Forever and Always

Chapter 1: Beautiful

She was just a girl who wished for the world, while he held it in the palm of his hand.

Sophia Drake was a woman of Intelligence and beauty. She often had the world on a string, wound tightly around her finger. However, she was broke. Dead broke. She had lived that way for a while. Her mother served as a waitress after her immigration from Italy. Her father worked as a mechanic, after his family came to America from Ireland. She was an interesting combination. The temper she held from both sides of her heritage, the Irish eyes she got from her father, Bright and dark green mixed with gold. That tanned Italian skin she got from her mother, and that mix of hair from both. Long, dark, and brunette, with tiny streaks of a rust color, much similar to that of her fathers. She often was alone, and her heart longed for a man to hold her like in many of her dreams.

Nicolas Knight was a man of strength, power, Intelligence, and much more. He was a kind of man every woman dreamt of. The kind of man a woman would only ever find in steamy romance novels or movies. He was all Italian, his family coming straight from Rome. He had it all. Dark, well kept, clean hair, tanned, muscular body. Strong, yet soft hands, and to top off his perfection, he was rich. Rich beyond your wildest dreams. He had the looks, the money, and hell, even the time. However he didn't have a woman. Yes, he liked his women very much so. However, when he had his scandalous affairs, it was to please the women, never him. He was the kind of man who wanted someone to come home to, even when he often didn't want to come home to himself.

He was an angry man when he wanted to be. He knew he had power and he took advantage of it. 'You do what you want, and in the end you will be remembered.' The words his father had spoken to him as a child still roamed his mind each day. He often hated himself for his anger, for he was a man of darkness, his childhood past often haunted him. And, when the night finally rolled around, he would either indulge himself in work, or lie there with tantalizing thoughts of lonesomeness.

She walked nervously to the gate of the mansion, a mansion that looked like a palace fit for a King and his Queen. At least three stories high, each in which she was sure was decorated with the finest from all over the world. Burgundy bricks coated the home like the frosting on a cake and a fountain sat openly just passed the gates. It was her first day as his maid, and she didn't know what to expect with a house like this or a man like him. She had frequently read about Mr. Knight in the papers. Often those same papers were the ones that had described him as an angry, yet handsome bachelor, that lived in only the finest homes across the world.

"You are the new maid, Correct?" The voice over the intercom spoke.

"Yes. I am." She said nervously, her voice with a slight tremble.

"Well then, Miss. Drake, welcome to Knight Mansion..." The voice trailed off before the black gates opened before her smoothly. What were she to do when she meets Mr. Knight? Bow at his feet? Kiss the ground he walks on? He was used to that. Very much he was.

She gently lifted the lion faced knocker, and knocked on the large door she stood before. 'A giant could fit into this doorway.' she thought. The door had slowly began to open.

"Hello, Miss. Drake." Nicolas greeted upon opening the door. And there, she stood across from a god that just so happened to walk upon earth. He stood in a crisp black suit, and a red button up shirt, with the first few buttons undone, showing a glimpse of his finely Italian made body.

"H-hello, Mr. Knight." She trembled. He was much taller than she, he being 6'3 and her only being 5'7, he was intimidating.

"Well don't just stand there and tremble like a leaf, Miss. Drake, come." He spoke sternly. His voice was deep, and attractive. He moved aside and raised his arm, motioning to go in. She did so. As she stepped in the door she was overtaken with beauty. Red painted walls, gold stairwell railings, dark maple wooden tables and so much more fine furniture.