The Price of Defiance

I looked from him to Elena, who stood beside the desk with her arms folded, waiting for me to speak. They both seemed to expect me to accept whatever decision they had already made, but I couldn’t understand why my marriage was being discussed as though I had no say in it.

“What response do you expect from me?” I asked. “Elena wants my position as your wife, but I never asked to be in that position in the first place. You both know how this marriage happened.”

Elena scoffed. “You keep saying that as though it changes anything. You’re married to Arthur now, Sophie. Whether you wanted the marriage or not, you’re the one standing in my way.”

“I didn’t put myself there. You and Arthur were together long before I became his wife.”

Her expression tightened, and she looked toward Arthur as if expecting him to silence me. He remained behind his desk, watching us with an irritation that made me wish I had never followed them into the study.

“Don’t turn this into an argument about the past,” he said. “We’re discussing what happens from now on.”

“Then perhaps you should discuss it with the person you actually want to be with,” I replied. “I don’t understand why I’m being asked to make room for a relationship that has nothing to do with me.”

Elena stepped closer to the desk. “Because you are the reason we cannot have what we want openly. I shouldn’t have to keep living like this when I’m the woman Arthur loves.”

“And you think I should be the one to suffer because of that?”

“I think you should understand your situation.”

Arthur raised a hand, cutting off whatever Elena was about to say next. “You’ve had months to understand how things work in this house, Sophie. I don’t intend to have the same argument every time Elena and I are together.”

I stared at him, struggling to keep my voice steady. “You expect me to sit quietly while you treat her like your wife in front of me?”

“I expect you to stop making things difficult.”

His answer left me speechless for a moment. He had no intention of considering how humiliating the situation was for me. As far as he was concerned, the only problem was that I refused to accept it without protest.

Victoria, who had followed us into the study and taken a seat near the window, finally spoke.

“Elena has been away for a long time, and she deserves to be happy now that she’s home. You should try to make this easier for everyone instead of creating unnecessary trouble.”

I turned toward her. “What about what I deserve?”

She looked at me as though I had asked an unreasonable question. “You have a home, Sophie. You have a husband who provides for you. Many women would be grateful for that.”

“A husband who doesn’t want me?”

“Sophie,” Arthur warned.

I looked back at him. “Am I supposed to pretend that isn’t true?”

“That’s enough. You will not speak to my mother that way.”

I pressed my lips together. It was always the same. Whenever I said something they didn’t want to hear, I became disrespectful, difficult, or ungrateful. Nobody ever considered what had brought me to that point.

Elena moved closer to Arthur, resting one hand on the edge of his desk. “I don’t want another argument. I only want things to go back to how they should have been before this marriage.”

“You cannot undo a marriage because you don’t like it,” I said.

“No, but Arthur can decide what happens inside it.”

Her confidence unsettled me more than her words. She wasn’t speaking like someone who had just returned after months away. She was speaking as though she had already been promised everything she wanted.

Arthur looked at me again. “There’s something else we need to discuss.”

I waited, wondering what he could possibly have left to say.

“At the luncheon a few months ago, I saw Alexander Kane speaking to you.”

My stomach tightened at the mention of Alex. I hadn’t expected his name to come up, especially in a conversation about my marriage.

“He was there because of the programme your family supports,” I replied. “He approached me after seeing my drawing.”

“I know why he was there. I also know a package arrived for you a few days later. The note inside was signed by Alexander Kane.”

I kept my expression steady, although I felt an uncomfortable knot forming in my stomach. The art supplies were still hidden beneath my bed. I hadn’t shown them to anyone, and I had hoped Arthur would never take an interest in them.

“What he sent me were drawing materials,” I said. “He knew I couldn’t afford them, so he offered to help.”

Elena gave a quiet laugh. “How thoughtful of him.”

I ignored her.

Arthur’s expression hardened. “You seem very comfortable accepting gifts from another man.”

“He sent them because of my drawing. There was nothing inappropriate about it.”

“You’re a married woman, Sophie. You should understand how these things look.”

I stared at him. “You have never cared about my feelings as your wife, but suddenly you’re concerned about how another man helping me might look?”

His jaw tightened.

“Don’t confuse my treatment of you with permission to embarrass this family.”

“I haven’t embarrassed anyone.”

“Then stop giving people reasons to talk.”

Elena watched the exchange with an expression I couldn’t quite read. When Arthur fell silent, she turned to me.

“Perhaps you should return whatever he sent you. It would save everyone a lot of unnecessary trouble.”

“They’re mine to use. He gave them to me because he wanted me to keep drawing.”

“And why would a man like Alexander Kane take such an interest in you?” she asked. “Do you really believe he sends expensive gifts to every woman whose drawing he happens to admire?”

“He supports the programme. That’s how we met.”

“That’s a convenient explanation.”

“Enough, Elena,” Arthur said, although he didn’t sound particularly interested in defending me. He turned his attention back to me. “I don’t want you contacting him again.”

My fingers curled against my palms. “I haven’t been contacting him.”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

I looked at him, waiting for him to explain what gave him the right to decide who I could speak to, but his expression told me he wasn’t interested in hearing another objection.

“If Alexander Kane approaches you again, you will make it clear that you have no interest in continuing the acquaintance,” he added. “And if he decides to interfere in my marriage, I’ll deal with him myself.”

The warning made my stomach drop.

“Alex hasn’t interfered in anything,” I said. “He was kind to me when nobody else cared about something that mattered to me.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. “You’re defending him now?”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You should be more concerned about the consequences of your actions than defending another man.”

Victoria rose from her chair. “This conversation has gone on long enough. Sophie, you should go upstairs and think about what Arthur has told you.”

I looked at her, then at Elena, who seemed satisfied with how things had turned out. Neither of them appeared troubled by the threat Arthur had just made. They had gotten what they wanted: another reminder that I had no freedom to make even the smallest decision without their approval.

I left the study without saying anything further.

Back in my bedroom, I closed the door and leaned against it, trying to settle my thoughts. Arthur’s words kept returning to me, especially his warning about Alexander. I had never asked Alex to rescue me or interfere in my marriage. He had simply noticed something I loved and given me the means to continue doing it.

I crossed the room and knelt beside the bed, pulling the art-supply box out from beneath it. The sight of the sketchbooks and pencils brought back the brief moment at the luncheon when someone had looked at my drawing and treated it as though it mattered.

I lifted the signed note from the box and read it again, running my thumb over Alex’s name. Then I heard a key turning in the bedroom lock.

I quickly slipped the note between the pages of my sketchbook and pushed the box back beneath the bed. The door opened, and Arthur walked in. His eyes moved from me to the bed before he reached into his pocket and placed something on the bedside table.

It was Alexander Kane’s business card. I had tucked it between the pages of my sketchbook after the luncheon. Arthur must have found it when he searched through my things.

“I believe you forgot to tell me about this,” he said.

My heart began to pound as I stared at the card. Arthur had found it, and now he knew exactly how to reach the man he had just threatened.