Chapter 5: I will marry you.

Stella POV

I went straight home to my parents from the hospital.

I did not want to get involved with Andrew and Mary anymore. I valued my life, and I did not want to die before my time.

The moment I opened the front door and stepped inside, my heart dropped.

My father was pushed to the floor, his face bruised and panting for air.

Three strange men were standing in our living room.

“Pay up what you owe us or die,” the man wearing a suit said coldly.

My father was bruised all over his face and body. It was clear he had been beaten badly.

“What is going on here?” I asked, shock and fear filling my voice.

I had no idea what I had just walked into.

One of the men turned to me.

“Oh you must be his daughter , your father took a loan from us. Are you the one who is going to pay his debt?” he asked,his gaze sharp and threatening.

I walked further inside and froze.

My mother was also kneeling on the floor, trembling and avoiding eye contact, as if she was embarrassed I met them in this position.

Then I noticed another man sitting calmly on our couch, talking to someone on the phone.

“Shut your mouth and get me a woman to marry. My grandmother doesn’t have much time to live, and I want her to see my wife so she can rest easily,” he said into the phone.

His voice was firm, commanding, and authoritative.

From his tone, posture and the angry look on his face, I could tell immediately ,he was the leader.

I waited silently for him to end the call.

When he finally looked up, I spoke.

“You are the one who saved me,” I told him.

My voice was low ,but steady as memory hit me.

He frowned slightly.

“Where?” he asked.

“In the warehouse. The pregnant woman, it was me,” I explained.

I watched his eyes move slowly from my face to my stomach, realizing I was no longer pregnant.

He paused, then ignored my words and asked something else.

“He is your father, right?” he asked calmly.

“Yes, he is my father. How much does he owe you?” I asked.

The loan my father took was the money he used to buy gifts for me during my wedding, so no one would say my family was poor.

My husband never gave me any money ,so I could not give my father back the money to pay off the loan.

“Two hundred thousand dollars,” he said.

“But I can give you a clean slate if you marry me and pretend to be my wife for one year. You only need to visit my grandmother once in a while and stay out of trouble,” he informed me.

I looked at my parents.

I looked at the bruises on my father’s face.

Then I nodded.

“Okay, I will marry you,”I said.

I didn’t know why he had saved me before, but I knew one thing, he was not a bad man.

They left our home and he promised to come back for me after a week.

I helped my father and mother get up and I then burst out crying when I embraced them.

After two days ,when my ex-husband tried to contact me, I refused to talk to him.

I sent him video evidence of Mary’s fakeness, how she was always looking for trouble, hurting herself, hurting me, and framing me.

Then I broke my SIM card and tossed it in the trash.

After a week, Jonathan came to take me to see his grandmother to tell her I was his fiancee. She welcomed me with open hands and a warm hug.

With Jonathan’s help I got divorced from my husband Andrew in just a month.

Andrew was still saying the evidence against Mary was fake, but I brought everything to court which made our divorce clean and fast.

And after two days I got a marriage certificate with the loan shark boss Jonathan.

After getting the marriage certificate, when we got into the car, he gave me an ATM card with no limits.

A new car key, something Andrew never gave me.

I was happy.

I barely saw him at home. We only went together to visit his grandmother five times in two weeks.

Whenever I went to the nursing home to see her, she would cut fruits for me herself.

“You look beautiful, please take care of my Jonathan,” his grandmother complimented me warmly.

Her eyes were kind, filled with affection.

“Thank you very much, Grandma, I will take care of him,” I told her with a smile.

She reached out and placed gold bracelets on my wrist.

“This is jewelry. Keep it for your future daughter-in-law. These are the gifts we give to daughters-in-law in our family,”she said proudly.

I accepted the gift respectfully.

But after leaving her room, Jonathan suddenly grabbed my hand.

Without warning, he forcefully removed the bracelet from my wrist.

His grip was painful.

“You are not my wife. You are just a fake. You do not deserve to wear our family heirloom on your hand,” he said coldly.

His eyes were sharp, distant, reminding me of my place.

I stood there silently.

Holding back my pain.

I married him ,but at the end of the day I was still his fake wife.