensifies with each passing moment. Are they about to embark on a whirlwind love at first sight romance or are they soulmates meant to find one another over and over again?

  Chapter 1

  “Reports of a mysterious crime fight continue to come in. Witnesses report a man in a hooded jacket with tails coming to their aid during robberies, assaults, and other crimes,” the newscaster’s voice amusingly announced. “That’s right channel five viewers. What makes several of these cases strange is that they apparently involved deranged individuals, and some of the witnesses even described them as monsters. I guess it’s a good thing that this mysterious stranger is here to protect us all.”

  “What is this, a living comic book?” Rory complained as she adjusted her waitress uniform in the reflection of the diner’s window. Her boss had the television glued to channel five for a solid week since the stories of the renegade hero started being covered.

  “Who knows,” her coworker, Max, who worked in the kitchen called out. “I’ve got this theory that some rich philanthropist is behind it. Good Samaritan billionaire by day, vigilante of justice by night.”

  “I think you’ve been reading too much Batman,” Rory replied with an eye roll. At that moment the news segment changed to a story about how British billionaire Michael Venture had recently moved to New York City and was already putting his money to charitable good. “…or not.” She corrected, feeling a bit guilty that she was watching the segment instead of cleaning tables, but the diner was dead.

  Michael Venture’s face was young, he might have been thirty years old at most. “Must be nice,” Rory despaired. The girl was trying to save up for college and was failing miserably. She had been one of those eighteen-year-old girls who went to New York to be in the big city and get discovered. She was twenty-three now, practicality and desperation taking over. She took any job she could so she could earn a degree, but with rent and other things, she just couldn’t get ahead.

  “Rory, I’m cutting you. Go home.” Her manager swept in from the back room and made her jump out of her skin.

  “No please! I need the money.”

  Her manager looked around the empty diner. “There’s no one here, Rory. You can watch TV on your own time.”

  Fighting the urge to glare at him, she grabbed her sweatshirt and keys and hit the street. “Maybe I should have gone into stripping after all.” It might have given her a reputation, but she’d be much more financially stable.

  She was two blocks from home when she noticed someone following her. Rory cursed because she did not have the energy to deal with a wacko. This was the one thing she missed about the Connecticut suburb she grew up in. She never needed mace.

  “Hand over the money and nobody gets hurt.”

  Rory fought the urge to panic, but also tried to not make a situation worse. “Leave me alone,” she pleaded, “I barely have enough to make my rent.”

  “Me too, sister,” the mugger said as he approached her in a ski mask. “That’s why I’m robbing you.”

  Rory heaved a sigh, she was too bitter about everything wrong in her life to cry. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her tip money. “Here. That’s all I have.”

  The man snatched it from her and counted it. “Good, good, what else do you have?”

  “Nothing!” Rory exclaimed. “I’m practically broke. I gave you all the money on me and you have the nerve to want more?”

  The mugger pointed his pocket at her like there was a gun inside it. “I can think of something else you can give me…” Even though she couldn’t see his face, his voice insinuated terrible things. Rory stared at the mugger with wide eyes. Was it really coming to this?

  Just when Rory was convinced that she was going to get raped or killed, someone came to her rescue. They kicked the mugger out of the way and when the criminal went to use his gun, his hand was frozen like he was paralyzed. The assailant brandished an umbrella at the mugger and Rory thought she was losing her mind because she could have sworn she saw a white light spinning out of the tip of the umbrella as it opened and closed.

  “What the hell is this?” the mugger asked.

  “Ge out of here!” the stranger exclaimed, “But not before you give that girl her money back.”

  The mugger dropped the money before he dashed into the darkness. It was then that Rory noticed the jacket with the tails and underneath his hood, the man wore a mask over his eyes.

  “You’re that guy from the news.”

  He nodded and offered her his hand. She couldn’t see all of his face but she noticed his deep blue eyes behind his mask and he had dark brown hair that was cut in a short but stylish way. “Yes, I am,” he replied and Rory noticed his accent right away. She thought of the news segment she watched in the diner and didn’t know whether to laugh or check her temperature.

  “Are you Michael Venture?” Rory asked.

  The man looked at her dumbfounded before he grabbed her roughly by the arm and drew her close to him so he could whisper in her ear. “How do you know who I am?”

  Rory was shocked that her hunch had been correct. “I saw you on the news. It seemed obvious that you have multiple coals in the fire.” She put her hands on his gripping fingers. “Thank you for saving me.”

  The man seemed to relax a bit. “You needed saving. That’s why I’m here.”

  Rory furrowed her brow, trying to understand. “I’d ask why, but I probably should get home before another mugger gets the chance to rob me.”

  The masked man smiled faintly for a moment before he stopped her. “Actually, I have a proposition for you.”

