Even before she got downstairs, Carol could hear the strong voice of Mr. James raised in utter displeasure. She could not hear what her parents were saying, but even without hearing them, she knew that they were trying to pacify him. It seemed they succeeded in doing that because he stopped shouting. Carol hurried toward the study and put her ear to the door, trying to hear what they were saying inside the room.
“We can postpone the wedding though. We’ll find and convince her. I’m sure of it. All this is just cold feet, which is not a surprise considering the circumstances. Once she calms down, she’ll see reason.” Carol heard her mother say.“I don’t have the time or the patience for that. It was difficult enough convincing Sebastian to agree to this in the first place. He’ll gladly back out of the whole thing if he finds out that his bride has absconded. Are you absolutely sure that your daughter has run away?”“Yes. She left a note for us.”“Well, in that case, I’m afraid that there is nothing I can do to help you again. You’ve failed in upholding your end of the bargain and worse still, you’ve managed to utterly disgrace my nephew and me in front of our family.”“No, no. It hasn’t come to that yet. There is a solution to everything. We have another daughter, Carol. You met her yesterday. She’ll marry your nephew.” Belinda said hurriedly.Carol tried, but could not stifle the gasp that escaped her when she heard her mother say that. What sort of mother just promised to give out her children in marriage to a stranger all because he was rich?“Like hell, I’ll get married to him.” She thought to herself, wondering if she should just go inside and give her mother a piece of her mind, but paused at the next words that came out of the mouth of Mr. James.“That was not the agreement. Don’t get me wrong. Your other daughter is beautiful, but she was not the one we discussed. She’s not lively at all, unlike Victoria who is more outspoken and cheerful. You remember that my plan is to get a wife for my nephew, who is more like a son to me so that she can help him get out of his depression.”“No, no. Carol is lively and cheerful once she gets to know you.” Donald put in.“Okay. Let’s say that I agree. How on earth are you going to get her to agree? After all, you told me yourself that she has been trying to persuade her sister to get out of the marriage. Real foolish girl, that one. My Sebastian is the best husband anyone could ever ask for.”“I’ll convince her. You don’t have to worry about that at all.”“I’ll be leaving now to get Sebastian to the church. Make sure your daughter is there and make sure that she understands what is expected of her. If she’s able to succeed, then she’ll get the rewards that her sister would have gotten. We have just about an hour for the bride to show up at the church for the wedding, so if you can’t do it, let me know now so that I can just let everyone know that the wedding has been called off. Also, if you’re not able to convince her, then you know what happens.” The last statement was clearly a threat. Carol heard footsteps approaching the door and quickly moved some paces away so that it would appear as though she was just coming towards the study.The door opened and Mr. James came out of the study, followed closely by Donald. Mr. James did not show any surprise at finding her there. Instead, his eyes had a knowing look that caused a faint blush to stain her cheeks and caused her to avert a gaze after mumbling a greeting to him. He knew that she had been eavesdropping.“How are you, my dear?” He asked, patting her hand as he passed by with her father hurrying after him. It was no surprise that her parents were afraid of him. The man had an aura that commanded respect.Carol watched them until they disappeared out of sight and then turned toward the study to find her mother standing by the door and looking at her appraisingly.“You were eavesdropping. Come on in then. We need to talk.”Carol followed her into the tastefully furnished study and sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs by the fireplace as she waited for her mother to speak. She was not going to make this easy for her.“Um, how much did you hear?”“Just that I’m to be a substitute bride to the most reluctant of husbands there is.”“Sebastian is going through some things. That is why he is the way he is. Usually, though, he is the nicest and most down-to-earth billionaire that anyone will ever meet, or at least that I've ever met.”“I take it then that you’ve met many billionaires.”A faint blush stained Belinda’s cheek, but she ignored Carol’s statement.“So, your sister’s wedding dress is still in her room. It is already prepared, so you just have to wear it. I’ll do your makeup as I was to do for your sister.”Carol burst into full-bellied laughter at this, laughing until tears were streaming from her eyes.