Judith's Pov
"Did Carrington send you?" I ask, as soon as Natalie leaves the room.
"Yes. I'll get straight to the point. Mr. Carrington has decided that if your daughter doesn't agree to marry him within the next 24 hours, he'll go public with something that will hurt not only your family, but will make you land in prison."
"The docks, 2003." The man states, and I lose my balance for a second. It was a secret no one could ever know. It was a secret my husband and I had to die with.
"She'll do it." I respond as fast as I can.
"Here," He brings out some documents and hands them over to me. I take them. He continues, "This states that she will not withdraw after giving her consent, neither will she ask for a divorce. Mr. Carrington will be the only one capable of asking for a divorce."
"She'll sign it." I respond, still trembling in fear. "I'll be back."
As I step out of the room, I exhale, a million things going through my mind. "Should I tell Francis?" I ponder, trying to think of what to do. If I told him, his condition could worsen. There was no money yet. "No, no."
I rush down the hallway, and enter the guest bedroom there. Thankfully, no one saw me. I search through the room until I find a pen. I waste no time signing the document. I'd just forged my daughter's signature. Natalie could never find out the truth about what happened that night.
I clean my eyes as I hear a soft knock on the door. "Come in." I begin to sob uncontrollably, as I see Aunt Ruth. "Aunt."
"My love," Aunt Ruth hugs me in a bid to console me.
"My mother says I have to marry that man, but I love Rocky, aunt."
"I know, darling. It's just, your mother already signed the document."
Natalie frowns, "She forged my signatu— My mother enters. She speaks, "And that document was legal binding, meaning that if you do not act accordingly to what is written in that document, not only you, but myself and your sick father will be sued for breach of contract. Also, may I remind you that we are broke already and cannot avoid getting hit with a lawsuit."
"I don't know if hatred would be understatement of how I feel about you right now, mother. "
Ruth adds, "Judith when did you become so vicious? I don't understand. This is your daughter who's barely a woman and you're trying to force her into something so barbaric?"
"There's nothing barbaric about her getting married. She can make babies already, I'm sure you know that because you two are fine keeping secrets." She looks at Natalie, "I know you slept with that boy from your school. I saw you."
I get up and look at her, surprised and embarrassed, "You watched me have sex with Rocky?" I can't help but chuckle in disgust, "You're the sick one!"
Judith says, "I'm not here to exchange words with you, young lady and you better learn to respect me. You have until midnight to pack your bags."
I enter my father's study, and just as I'm about to sit, Lea rushes into the study, "Madam, well. . ." I begin to panic, as the first thing that I can think of is my father collapsing again.
"Lea, are you okay? What happened? Tell me."
Lea replies, "Well, the hospital just called and Mrs. Judith has left for the hospital. I think something happened to your father. . ." She responds in her thick Russian accent.
"No," I whisper as I break down. I get up, and think of what to do. I rush out to find my way to the hospital.
"I'm looking for my father, Francis Richardson." I ask the hospital receptionist.
"Straight down to your left, miss." A nurse replies. I rush there as fast as I can. My mother is seated there.
"Mother, what happened?"
Judith gets up, "You're concerned now?"
"Don't you make me feel guilty. This is not my doing. Where is my father?" I inquire, mid tears.
"How dare you even step in here when you have done nothing to save his life? Your father as you so fondly call him just had a cardiac arrest and I had to beg these people like my life depended on it before they would even consider helping him."
"Your life does depend on it. He is your husband and I don't see what you're doing to prevent any of this." I retort.
"That is why you have to do as Carrington says!"
I sigh, "Where's my father? Please."
"Your father isn't stable yet and he will die the moment something wrong happens again. Natalie, you have no other option." She warns me.
Her words hurt me, and I stand there, defeated. "I'll do whatever it takes to save him, but does it have to be this?"
"It has to be done, Princess." My mother says, holding me. I have no strength to push her away. "Don't touch me, please," I jerk my hands off. "You're not a mother. You scare me." I clean my tears, "I can never forgive you for this. I will never."
"Go, get ready. Forget about Rocky, and think ahead, Princess. It's a win-win situation, Natalie. You're saving us all."
I clean my tears. "I'm not going through with it."
"You're a smart girl, Natalie. I'll let you decide. Assist your family or watch your father die. The choice is yours." I continue sobbing as I fall to the floor, defeated. How could I possibly tell Rocky such devastating news?
