A Quick Marriage.
1527 Words
~~Aurora~~
The city blurred past me as I pressed my forehead against the cool glass.
My body ached, every reminder of what had happened in the last few hours tightening around me like invisible chains. My nails dug into my palm. I wouldn’t think about it all.
Richard. Ruby. The stranger I’d given my body to.
I wouldn’t think about any of them. Or what the hell I’d just done.
Finally, I reached home. The moment my feet hit the pavement, a strange sense of unease settled over me.
Something was wrong. The house was too quiet from the outside, but as I stepped closer, familiar voices filtered through the door.
My father. My stepmother. And Ruby.
I froze.
“…Aurora will marry that old man,” my stepmother’s voice rang clearly over the others. “The wedding has been fixed.”
My blood iced.
Wedding?
No. It can't be.
The doorknob suddenly felt slippery beneath my fingers. My hand went numb.
Marriage? To an old man?
The words lodged in my throat, thick and suffocating. My pulse roared in my ears, drowning out my thoughts.
No.
No, this couldn’t be happening.
I pushed the door open with a shaky breath. My father sat stiffly on the couch, while my stepmother perched beside him, a victorious smirk curling her lips. My stepsister lounged against another armrest, inspecting her nails like this was just another dull afternoon.
All three heads turned toward me at once.
“She’s here.” my stepmother declared. Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she let out a tight smile. “Perfect timing.”
I forced my feet to move forward. “What the hell are you talking about?” My voice came out hoarse, the aftermath of crying all night.
“Aurora, sit down,” my father urged, his fingers rubbing his temples.
I chose to remain standing.
“I’m not marrying anyone,” I declared with a note of finality. I’m a goddamn adult. Not a ball to be tossed about at anyone’s convenience.
“You don’t have a choice.” My stepmother’s words were passive. Almost bored. As if anything I had to say was of no importance. “The papers have been signed. The arrangements are done. The ceremony is tomorrow.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Tomorrow.
I held the wall for support.
“You can’t do this.”
“Oh, but we already have, Aurora.” She tilted her head, as her lips curled into the tiniest smile. “Your father had no other option. We have already lost a good amount of shares. All the company has is what? Two months tops before we lose it all? We can’t let our family fall into ruin, now, can we?”
I turned to my father, my chest squeezing painfully. “Dad?”
Beside her, my father stiffened. His salt and pepper hair glistened beneath the light as he turned to stare at something on the wall.
He couldn't even face me.
Anger boiled beneath my skin. He had no words about giving me away?
The walls felt like they were closing in on me. All the years I’d spent struggling to be the perfect daughter to my father seemed like such a stretch. In the end, whatever his wife said or advised was final.
I’d always felt like a stranger in my own home but today, the pain dug deeper.
"Honey, our company is going down. Investors are withdrawing. We have to get the Hawthornes involved." Lydia’s voice was laced with panic as she coerced my father.
Hawthorne?
The name hit me like a cold slap. That was Richard's surname. His family. He wasn’t old, so… who else in their family was I supposed to marry?
Before I could voice my thoughts, Ruby strutted toward me.
Her tone dripped with mockery as she fitted her hands on her hips. "If you won't marry him, then who will? Me?" She scoffed.
"I can’t marry an old man! I’m too young and classy for that.” She whispered. “So you will. You’re older than I am, after all."
"Young and classy," I muttered under my breath, biting my tongue hard to keep from lashing out. After all, she’d stolen my boyfriend right from under my nose.
These people had a way of pushing you until you broke.
Ever since my mother left, since Lydia came in, giving birth to Ruby, everything changed.
My life had never been the same.
My father became a shadow of himself, a puppet for Lydia’s greed. And me? I was the disposable one.
The one whose boyfriend got snatched just because her stepsister wanted it and the one who has to marry an old man all because what? The family needs it?
I’m so f*****g sick of it all.
I straightened, forcing the fury bubbling inside me into controlled submission.
"Fine," I hissed. "I will marry him. I’ll marry whomever you say I should!"
Lydia's lips curled into a slow, satisfied smile. "Good. It’s the least you can do to repay us for all the good things we've done for you."
Good things? My lips curled into a tight smile.
Like stealing my home and turning my life into a nightmare?
Ruby smirked. "But your future husband is rich, though." The pleasure in her eyes at my misery was barely concealed.
I ignored her.
My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag as I sent my father a cold glare. He looked like he wanted to say something, but I breezed past him.
Lydia had him under her spell, and he was no help to me.
I would do this. But not for them.
I would marry this man. I would gain power. And then… I would destroy them.
~
I’d always imagined what my wedding with Richard would be like. A private event followed by a long honeymoon somewhere in the Bahamas, maybe.
Never in my imagination had I imagined I would end up like this.
In the backseat of a vehicle. With a white veil scratching against my skin, still covering my face after witnessing a five-person event that was meant to be my wedding.
I hadn’t even seen my husband’s face. Something about him being too weak to show up.
God.
The car soon lurched to a stop in front of a mansion.
It wasn’t the sprawling estate I had pictured in my mind…
No.
This place… felt familiar. Uncomfortably so.
Before I could process it. Someone guided me inside, with a firm grip. Guiding me into a small, stifling room.
I sat stiffly on the edge of the bed as I waited.
But impatience gnawed at me. My hands clenched in my lap. A restless grumble escaped me, muffled by the fabric. I couldn’t take it anymore. My fingers fumbled with the lace, and in one swift movement—
I yanked the veil off.
And there he was.
Sitting in the shadows near the window.
He had been there the whole time, watching silently.
A wheelchair?
A cold chill ran through me.
My breath hitched. My mouth went dry. No. No. N…
"I… I know you," I whispered, my hand trembling as I pointed at him.
It couldn't be real. Luther Hawthorne.
He wasn’t just some random old man.
He was him.
The stranger I’d given my virginity to last night.
I felt the blood drain from my face as the truth slammed into me. The man the world assumed was too old, and the stranger from that night…
They were the same person.
Shame hit me like a slap. I had… f****d him before.
What did he think of me? Did he plan this? Had he… known?
He just sat there, staring at me with eyes that felt like they were seeing through every layer of my soul.
I’d almost entered the bed when he spoke.
"Satisfy me, and you'll have your reward."
"A reward for each time you do well."
The breath in my lungs vanished. I barely noticed as he turned his wheelchair, rolling toward the door, leaving me frozen from what he’d just said.
Satisfy him? As in s*x?
The air on my skin rose as a shiver ran down my spine.
This wasn't a marriage. I wasn't a wife. I was a plaything. A body to use, to satisfy his needs.
He stopped at the doorway, tilting his head just enough to look at me again. His voice was quieter this time, but no less sharp.
"I'll reward your every obedience, but your disobedience will always be punished." A pause followed, but the promise in those words was deadly nonetheless. "I own you now. Every inch of you."
The words branded themselves into my soul.
A flicker of something dark and sharp ignited inside me. I’ve never wanted anything as badly as I did at that moment.
The thought flickered in my mind, a tiny spark of defiance in the suffocating darkness. What else was there to want or to live for, if not to make my family pay for this twisted game?
But first…
How the f**k was he related to Richard?
- Writer