“What’s so funny?”“You really expect me to go and put on my sister’s wedding dress and then go and get married to her fiancée?”“We do not have any other choice. This is our last resort. As a matter of fact, we are extremely lucky that Mr. James is even considering it at all. If only you knew the number of girls who would give up their left kidneys to marry Sebastian. He’s one of the most eligible bachelors in this country, you know.”“Well. I’m not one of them.” Carol said in anger.“Please, Carol. Let’s not fight about this. Like you told Victoria before, you can always get out of the marriage if you find that you do not like it, although I don’t see how that is possible. Sebastian is everything that a woman wants in a man, once you get to know him, or so I’m told. I’ve met him before though, and he was the most charming gentleman I ever met.”“I want to know why I or Victoria should be getting married to this man in the first place. What hold has he got over you and dad to make him demand such a thing and make you guys willing to accept it?”At this point, her father came into the room and sat down in the armchair facing her. For the first time since all this started, he spoke in calm, sure tones.“Carol. I hope you know that your mother and I would never do anything to jeopardize you or your sister’s well-being or future. Before we take any decisions, I want you to know that whatever you decide will be fine by me, and I’m ready to face the consequences of my actions.”“Dad. You’re scaring me. What is going on? Are you in any sort of trouble?”“I’ve made a lot of bad decisions, and they’ve come back to haunt me. Okay here goes. I’ll start from the very beginning.""James and I used to live in the same street back then and used to be best of friends.” Donald began, speaking fast. “We were both very ambitious and wanted to make money fast, so we did a lot of things which, looking back, I can’t say that I’m proud of. We began to drift apart when I saw that he was peddling drugs so he could make more money. By the time I got into the university, we were no longer friends. In fact, I did not know anything about him. We met years later after I had married your mother. I had a gambling problem that had me owing millions of dollars and I sold the company to clear the debt. However, I ran up more debt after that and owed a huge sum of money. I pleaded with James, who by this time was swimming in money to lend me the money to pay my debt because the people whom I owed were after my life. He lent me the money, but I’ve not been able to pay it back.”
“So Victoria and I are to be used in helping settle your debt? How nice and fatherly of you. Where was mom when all this of this was happening?”“I was too ashamed to let her know any of it, so I just kept it from her.”“Well, I see what Victoria meant when she said that she refused to be the sacrificial lamb for you guys. If I were you, I would look for other means of paying the money, because I, Carol, am not going to marry anybody to settle any debt for you.”“It’s okay, dear. I would never force you to do that against your wish. I just thought that it was worth a try.”Carol absolutely detested herself for the guilt that came over her at this. It was not her fault. None of this was, so why did she feel bad about it? If it was something else, maybe she would have considered it, but this was too much.“So what is he going to do if you tell him that you don’t have the money?”“I’m going to go to prison, which I really don’t mind if that was all there was to it, but the company would go down too, and all those people would lose their jobs.”“He wouldn’t dare!” Carol exclaimed indignantly.“Actually, he would do more than dare.” Belinda put in quickly. “That’s still not all of it. According to him, we are no longer safe. In his own words, ‘my associates are not happy about this, and I can’t tell what they would do to you and your family.’”“What? What associates?”“Well, he wasn’t the only one who lent me the money. Some of his fellow drug dealers did too. James no longer deals drugs, but he still has ties with that former life. He says those people are not happy at all and he has been the one persuading them to hold back.” Donald said.“So how does my marrying his nephew solve anything.”“He’s going to pay up my debt if you do that.”“What?! He’s going to pay up millions of dollars for you and all I have to do is just marry his nephew? That shows how terrible his nephew must be for him to be considering this, not to talk of the horrible life I’m going to live if I go through with this.”“On the contrary, you’re going to be well taken care of if you go through with this. I think he has a sort of hold over Sebastian too to make him want to go through with this, but I don’t know what it is. Sebastian is a nice man.”“Didn’t seem like it.”“Time is going, Donald.” Belinda cut in urgently. We have to get going now.”