The Bride He Didn't Want

Daniel and his father were locked in a heated argument when I was led through the back door and up the stairs. I was completely irritated at this point and I had absolutely no patience left at all. This whole fucking ordeal was just getting to be way too much and all I wanted to do was go home and get in my own bed.

"I'm not going to do it, Dad. I am not a piece of fucking furniture that you can just trade off for business!" I heard him shout at his father. "I have feelings, wants, and needs. I'm a human being you know?!" He screamed at his dad in utter disrespect.

"You will do as I say, or you will learn to live on your own. This matter is not up for debate!" His father shouted back. "And furthermore, if you have carry on with that dim witted, slutty ass actress at least have the decency to keep her on the down low. Just for the love of God, do not procreate with that idiot, I don't need any ugly red headed grandchildren running around here!" His father demanded shamelessly. "Other than that, I really don't care what you do with her!" He said in a disgusted tone. "However, you WILL marry Stella," I heard his father scream angrily at his defiant son, his face was no doubt becoming redder by the second.

Hearing them fight like that made all of the house maids that were escorting me stop and look at each other with wide, knowing eyes. The oldest one rolled her eyes and sighed deeply in complete irritation. She was the one that seemed to be in charge because she simply gave a 'let's go' look, and the rest of them all hurried up the stairs faster, as quietly as possible.

"Father I don't love Stella!" Daniel pleaded, "I love Catherine! You know that, you have ALWAYS known that!" I hear Daniel say desperately. He seems to be on the verge of tears, but that was just before we reached my room. I was quickly ushered inside, and the door was shut just as fast before I could hear anymore.

I don't care how Daniel or his father feel at the moment, because I still can't even get past the last conversation that I had just had with my own father yesterday, when he broke the news to me that I would be coming here. Our conversation went pretty much the same as the one that I had just overheard downstairs. I cried and begged, and even fought my father. But in the end, he wasn't budging, and there was something in his eyes that told me that he was really counting on me to do this. There seemed to be something more about this that he just wasn't telling me. It made me feel like I was really letting him down by not wanting to do it. So because I love my father, I gave in, and here I am. Hoping and praying to find a way out of this mess.

I don't have any more desire to marry Daniel than he has for marrying me, so he really shouldn't worry. I'm in love with someone else already as well, and I have no intentions of saying 'I do' to any other man besides him. That's why I didn't give a shit when I heard what they were saying. He can have whoever he wants...except me. The really strange part about it all, though, was that my father really seemed to like my boyfriend. Lucas and I have been sweethearts ever since the first grade. He knows that, so why in the world he is suddenly forcing this marriage on me is beyond my comprehension.

I spent most of last night trying to make Lucas understand why I had to do this. It didn't matter, though because no matter what I said, he just didn't get it. He was still so angry with me when I left him at sunrise this morning and my heart breaks a little more every time I think about it. I felt my eyes fill with tears at that thought, but I manage to swallow them back before they're noticed.

The house maids are all busy running me a bath and getting my clothes out. They're bickering among themselves about something that I don't understand, so instead of giving a shit, I took my phone out and typed a message to Lucas. "I love you with all of my heart. I will find a way to be with you again soon, you'll see. Wait for me, please. With all of my love..."

I was just about to hit send, when one of the maids turns around and clumsily knocks my phone out of my hands. It bounced off of the thick carpet and slid under the edge of the bed and out of sight. "I'm so sorry, Miss," the young maid says with a horrified look on her face. "I'll get it," she assures me, and she instantly drops to her knees and frantically starts to search for the phone. "There's no time for that now," the head maid snaps, "get her in that bath and get to work, before you wind up making the master wait."

With that they circle me and begin to strip me as they move me towards the tub. One of them let my hair down, while another one unbuttoned my shirt. "Hey, stop that! Don't fucking touch me!" I yell at them, as I try in vain to push them off of me. They don't pay me a bit of mind, though, they just keep on doing their thing. It was like being molested by a thousand hands all at one time. Before I knew it, I was naked in the tub, and being scrubbed from every angle. I struggle and fight, but I figure out real fast that the less I struggle, the less it hurts.

"Don't bruise her skin, you idiots! Be careful!" The head maid shouts as she slaps at two of the other women, landing some hard blows to the sides of their faces and the backs of their heads. They seem to be used to it, though, because they didn't do much more than flinch and carry on. "Hey! Don't hit those girls! Why are you such a bitch?!" I shout instinctively and swipe at her just as viciously as she had at the girls. I don't actually hit her, but I think that I did manage to piss her off pretty good, because she grabs me by one of my wrists way too hard, and she lowers herself to be right in my face, eye to eye. "I don't mean any disrespect, ma'am," she says with an evil glint in her eyes, "but please don't ever bother to concern yourself with such matters again. I can handle these stupid girls by myself, thank you all the same."

With that, she rudely lets go of my arm and steps away. I suddenly realized that the entire room is silent, and everyone is frozen in shock and fear. That was the point where I started to feel a little worried for myself. I had been quite cocky up to this point, but now I kind of just want to run away.

"Get your asses in gear you dumb bitches, It's time for my break," she says condescendingly, as she waved her hand over her shoulder and strode across the room, headed for the door. We all thought that she was done, until she stopped and turned to face us once more, just before she left.

"Don't you dare fuck up and make me look bad. I will be back here in exactly one hour, and I better be moved to tears by what I see. This bitch better be BEAUTIFUL when I come back here," she warns the maids through clenced teeth, but she was staring straight at me. I wanted to go down the open drain in that tub right then. Without another word, she turns and then she was gone. It seems like everyone in the room sighed with relief when that door shut behind her. "Damn she's mean," I say as I look around the room at the girls in front of me. I am naked, in a strange place, in front of strange people, and I am now very, very afraid. Like, what the hell was that?

I finally decide that I am cold and I awkwardly ask for a towel. That seemed to snap the girls back to reality and they all got back to work...but without saying a single word, not even to each other. It is the strangest thing I think I have ever seen. It didn't seem like an hour had passed before the mean ass head maid came back from her break. As soon as she opened the door, everyone became extremely tense again. The ugly bitch walks over to me and looks at me up and down. After a moment, she has the nerve to just shrug her shoulders and say, "it will do," in the most superior way possible, before instructing one of the other maids to stage me at the top of the stairs to be presented to Daniel and his family, like some kind of fucking show pony or something.

I am then led to the top of the main stairs and the head maid places herself to my right as she takes my arm. I can hear music playing as I was being announced to the room by someone else. The head maid began to lead me down the stairs in a most dignified way. I didn't know what else to do, so I just tried to follow along as she led me down in perfect time to the music. Everyone gasped and ogled at me as I descended the stairs as elegantly as I could, but It still just feels like a death march to me. It seems like it just goes on and on and on. We finally reach the bottom of the stairs and I get a glimpse of Daniel and his father. He is actually pretty cute not that he had any chance with me at all.. I was lost in my thoughts and on auto pilot. I was just about to be presented to Daniel, when there is suddenly a loud banging on the door, and a woman can be heard crying and screaming through the thick wood. Daniel instantly looks broken and horrified as everyone there realizes that it's Catherine on the other side.