My eyes are red and puffy from crying. I'm dressed in a grey dress, ready to be sold off like a piece of furniture. My life had take a wicked turn in a split second. I walk to the balcony as soon as I hear a car arrive. I look down from the balcony. It had to be him, Carrington. As though he can feel my eyes on him, he looks up. Our eyes meet. I look away and retreat."I'm glad you made the right decision." Judith says, barging into my room. I look at her, anger and pure disgust in my eyes."Shall we? We mustn't keep him waiting.""Where is my father? Does he know what you've done?""Your husband to be is waiting, Princess."As I arrive downstairs, the first person I see is a tall, well built man. He looked like he was in his late twenties. He had blue eyes, and was blonde, just like me. He has a blank expression on his face. He must be Car
"I'd like to escort my father to the hospital before I leave." She demands as she walks up to me."No, you can't. I'll have some of my men escort him if you wish."She gives me a dirty look, "Don't you have a father? How can you be so cruel?" She asks, and I almost laugh. Father? I want to grab her neck and yell. Tell her that her father was the reason why I didn't have a father, a family for that matter. I chuckle. "I did, at some point." I answer, trying to calm myself. I continue, "But now, I don't and I certainly don't care about you or your father." The only reason why I was"You can't stop me from seeing my father, I will see him with or without your consent!""I'm your husband, Natalie," I say as I pull her closer to me, squeezing her arm, I continue, "and, you will do as I wish."There's so much anger and hatred in her eyes as she squirms, "In name alone
I glance at the clothes and look at the clock, it was almost nine in the evening. I was ready to go for dinner even though I was terrified. After dressing up and applying a thick coat of red lipstick, I head downstairs when I notice Carrington already on the dining, alongside the strange girl, Laurel.Carrington gets up and takes out my chair for me. I don't say anything but I give him the could shoulder and glare at him. I was petrified. He frowns slightly."Laurel, please, could you excuse us? Just a minute.""Yes, sure." She says, and I could swear she gave me a dirty look."Thank you, for wearing the dress I sent. I must say, it suites you."I chuckle softly, annoyed by his guts. "I told you to stop acting friendly with me. Stop pretending to be a good person, because we both know you're not."He sighs, "Look, Natalie, I really don't hat
I didn't know what time it was because I hadn't left the room since what transpired between Luke and I earlier on. I was curled up in my bed, with no tears left to cry. My mind drifted into thoughts about my father. I hoped he was doing well and recovering well. I missed him so much during these hard times. I wonder if he knew what my mother had done. If he knew that I had been sold off like a piece of furniture just to save our name and money. My mind drifts off to Rocky. Why hadn't he come for me? Did he hate me? It wouldn't come as a surprise after all, I did betray him.I had decided to take a tour round the house— if I was going to escape again, I needed to know every possible escape route. Luke's house was indeed very huge. There was a total of nine rooms and every room had a bathroom in it. There was a mini theatre on the second floor and beside it was a chapel with the statue of Mary in it. I had prayed there for a while, asking and b
Luke had offered to get me a glam team for my hair and makeup but I had refused, because I would feel more uncomfortable than I already was if he kept throwing favors my way.I am getting ready when the door opens. I look through the mirror to see who it is. It's Luke. There's total silence for a few seconds until I speak."What do you want?" I ask, still looking at him through the mirror."May I come in?" He asks. "You already opened the door, didn't you? Might as well enter." He enters, a box in his hand."What is it?" I ask. He opens the box and it's a ring. A very expensive, shiny, beautiful blue ring. I look at him, my face emotionless and his, hopeful."I realized that I didn't get to give you this because of the way things happened so fa—"You mean how you coerced me into marrying you?"He's quiet. He
Luke’s Pov"I asked you a question, Bart," I ask, wondering what it could be. Was he taking drugs?He gives a wide smile, "Nothing serious, sir." He replies, but I don't believe him. Naturally, Bart gave off an awkward vibe and his personality was negative. He always tried to play the good guy but any wise person could see through it. I don't believe him."I don't want you doing drugs or anything illegal in my home for that matter so get rid of whatever the hell it is you're on." I continue, "I need you to arrange a bouquet, a very huge bouquet of all the freshest flowers available and send them to my wife before noon, okay?" He nods.He looks agitated and sweaty but I ignore it and leave. I had a long and interesting day ahead."Good morning, Mr. Carrington." A female staff says to me as I walk the grounds of Carrington Enterprise
Beep Beep Beep, I hear, as I struggle to open my heavy eyes. The light is too bright, so I use my hands to cover my eyes."Where am I?" I ask, immediately my eyes land on Luke."You're in the hospital, Natalie." He responds and in a split second, memories start flooding my head. I touch my lips alarmed. I wasn't gagged anymore. I sit up and look at my legs. They were bandaged."I was kidnapped!" I say, my hand on my mouth. I look at Luke, "I was kidnapped, it wasn't a dream.”"I know. Do you remember exactly what happened? Where were you last night?" He asks and I freeze. Thankfully, Laurel enters at that exact moment and the attention is directed at her- something she must've been ecstatic about.I use the back of my left hand to wipe the nonexistent sweat on my face. What would Luke do if he found out I tried to escape again? Bloody hell,
Luke and I are seated on the dining as Laurel sets the table with our food."What's for dinner?" He asks and as I'm about to answer, Laurel begins to speak."Well, Luke, we were supposed to follow your meal plan today and we had already prepared that, but your wife insisted we make another dish even if I told her not to." SHE says, eyeing me slyly."Excuse me, Laurel?" I turn towards Luke, "Please, I didn't know you had a meal plan or anything- she didn't tell me anything."Luke looks at both of us back and forth, "Natalie, you should have asked. We have certain rules here.”I gasp in shock and utter disbelief. "I should have asked? I just told you, I did ask." I look at Laurel, "Why are you lying?!" I yell. "Luke, she didn't tell me anything, believe me.”Laurel is about to speak but Luke stops her, "Please, all I'm asking is th