“He’s just going to have to give you some more time for you to get the money. I can’t do this. Sorry.” Carol said, meaning it.“They have your Uncle Joe and they are torturing him. They sent us his ten fingers in a bag early this week, promised to send his tongue by next week, and then his head the week after that. If I still don’t come up with the money, they’ll take Victoria and then you, and then your mother. I’ll be the last one.” Her father informed her in a tortured tone.“Jesus Christ!” Carol exclaimed, her blood going cold. “They have Joe?” Joe was their father’s younger brother, who was very close to both girls as they were somewhat close in age. He was a surprise baby and was only seven years older than Carol.“Yes. I have nightmares about it every day. They’re starving him too, and sent me a picture of him looking like a skeleton.” He proceeded to show her a picture of her uncle on his phone. Tears sprang to her eyes immediately at the sight of him, even though he looked barely recognizable. He was shirtless and was held in what looked like a dungeon. He was also bound with chains and handcuffs, with blood dripping from his hands from where they removed his fingers. His face was swollen beyond recognition, but she knew he was the one nonetheless. The torture in his right eye which was not yet swollen shut like the left one was unbearable for any human with a working heart to stare at for too long. So she quickly averted her gaze, wiping at her eyes.“There’s also a video, but I can’t show that to you. I could not even watch it myself.” Donald said as he wiped at his tears too.“I heard something about a contract. What’s it about?” Carol asked quietly, all the fight leaving her immediately. She could not let anything bad happen to Joe.“It’s the contract of the marriage and what is expected of you if you get married to him. Now, I would never entrust any of you to such a family, but if there is one thing I know, it is that James is a man of his word. He has assured me that Sebastian has nothing to do with that kind of life, which is something everyone knows. James just wants to see his nephew settled and happy.”“What a nice way to go about it,” Carol commented drily, her mind still disturbed by the picture of Joe that she had seen. There was no question of going to the police as it would only worsen everything.“He is going to pay off the debt immediately after the wedding and then tell his friends to release Joe. Also, if after one year and six months, you and Sebastian do not want the marriage, you are free to walk.”“Does Sebastian know about any of this?”“I don’t know if he knows.”“I’m not doing this for any of you. I’m doing it for poor Joe who is suffering for what he doesn’t know about, and trust me, a year and six months from now, I’m breaking out of this bondage.” Carol spat at her parents.“Thank you, Carol. I’m really sorry about all of this and if I were the only one to suffer for it, I would gladly do so.” Donald began to say.“I’ll go take my bath.” Carol cut in angrily. She could not even look him in the face. She got up and looked at the wall clock. They had thirty minutes to get to the church. Luckily enough, it was not far from their house. There would be no time for her to do more than take her bath, get into Victoria’s wedding clothes, and go to the church, but that was okay as there was nothing festive about this sham of a wedding. Her mother hovered around, trying to make light of things, but Carol ignored her.“You look so lovely,” Belinda said, fussing with the wedding dress, which although beautiful and expensive-looking, was not Carol’s size at all. She was shorter than Victoria, so the dress was too long and pooled at her feet. Also, she was a little fatter than her sister, so she could hardly breathe in the dress.“Let’s just get this over and done with,” Carol said wearily, heading for the door without bothering about her makeup.The drive to the church was a tense one that seemed longer than usual. Carol sat stiffly in the backseat with her mother, while her father sat in the front seat beside their remaining driver. They had had to send the other two drivers away more than four months back. It was now everything made sense to Carol. Her parents were in serious debt. Looking at them, however, especially her mother, one would never guess. She was always clad in the latest, most expensive, and most fashionable clothes there were. It did not bode down well at all with Carol that they had to resort to using her as a sort of payment for their debt, but she could not let those bastards kill her uncle for something that he did not know about. Besides, she had no doubt that they would follow through on their threat to kill off the rest of their family. She only hoped that Mr. James would keep to his word and would help pay off her dad’s debt.
