Chapter 9

~Charles

A hard month went by slowly; filled medications and physical therapies before my leg began to function properly.

Regardless of the pain and long process, I preferred it to the days ahead. Days that I would be a married man..

The day dreaded most inevitably came.

This won’t stop anything, I reminded myself as I stood there in front of a crowd of unfamiliar faces, about to marry a girl my father had chosen for me—a girl from a lower social class.

Yes, I had a one-night stand with her, but that’s where I wanted it to end. Fate, however, played a cruel trick on me after the girl had embarrassed me. As if that weren’t punishment enough, we were kidnapped.

A sigh escaped my lips as I waited. I wasn’t nervous; I just wanted it all to be over as soon as possible.

The only time I was pulled out of my train of thoughts was when the orchestra began playing the ‘Here Comes the Bride’ song—cliché and infuriating.

I felt nothing as the bride marched in, her father by her side. It