  Rory’s mind instantly went back to the worst-case scenario, of what the mugger had been insinuating. Why the hell had she left her mace at home. “Proposition… besides seeing your face on television I don’t know you from Adam!”

  “Give me a chance,” Michael Venture assured, “You can trust me.”

  Chapter 2

  He led her to fancy car with blacked out windows. Rory felt dirty as she slid into the passenger seat. Michael Venture removed his mask and Rory took in his unobstructed face. He was handsome and the more she looked at him, the more familiar he seemed. Maybe it was because she just saw him on television but something made her feel nostalgic.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  Michael looked at her. “Wherever you want.”

  “My apartment,” Rory answered, still not sure how she felt about being alone with him. “After you tell me about this absurd proposition.”

  “Very well,” he began. “When that man was attempting to you, I overheard that you are in need of money.”

  Rory felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “Yeah… getting cut at the diner doesn’t help.”

  “Well I have tons of money and I would love to help you out.”

  Rory felt a strange mix of emotions at his offer. While it would significantly help her, she couldn’t help but feel like one of his charity cases. Then she couldn’t help but wondering when this was going to take a turn for the worse and grabbed onto the door handle in case she needed to make a getaway. “Well that’s nice of you, I guess. What’s the catch?”

  Michael Venture looked at her intently. “You were able
to see through my disguise, you knew who I was. I need someone to assist me in my crusade. Someone to help me differentiate my affairs.”

  “Are you asking me to be your assistant?” Rory asked with an eyebrow raised.

  “If you want to consider it that, yes,” Michael Venture answered.

  “You aren’t going to ask me to have sex with you for money?” she clarified.

  “Why on Earth would I do that?”

  Rory shrugged. “The mugger assumed I would do that, why not you?”

  Michael Venture didn’t look offended but his expression was strange. “I’m a nice guy?”

  Rory wasn’t sure why she was sharing this but she said it anyway. “I promise it’s not for crack or even to pay my rent. I’m trying to go to college.”

  He smiled at her. “I know.” Before Rory could ask him how he knew that, he continued, “You can still work at the diner if you like but I’ll expect you at my apartment every day and I will pay you whatever you need to live comfortably and attend college.”

  Why would Rory waste her time at that dead-end diner if she could have everything provided for her? She would work her ass off if that was what it took to make him pay her everything she needed so she could better herself. “I’ll try it,” she agreed. “But if things get weird, or if you try to put a move on me, I’m out of there. My diner job might be gross and pay crap but Max and my boss would never hurt me.”

  “Very good.” Michael Venture agreed. “I will take you home, unless you want to go somewhere else.”

  Rory shook her head. “With the night I’ve had, it’s probably best that you just take me to my apartment.”

  He put the car in gear and began to drive away from the alley way. For a while Rory didn’t say a word. She took in the car’s leather seats, sleek exterior and all the buildings that whipped by. The more time that passed, should couldn’t help but think of the strange light coming out of his umbrella. Had she imagined it?”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  Michael Venture still had his eyes on the road but he nodded. “Sure.”

  “How did you get the umbrella to shoot that light out of it? It was a really cool effect.”

  He smiled at her but didn’t answer right away. “You told me that you didn’t want things to get weird.”

  Rory furrowed her brow for the second time since meeting him. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “You may not like what I have to say,” he explained. “You’ll be quitting your job before you even start it.”

  Rory thought of the people who came into the diner, the dangerous walk between it and the diner, and the way her uniform always felt grimy no matter what she did to clean it. Surely she could handle any eccentric quirk that Michael Venture was going to tell her. That he dabbled with magic tricks to scare away the bad guys. Maybe he used his money to buy state of the art weapons like Batman or Iron Man. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  “Okay,” Michael answered. “It is true that by day I am a very successful businessman. I am the president and founder of a security company that helps people all over Europe. I am in the process of getting things started here in the United States.”

  “That’s very interesting,” Rory admitted, “but it doesn’t explain how you had a beam of light coming out of your umbrella.”

  “I’m getting to it,” he assured. “By night I run around New York City protecting people. I don’t have a name for myself yet. Maybe that is something you can help me with. I used to do it back in England too, but I knew I had to come here. That the threat was moving.”

  “The threat?”

  Michael nodded. “I’ve been at this for a very long time. How old do you think I look?”

  Rory thought it was a strange question to ask. “I don’t know, thirty?”

  “That’s very kind of you,” he replied. “Ready for things to get weird?”

  Rory grabbed onto the door handle extra tight. “I guess?”

  “I’m not from England and I’m not thirty. I’m over five-hundred years old and come from a place that is light years from light years away from here. My form changes every eighty years or so. You could say that I’m immortal. I don’t die, I become a different version of myself. If that makes sense. My job has always been to protect life forms from evil. This time it’s picked Earth to antagonize and destroy.”