“You do have a way with words, don’t you?” He asked, in what sounded suspiciously like a mocking tone. “I’m sorry.” “You don’t have to be. My uncle is an asshole, even though I do love him. So why on earth are you married to me instead of your sister?” “Um, well. She…she ran… I mean, we can’t find her. We don’t know where she is.” Carol said, hating herself for the way her voice sounded so high and squeaky and the way she stammered. Sebastian wasn’t even looking at her. Instead, he was busy on his phone as he talked to her. What if he looked at her? She would no doubt curl up into a ball and die. “I can’t say that I blame her. I had the urge to do the same thing too.” Sebastian said in a sardonic voice. He did not seem to be particularly concerned, pained, or offended. Now that they were alone, a sudden thought that made her suddenly sit up ramrod straight sprung up in Carol's mind. Sex! What about sex? They were married for crying out loud. D
The car took Sebastian and Carol straight to the airport. The drive there was a quiet one, with both of them lost in their thoughts. Carol did not speak because she was tired and just wanted the day to be over, while Sebastian really did not know what to say to her. In a way, he felt sorry for her and could not imagine how she must be feeling right now. It was clear that she was the pushover of the family if she let them prevail upon her to marry a stranger in the space of some hours. He could not say he had been exactly shocked to see her walk down the aisle instead of her sister as he had sort of expected the stunt that the sister pulled this morning.Sebastian wondered what sort of hold his uncle had on her parents to make her consent to this, but he did not really care as it was actually none of his business. He would never understand what his dear uncle stood to benefit from his marriage to any of his friend’s daughters, but that was his uncle’s business, not his. All that m
“Gloria will show you to your room. I have to work. See you in the evening.” Sebastian said, and walked away to another part of the house, leaving her standing alone like a lost sheep. Carol sank into one of the comfortable armchairs in the large living room, feeling sorry for herself. It was clear that Sebastian did not want her here. The television in the room was off, and since she did not have anything to do, Carol was about to stand up to pick up the remote from the table and turn it on when a maid, from the looks of her, walked into the room.“Welcome, mistress.” The woman said, curtseying. “I’ll take you to your room so that you can rest, have a bath, and have a change of clothes.”“That would be nice, thank you. I’m tired and really need to get out of these clothes. By the way, it’s Carol and not Mistress.”Gloria, who looked to be about fifteen years older than Carol looked at her as though she was crazy and led the way up a grand staircase to a big and airy bedroo
Carol woke up by six the next morning feeling very refreshed. It seemed that the events of the day before had not even happened at all, but there was the diamond-crusted ring on her hand and the fact that she woke up in this insanely huge bedroom to remind her that it all happened and that she was now Mrs. Sebastian Jones. Stretching fully, she got up and went to take her bath, before changing into presentable house clothes and going downstairs to get breakfast. It felt weird, but not necessarily unpleasant having someone else prepare food for her. Usually, she just grabbed something to eat to and from her way back from work, as she could not cook to save her life, but now, there was someone to make meals for her immediately she indicated her desire to eat.This time around, she ate with gusto compared to the previous night when she lacked appetite. She was on her third piece of toast when Sebastian walked into the dining room all dressed in a suit. At first, he looked surprised
He took one look at her puffy eyes and an expression that she had never thought that she would see on his face crossed it. He looked guilty.“Hey, look. I’m sorry I said all that. I know this is difficult for you, but it is for me as well. I’ll try to keep out of your way and I suggest that you do the same with me so that we do not keep getting on each other’s nerves.”Carol nodded slowly in surprise thinking to herself that wonders shall never cease. She had not known that he was capable of offering an apology, but it was a good thing.“Alright. Later. I’m off to work.”“Okay. See you later. What sort of work do you do anyway?” She asked, knowing that he would not answer, and was not surprised when he walked away as though he did not hear her question. Carol sighed softly. She just hoped that he was not into the same line of business that his uncle was formerly into. The last thing she needed was for someone to come and threaten her or her family because of something he
Jessica Matthews whimpered softly where she was tied like a dangerous wild animal in a cage that could barely contain her. Her joints were stiff and her bones ached from where she had been folded into an impossible position so that she could fit into the cage. Looking at her, one would never believe that she had once been one of the most beautiful women in America. Now, she was all skeleton and bones and her dirty hair hung limply from her skull of a head.“Are you hungry yet?” The man guiding her asked, baring his brown and disgusting teeth at her in a sickening smile.“Yes, please,” Jessica replied humbly and feebly. She could feel the hunger pangs gnawing at her stomach as it had been doing ever since she got here. They had never given her enough food to satisfy her. Instead, they gave her just enough to make her live and suffer. She would have gladly killed herself a long time ago if she could, but she was watched and guided like a hawk and there was hardly a single
Carol sat on a park bench that was placed under a tree, totally famished and feeling incredibly stupid. After she left the house, she had flagged down the first taxi that she saw and asked the driver to take her to the bank so she could withdraw some money. Once she had done that, she had proceeded to stroll around town leisurely, just getting a feel of the place. From what she had seen so far, it was a nice place, and she would not mind living here one bit. She located a store where she got some clothes for herself at an affordable amount and armed with her purchases, she hailed a taxi, only for her to stare dumbly at the man when he asked her where she was headed.“Huh?” She asked, trying to buy time so that she would not look stupid in front of the man and wracking her brain desperately to see if she knew anything about where the house was. No, she did not know where it was, neither had she had the sense to ask Sebastian or even the gateman this morning about the address of th