The ugly truth

Even before she got downstairs, Carol could hear the strong voice of Mr. James raised in utter displeasure. She could not hear what her parents were saying, but even without hearing them, she knew that they were trying to pacify him. It seemed they succeeded in doing that because he stopped shouting. Carol hurried toward the study and put her ear to the door, trying to hear what they were saying inside the room.

“We can postpone the wedding though. We’ll find and convince her. I’m sure of it. All this is just cold feet, which is not a surprise considering the circumstances. Once she calms down, she’ll see reason.” Carol heard her mother say.

“I don’t have the time or the patience for that. It was difficult enough convincing Sebastian to agree to this in the first place. He’ll gladly back out of the whole thing if he finds out that his bride has absconded. Are you absolutely sure that your daughter has run away?”

“Yes. She left a note for us.”

“Well, in that case, I’m afraid that there is nothing I can do to help you again. You’ve failed in upholding your end of the bargain and worse still, you’ve managed to utterly disgrace my nephew and me in front of our family.”

“No, no. It hasn’t come to that yet. There is a solution to everything. We have another daughter, Carol. You met her yesterday. She’ll marry your nephew.” Belinda said hurriedly.

Carol tried, but could not stifle the gasp that escaped her when she heard her mother say that. What sort of mother just promised to give out her children in marriage to a stranger all because he was rich?

“Like hell, I’ll get married to him.” She thought to herself, wondering if she should just go inside and give her mother a piece of her mind, but paused at the next words that came out of the mouth of Mr. James.

“That was not the agreement. Don’t get me wrong. Your other daughter is beautiful, but she was not the one we discussed. She’s not lively at all, unlike Victoria who is more outspoken and cheerful. You remember that my plan is to get a wife for my nephew, who is more like a son to me so that she can help him get out of his depression.”

“No, no. Carol is lively and cheerful once she gets to know you.” Donald put in.

“Okay. Let’s say that I agree. How on earth are you going to get her to agree? After all, you told me yourself that she has been trying to persuade her sister to get out of the marriage. Real foolish girl, that one. My Sebastian is the best husband anyone could ever ask for.”

“I’ll convince her. You don’t have to worry about that at all.”

“I’ll be leaving now to get Sebastian to the church. Make sure your daughter is there and make sure that she understands what is expected of her. If she’s able to succeed, then she’ll get the rewards that her sister would have gotten. We have just about an hour for the bride to show up at the church for the wedding, so if you can’t do it, let me know now so that I can just let everyone know that the wedding has been called off. Also, if you’re not able to convince her, then you know what happens.” The last statement was clearly a threat. Carol heard footsteps approaching the door and quickly moved some paces away so that it would appear as though she was just coming towards the study.

The door opened and Mr. James came out of the study, followed closely by Donald. Mr. James did not show any surprise at finding her there. Instead, his eyes had a knowing look that caused a faint blush to stain her cheeks and caused her to avert a gaze after mumbling a greeting to him. He knew that she had been eavesdropping.

“How are you, my dear?” He asked, patting her hand as he passed by with her father hurrying after him. It was no surprise that her parents were afraid of him. The man had an aura that commanded respect.

Carol watched them until they disappeared out of sight and then turned toward the study to find her mother standing by the door and looking at her appraisingly.

“You were eavesdropping. Come on in then. We need to talk.”

Carol followed her into the tastefully furnished study and sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs by the fireplace as she waited for her mother to speak. She was not going to make this easy for her.

“Um, how much did you hear?”

“Just that I’m to be a substitute bride to the most reluctant of husbands there is.”

“Sebastian is going through some things. That is why he is the way he is. Usually, though, he is the nicest and most down-to-earth billionaire that anyone will ever meet, or at least that I've ever met.”

“I take it then that you’ve met many billionaires.”

A faint blush stained Belinda’s cheek, but she ignored Carol’s statement.

“So, your sister’s wedding dress is still in her room. It is already prepared, so you just have to wear it. I’ll do your makeup as I was to do for your sister.”

Carol burst into full-bellied laughter at this, laughing until tears were streaming from her eyes.

“What’s so funny?”

“You really expect me to go and put on my sister’s wedding dress and then go and get married to her fiancée?”

“We do not have any other choice. This is our last resort. As a matter of fact, we are extremely lucky that Mr. James is even considering it at all. If only you knew the number of girls who would give up their left kidneys to marry Sebastian. He’s one of the most eligible bachelors in this country, you know.”

“Well. I’m not one of them.” Carol said in anger.

“Please, Carol. Let’s not fight about this. Like you told Victoria before, you can always get out of the marriage if you find that you do not like it, although I don’t see how that is possible. Sebastian is everything that a woman wants in a man, once you get to know him, or so I’m told. I’ve met him before though, and he was the most charming gentleman I ever met.”

“I want to know why I or Victoria should be getting married to this man in the first place. What hold has he got over you and dad to make him demand such a thing and make you guys willing to accept it?”

At this point, her father came into the room and sat down in the armchair facing her. For the first time since all this started, he spoke in calm, sure tones.

“Carol. I hope you know that your mother and I would never do anything to jeopardize you or your sister’s well-being or future. Before we take any decisions, I want you to know that whatever you decide will be fine by me, and I’m ready to face the consequences of my actions.”

“Dad. You’re scaring me. What is going on? Are you in any sort of trouble?”

“I’ve made a lot of bad decisions, and they’ve come back to haunt me. Okay here goes. I’ll start from the very beginning."

