CHAPTER 5.

Natasha’s POV.

“Is this really the only way?” I asked, the words slipping out before I could stop them, like a desperate plea for an alternative.

“Please… what if you give me some time to find a job? I’ll pay you back, I swear.”

I was grasping at straws, saying anything that came to mind, hoping for a different outcome. But he just stood there, silent, his face unreadable, like a mask that hid all his thoughts and emotions.

There wasn’t even a flicker of consideration in his expression. He looked like someone who had already made up his mind and was just waiting for me to catch up.

At that moment, I felt something collapse inside me. I knew I was out of options. There was no bargaining left to do. And I hated how helpless I felt, how cornered I was.

I didn’t say yes. I don’t even think I nodded but my silence must have been enough. He stood up and adjusted the sleeves of his suit with a quiet finality, and said, “We’re going to register the marriage tonight.”

I blinked. “Tonight? Can I at least go home first? I need to see my mother… and my father.”

His answer came cold and quick. “The moment you agreed, they were already being taken care of.”

And that was it. There was no room to pause, no chance to breathe or think it through. He wasn’t giving me time to change my mind, and he definitely wasn’t going to hold my hand through this. To him, this wasn’t emotional or complicated, this was business.

I followed him out of the room like someone sleepwalking. My legs moved on their own, disconnected from everything else.

The butler was already waiting at the door as if this had all been planned down to the second.

The car ride happened too fast. One minute we left the mansion, the next we were at the registry office.

To my shock, my mother was already there. She sat in the waiting area like she hadn't been in police custody earlier, her shoulders slumped, her hands clutching the strap of her purse like it was the only thing keeping her upright.

There were tears in her eyes, but she didn’t say a word to me. She didn’t ask if I was okay. She didn’t apologize. She just looked at me with this quiet and crushed expression that made me feel worse than anything she could’ve said.

She looked like a woman who had failed her daughter and didn’t know how to fix it.

And I didn’t know what to say to her either. So we said nothing. Just sat there, silent, until it was time to sign the papers. And with that, it was done. I was no longer Natasha Bennett. I was someone’s wife, his wife.

He handed the pen back to the registrar, then turned to me like he was already onto the next thing. We quietly headed back without me having a chance to talk to my mother and at least ask my mother how my father was, it felt like he was punishing my parents for what they almost did to him.

When we arrived home, he led me inside down the hallway, and stopped at a door which he opened.

“You’ll be staying here,” he said, showing me into a room that could have fit the entire apartment I stayed in back at school twice over.

“Be ready. You’ll meet my family tonight.”

“We will be leaving by 5pm.”

I opened my mouth, unsure what I was even trying to ask—what do I wear? What should I say? Will they hate me? But nothing came out.

So I just gave a small nod, like that was all I had left in me.

“Get some rest, we have at least two hours until then.” He started to leave but paused at the door, glancing back at me.

“I am Sylvester Mason, by the way. I already know you are Natasha.”

With that, he disappeared from the room.

I stood there alone, feeling hollow like I had just been dropped into a storybook I wouldn't be able to get out of.

*

I didn't know I had fallen asleep, it was the knock on the door which turned out to be his butler that woke me up. He gave me a wrapped parcel saying Slyvester mentioned it contained the outfit I would be wearing to meet his family.

I tied my hair back, brushed on some light makeup I found in the parcel, and sat by the window waiting.

At exactly 5pm, the butler from last night arrived again.

He didn’t speak, just nodded politely and led me outside to the car. The drive was quiet with him concentrating on his phone while my mind was filled with so many things.

When we reached his family’s estate two hours later, my nerves began to twist. The house looked more like a royal residence than a family home.

The gates, the gardens, and the building itself—it all felt too grand. He stepped out of the car first, still glued to his phone.

Without even looking at me, he said, “Go in ahead of me. I’ll join you soon.”

I hesitated. “Alone?”

He didn’t respond. Just walked off without even a glance, already speaking sharply into his phone.

I was just coming for the first time and didn't know my way around, How could he act so heartlessly?

“Hello, Mrs. Mason. I’ll escort you,” someone said behind me. I turned to see the family butler and silently followed, my heart pounding.

The Butler led me through a magnificent hallway down to a room labeled Dining Hall. When I stepped inside, I stopped dead, unable to believe my eyes.

Sitting next to each other were Josh and Amara looking like a newlywed couple before an aged man with a few family members.

Josh looked startled when he saw me, his eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly.

Amara, on the other hand, stood up slowly as she took in the sight of me, her face hardening as she headed in my direction. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. “What…What are you doing here?”

I stood still, trying to breathe.

“Don’t tell me you came all the way here to my family home to beg,” she went on. “For him? Or that job you clearly weren’t good enough for?”

“Amara.” Josh followed, grabbing her hand to stop her from coming any closer. She shrugged him off as she stopped.

“No. Let her answer. What is the point of pretending anymore? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

I opened my mouth to speak, to defend myself, but I didn’t get the chance.

“Don’t speak to my wife like that.” The voice came from behind me, it was Sylvester’s.

He stood in the doorway, completely composed, as if nothing in the world could shake him.

Amara and Josh froze in shock.

“Your… wife?” Amara stammered, her voice rising a little too loudly in the room.

“Are you kidding me, Uncle Sylvester?” She looked from him to me, like she was trying to convince herself she hadn’t heard correctly.

“Yes,” he said calmly like he was stating a plain fact.

“She is my wife. And you will speak to her with the respect she deserves.”

Amara’s mouth hung open for another second before she snapped it shut.

I could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to gather herself, trying to act like none of this bothered her. Like she hadn’t just been knocked completely off balance.

“Wow,” she finally said, smoothing her hands down her dress and forcing a tight smile onto her face.

“You got married at last. Congratulations.”

But there was no warmth in her voice.

Then she turned her attention to me. Her eyes raked over me slowly, the way someone might look at a stain on an expensive carpet.

“You poor thing,” she said with a sad little shake of her head like she actually pitied me.

“Was that how desperate you were to marry a rich man after losing everything?” she continued, her voice filled with mock sympathy.

“You just accepted whatever was thrown your way? No questions asked? No shame?”

I gripped the hem of my dress to keep my hands from trembling. She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice but making sure every word hit its mark.

“Do you even know what you’ve signed up for?”

I froze. Her words slid under my skin like ice, the weight of everything crashing down at once.

And for the first time since the night before, a sliver of real fear snuck in. Maybe I didn’t know what I had signed up for. Maybe I was standing at the edge of something far bigger and far darker than I could even imagine.