  “Are you saying that you are an alien?” Rory asked.

  “Yes, Rory,” he replied, “I am.”

  Chapter 3

  “Stop the car,” Rory demanded. “Stop the car now.”

  “You wanted to know why I was able to do what I did to the mugger. I used my powers. I couldn’t just start with that without explaining everything else.”

  “Yah, but I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you were like that guy from Iron Man!”

  Michael Venture looked at her incredulously. “You realize in that story that he was kidnapped by terrorists and had an electromagnet built inside of him, right? That’s believable, but being an alien from another world isn’t?”

  “I’m actually more concerned how you know my name when I haven’t told you a thing about me. But yes, you confessing that you’re some sort of ageless extraterrestrial crime fighter is only a slightly secondary shock.”

  For the first time all night, Michael looked nervous and like he didn’t want to share the truth. “I tell you what. If you come to work for me and you stick around for a while, I’ll tell you why I know who you are.”

  The sensible part of Rory knew to run. That this was crazy but just like she looked at him when he’d taken off his mask, something gave her pause. Something told her not to run away. There was a reason why she’d crossed paths with him tonight. “Okay,” she murmured. “I have no idea why I’m trusting you, but something is telling me that you aren’t going to mug me or worse so fine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Don’t you want me to drive you the rest of the way to your building?” he asked.

  Rory shook her head. “I need to clear my head.” She opened the door and let herself out. “Where should I report tomorrow?”

  “192 5th and Park.”

  She nodded and power walked the rest of the way to her building and once she was safely behind her door, she tried to process everything that had happened to her. Wasn’t she just making fun of things for seeming too much like a comic book? Sometimes the truth really was stranger than fiction. She checked the clock before she whipped out her phone and starting typing out a text. It was to her boss.

  It’s Rory. I can come in and make it official but I’m giving you my two weeks. It wasn’t anything you did. Long story, but I was just given the opportunity of a lifetime.

  ***

  The next morning, Rory put on the nicest shirt and pair of pants that she owned and took the subway up to 5th Avenue and Park. She knew Michael Venture’s building before she saw the number above the door, it was the tallest and most extravagant in the area. It even had a doorman who let her inside.

  “Mr. Venture is expecting you,” he said as he shut the door behind her.

  The room that she walked into reminded her of a lobby in many office buildings. It was obvious that things were still getting established as there were plenty of things being built and installed as well as people at desks. Rory walked to the receptionist wondering if she misunderstood what Michael had offered to her last night.

  “I’m looking of Michael Venture,” she mumbled nervously.

  “Oh, Aurora Cummings?” the girl asked brightly, “Mr. Venture wants you to meet with him in his apartment on the 20th floor.”

  Rory looked at the girl in confusion. How did it seem that everyone knew her name before she’d said a single word? She tried to smile and play it off. “Great. Am I able to get there by any of the elevators?” She spied two of them to her left; did anyone have access to the billionaire’s quarters?

  The receptionist handed her a key. “Use this to access his private floors.”


  Rory thanked the girl before she boarded the nearest elevator. She put the key in the designated spot and heard something beep before the elevator took her to the top at what felt like a dizzying speed. The doors opened and Rory found her jaw dropping as she took in the elaborate doorway that stood before her. It was like she was standing outside a palace and she was on the twentieth floor of a high rise. There was a door knocker instead of a doorbell. Rory used it and several seconds later the door opened and Michael Venture was there to let her in.

  “You live on top of your company?”

  Michael nodded as he closed the door behind her. “Pretty convenient, huh?”

  Rory took in the gray three-piece suit he wore. He wore a blue shirt with it that brought out his eyes. Once more she looked at him and something about him seemed so familiar, but she must have been going crazy because why would she know someone who claimed to be an alien?

  Michael seemed to be looking her over at the same time, and she found herself becoming embarrassed over him looking at her in her gray button-down shirt and black slacks. “So what’s my first task?” she asked changing the subject.

  “Tell me what I can do to not be so obvious. If you knew that I was the one out there fighting crime, others will too, maybe even my enemy.”

  Rory explained that while it was great that he was donating his money to great causes and doing things to shake up New York, people didn’t always need to know that he was responsible. She explained being anonymous. “You can go to benefit dinners and things like that and you can make the occasional donation in your name but if you are doing these charitable things left and right you are going to be in the news and people are going to be visualizing your face. You haven’t told everyone you’ve ever met that you are 500 years old, have you?”

  “No,” Michael Venture replied. “In fact, you are the only person I’ve admitted that too.”

  Rory felt her heart race at that admission. This man confused her to no end. “Okay… don’t know how I got to be so lucky but…”

  “I told you I would tell you, just not yet.”