"James and I used to live in the same street back then and used to be best of friends.” Donald began, speaking fast. “We were both very ambitious and wanted to make money fast, so we did a lot of things which, looking back, I can’t say that I’m proud of. We began to drift apart when I saw that he was peddling drugs so he could make more money. By the time I got into the university, we were no longer friends. In fact, I did not know anything about him. We met years later after I had married your mother. I had a gambling problem that had me owing millions of dollars and I sold the company to clear the debt. However, I ran up more debt after that and owed a huge sum of money. I pleaded with James, who by this time was swimming in money to lend me the money to pay my debt because the people whom I owed were after my life. He lent me the money, but I’ve not been able to pay it back.”

“So Victoria and I are to be used in helping settle your debt? How nice and fatherly of you. Where was mom when all this of this was happening?”

“I was too ashamed to let her know any of it, so I just kept it from her.”

“Well, I see what Victoria meant when she said that she refused to be the sacrificial lamb for you guys. If I were you, I would look for other means of paying the money, because I, Carol, am not going to marry anybody to settle any debt for you.”

“It’s okay, dear. I would never force you to do that against your wish. I just thought that it was worth a try.”

Carol absolutely detested herself for the guilt that came over her at this. It was not her fault. None of this was, so why did she feel bad about it? If it was something else, maybe she would have considered it, but this was too much.

“So what is he going to do if you tell him that you don’t have the money?”

“I’m going to go to prison, which I really don’t mind if that was all there was to it, but the company would go down too, and all those people would lose their jobs.”

“He wouldn’t dare!” Carol exclaimed indignantly.

“Actually, he would do more than dare.” Belinda put in quickly. “That’s still not all of it. According to him, we are no longer safe. In his own words, ‘my associates are not happy about this, and I can’t tell what they would do to you and your family.’”

“What? What associates?”

“Well, he wasn’t the only one who lent me the money. Some of his fellow drug dealers did too. James no longer deals drugs, but he still has ties with that former life. He says those people are not happy at all and he has been the one persuading them to hold back.” Donald said.

“So how does my marrying his nephew solve anything.”

“He’s going to pay up my debt if you do that.”

“What?! He’s going to pay up millions of dollars for you and all I have to do is just marry his nephew? That shows how terrible his nephew must be for him to be considering this, not to talk of the horrible life I’m going to live if I go through with this.”

“On the contrary, you’re going to be well taken care of if you go through with this. I think he has a sort of hold over Sebastian too to make him want to go through with this, but I don’t know what it is. Sebastian is a nice man.”

“Didn’t seem like it.”

“Time is going, Donald.” Belinda cut in urgently. We have to get going now.”

“He’s just going to have to give you some more time for you to get the money. I can’t do this. Sorry.” Carol said, meaning it.

“They have your Uncle Joe and they are torturing him. They sent us his ten fingers in a bag early this week, promised to send his tongue by next week, and then his head the week after that. If I still don’t come up with the money, they’ll take Victoria and then you, and then your mother. I’ll be the last one.” Her father informed her in a tortured tone.

“Jesus Christ!” Carol exclaimed, her blood going cold. “They have Joe?” Joe was their father’s younger brother, who was very close to both girls as they were somewhat close in age. He was a surprise baby and was only seven years older than Carol.

“Yes. I have nightmares about it every day. They’re starving him too, and sent me a picture of him looking like a skeleton.” He proceeded to show her a picture of her uncle on his phone. Tears sprang to her eyes immediately at the sight of him, even though he looked barely recognizable. He was shirtless and was held in what looked like a dungeon. He was also bound with chains and handcuffs, with blood dripping from his hands from where they removed his fingers. His face was swollen beyond recognition, but she knew he was the one nonetheless. The torture in his right eye which was not yet swollen shut like the left one was unbearable for any human with a working heart to stare at for too long. So she quickly averted her gaze, wiping at her eyes.

“There’s also a video, but I can’t show that to you. I could not even watch it myself.” Donald said as he wiped at his tears too.

“I heard something about a contract. What’s it about?” Carol asked quietly, all the fight leaving her immediately. She could not let anything bad happen to Joe.

“It’s the contract of the marriage and what is expected of you if you get married to him. Now, I would never entrust any of you to such a family, but if there is one thing I know, it is that James is a man of his word. He has assured me that Sebastian has nothing to do with that kind of life, which is something everyone knows. James just wants to see his nephew settled and happy.”

“What a nice way to go about it,” Carol commented drily, her mind still disturbed by the picture of Joe that she had seen. There was no question of going to the police as it would only worsen everything.

“He is going to pay off the debt immediately after the wedding and then tell his friends to release Joe. Also, if after one year and six months, you and Sebastian do not want the marriage, you are free to walk.”

“Does Sebastian know about any of this?”

“I don’t know if he knows.”

“I’m not doing this for any of you. I’m doing it for poor Joe who is suffering for what he doesn’t know about, and trust me, a year and six months from now, I’m breaking out of this bondage.” Carol spat at her parents.

“Thank you, Carol. I’m really sorry about all of this and if I were the only one to suffer for it, I would gladly do so.” Donald began to say.

“I’ll go take my bath.” Carol cut in angrily. She could not even look him in the face. She got up and looked at the wall clock. They had thirty minutes to get to the church. Luckily enough, it was not far from their house. There would be no time for her to do more than take her bath, get into Victoria’s wedding clothes, and go to the church, but that was okay as there was nothing festive about this sham of a wedding. Her mother hovered around, trying to make light of things, but Carol ignored her.

“You look so lovely,” Belinda said, fussing with the wedding dress, which although beautiful and expensive-looking, was not Carol’s size at all. She was shorter than Victoria, so the dress was too long and pooled at her feet. Also, she was a little fatter than her sister, so she could hardly breathe in the dress.

“Let’s just get this over and done with,” Carol said wearily, heading for the door without bothering about her makeup.