Chapter Six

  

  Miriam barely made it to her room before the sobs took over. She collapsed on her bed, her whole body shaking with the force of her crying. Everything hurts. Her chest, her throat, her heart. Especially her heart, which felt like it had shattered into a thousand pieces.

  

  How could he do this? How could Thomas Wellington look his daughter in the eye and tell her she had to marry a stranger? For what? Money they already had? Power they already wielded? Some corporate merger that would make him look good at the country club?

  

  She thought about her mother. Sarah Wellington, who’d died when Miriam was just six months old. The mother she’d never known, never gotten to hug, never heard say “I love you.” Would Sarah have let this happen? Would she have stood by and watched her daughter be traded like property?

  

  No. Miriam was sure of that, even though she’d never known her mother. Sarah wouldn’t have allowed it. But Sarah was gone, had been gone for twenty-four years, and Miriam was alone in this house with people who saw her as an obstacle to be removed.

  

  Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. Through her tears, Miriam saw Emily’s name and grabbed it like a lifeline.

  

  “Em,” she gasped out.

  

  “Whoa, Miri? What happened? Are you crying?”

  

  “They want me to marry him.” The words came out choked and broken. “Emily, they want me to marry Damien Rhodes.”

  

  “What? Who’s Damien Rhodes?”

  

  “Lucas’s friend. He has been showing up a lot lately. He made some kind of deal with my dad, some business partnership, and he wants to marry me, and Dad said yes.” Miriam could barely get the words out through her sobs. “He said yes without even asking me. He called me down to his study with Margaret and just told me I have to marry this guy I’ve met maybe three times, and when I said no, he said it’s not negotiable. That the arrangement is already made.”

  

  “Jesus Christ,” Emily breathed. “Miri, that’s insane. They can’t do that. They can’t force you to marry someone.”

  

  “Can’t they?” Miriam laughed bitterly through her tears. “I can’t even make my own decisions.

  

  I wish I got a place like you suggested, I need a break from this house.

  

  “You come stay with me the second I get back. We’ll figure this out together.”

  

  “Okay” Miriam said in tears

  

  “I barely know him, Em. I’ve seen him maybe three times and every single time he looks at me like I’m something he wants to own. And now they expect me to marry him? To spend the rest of my life with someone I don’t love, don’t even like?”

  

  “What do you mean he looks at you like he wants to own you?”

  

  “There’s something about him. I can feel it. The way he watches me, the way he smiles, it’s not right.” Miriam shivered. “Lucas warned me to stay away from him, but he won’t tell me why. And now they want me to marry him?”

  

  “Lucas knows something,” Emily said immediately. “If your brother warned you about this guy, there’s a reason. A bad one.”

  

  “But I don’t want to talk to him, I have been avoiding him since the promotion thing.”

  

  “You have to talk to him Miri”. Hold on for three more days and we’ll figure this out together, okay?”

  

  “Okay,” Miriam whispered, even though she had no idea how she was supposed to hold on when her world was falling apart.

  

  After they hung up, Miriam lay in the darkness, staring at the ceiling. Somewhere in this house, her father was probably convincing himself he had done the right thing. That he was securing her future, protecting the company, fulfilling his duty as head of the Wellington family. Margaret was probably celebrating, already planning how to get Miriam out of the house as quickly as possible.

  

  And Lucas was probably drowning in guilt but still doing nothing to help her.

  

  Damien Rhodes, wherever he was, was probably already planning their wedding to a woman who wanted nothing to do with him.

  

  Miriam curled onto her side, hugging her pillow, and let herself break down completely. She cried for the promotion she’d earned and lost. She cried for the father who’d chosen a business deal over her happiness. She cried for the mother she’d never known but desperately needed. She cried for the life she’d thought she was building and the nightmare her future had become.

  

  And then, slowly, her thoughts began to shift.

  

  Fighting them would mean war, endless arguments, pressure, isolation. She already knew how that would end. They would wear her down. They always did.

  

  But leaving… leaving this house…

  

  That thought lingered.

  

  Marriage would take her away from here. Away from the cold dinners, the silent judgments, the feeling of being trapped in a place that had never really been home.

  

  If the only people she had ever known couldn’t even make her feel safe… then maybe safety wasn’t here to begin with.

  

  Maybe it was somewhere else.

  

  Maybe… it was there.

  

  The idea didn’t comfort her, but it calmed something inside her.

  

  Morning came too quickly.

  

  Miriam didn’t remember falling asleep, only the dull ache behind her eyes when she woke up. For a few seconds, she lay still, staring at the ornate ceiling, her mind blank.

  

  Then it all came rushing back.

  

  The deal. The argument. Damien Rhodes.

  

  Her decision.

  

  She sat up slowly, the weight of it settling over her like something solid. Not panic this time. Not anger.

  

  Something colder.

  

  By the time she got dressed, she looked like herself again—perfectly put together, every detail in place. Anyone who saw her would think nothing was wrong.

  

  That was the point.

  

  Thomas was in the dining room when she walked in, reading through a stack of documents, his glasses low on his nose. He looked up, mildly surprised.

  

  “You’re up early.”

  

  Miriam pulled out a chair and sat across from him, folding her hands neatly on the table to stop them from shaking.

  

  “We need to talk.”

  

  Something in her tone made him set the papers aside. “Alright.”

  

  For a moment, she just looked at him.

  

  Her father.

  

  The man who had decided her future like it was a line item in a contract.

  

  Then she spoke.

  

  “I’ll do it.”

  

  Thomas frowned slightly. “Do what?”

  

  “I’ll marry him.” Her voice didn’t waver. “Damien Rhodes.”

  

  Silence filled the room.

  

  He stared at her, clearly not expecting that. “Miriam…”

  

  “You were right,” she continued, cutting him off before he could question it. “This is bigger than me. The company, the family… I understand that now.”

  

  That part tasted like a lie, but she delivered it flawlessly.

  

  Thomas leaned back in his chair, studying her carefully. “That’s… quite a change from yesterday.”

  

  “I’ve had time to think.” She held his gaze, steady and unreadable. “Fighting this won’t change anything. It’ll just make things worse.”

  

  That, at least, was true.

  

  “And you’re certain?” he asked.

  

  No.

  

  But she nodded anyway.

  

  “Yes.”

  

  Another pause. Then, slowly, something like approval settled into his expression.

  

  “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” he said. “This is the right decision—for everyone.”

  

  Miriam felt something twist in her chest at that, but she didn’t let it show.

  

  “When do you want to set the date?” she asked.

  

  Thomas reached for his phone almost immediately, already shifting into business mode. “I’ll speak to Damien and his team. We’ll arrange something soon. There’s a lot to organize.”

  

  “Of course.”

  

  He looked at her again, softer this time. “You’re doing the right thing, Miriam.”

  

  She stood before he could say anything else.

  

  “I know.”I will see you at the office dad.

  

  But as she turned and walked out of the room, her expression hardened, the calm mask slipping just enough for the truth to surface beneath it.