Arranged Marriage To The Billionaire Heir

I swirled the wine in my glass, glancing around the restaurant in boredom. I'd been waiting for over thirty minutes and there was still no sign of my parents. It's funny how punctuality was one of their favorite lectures. Yet here I was, alone. While they were thirty minutes late."Elena!" I looked up to see them finally approaching. My mum wore a ridiculously over-sized hat paired with dark sunglasses, her appearance drawing a few stares from the nearby tables. My dad, thankfully, had kept it simple in a dark suit and blue tie."Hi Mum. Hi Dad.""Hi, honey." Mum replied as Dad pulled out her chair. Neither of them acknowledged their late arrival. And I didn't mention it, just took another sip of my wine and waited for my dad to settle in."Elena, have you heard from your sister?" No greeting, no small talk. Straight to the point, as expected."No, Dad. I haven't.""Are you sure?" His tone made me bite down on a snarky remark. Eleanor, my older sister, had more or less, run away. An

I let out a tired sigh as I sank into the leather seat of the car that was finally taking us home. Well, not my home, Nathaniel's.The wedding reception had dragged on far longer than necessary. People kept coming up to congratulate us, most of them strangers, offering warm wishes and a happy marriage. If only they knew it was temporary, one year and it would all be over.Before we left the reception venue I'd spoken to my mum briefly. She told me she was proud of me and that she was glad I hadn't caused a scene. Not that it even crossed my mind to do that, I felt hopeless during the ceremony. And my thoughts were all over the place.I didn't know how I was supposed to be a wife to someone I barely knew. Marriage came with responsibilities I wasn't ready for. And pretending to be okay with that already felt exhausting.I leaned back further into my seat and closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. The nerves hadn't left me since morning and I didn't think they'd be going away an

The last thing I expected to do today was to meet up with my mum. For starters, we never do spontaneous meetups unless there’s an agenda behind it, like when she and Dad blindsided me with the news of my upcoming wedding.Secondly, it was the weekend and if you knew my mum well enough you’d know that weekends were sacred to her. Her personal haven that she took very seriously. Whether it was a spa day or a random trip out of town, weekends were her time and hers alone. Even Dad respected that boundary.So naturally, I was curious. Why did she want to see me? And why did she sound so eager about it on the phone?“Elena! Finally, come, come, have a seat.” I took in a deep breath and joined her at the table in the dimly lit restaurant. I hadn’t been here before, so I couldn’t tell if the lack of customers at this time was a normal occurrence or not. Either way, I was grateful for the quiet space to chat.I eyed my mum warily, my breath catching in my throat out of nervousness. Something

As we pulled up to the driveway of my parents' house, I couldn't help but wonder what exactly to expect tonight. I knew my dad would be his usual brooding self, ask a few questions, not a hint of a smile, then make a work excuse and disappear for the rest of dinner. My mum? She'd be friendly enough, at least to Nathaniel. She'd excuse herself to use the washroom after a while though. But I knew that was just her excuse to go and pop back her stress pills and chase it down with a full glass of wine before returning in a better mood, smiling from ear to ear. If she was feeling really bold, she'll return with the wine bottle.Whatever happens tonight, I just hoped I could leave as soon as possible.]The house looked the same, large, looming, but not as intimidating as most homes its size, thanks to its pale cream color that glowed gently under the orange driveway lights. The entire compound was gated, but the house itself was surrounded by a massive hedge that seemed to stretch for mile

"Elena?""Yep, the one and only." I grimaced as Calvin narrowed his eyes at me, his face a mix of surprise and confusion. Calvin and I had been friends since our freshman year of college. In fact, he was one of the few people I still spoke to after graduation. It helped that we lived in the same apartment building, I could see him anytime I wanted and vice versa.But right now, he didn't look too happy to see me. And I didn't blame him, I'd ghosted him for like a week straight. But to be fair, I'd been ignoring pretty much everyone. There was just too much happening in my life at the moment. The only person fully updated on the whole arranged marriage situation was Kaylor and that's mostly because she was the first person I called and poured my heart out to after hearing the news."Well, where the hell have you been?" I frowned at his tone, even though I totally saw it coming."It's a really long story." I groaned, handing him the letter. "I think our mail got mixed up.""You still h