4. A Plan for Revenge

Ten days after:

I am staying in a luxurious hotel room as requested by the person that will be my husband in a few hours. Once again, I observe the large white box wrapped with a bow of the same color on the bed. I open it and find a fancy and exquisite wedding dress that I will wear in just one hour. It is still difficult for me to assimilate that I have agreed to this, but everything Lucas has told me is true. I have given myself the task of investigating the finances of the vessel company and even my father's. He is on the verge of bankruptcy, and I can't allow that to happen, knowing it's my fault.

I take out the dress, put it on my hands, and when I remove it from the box, I am speechless; it is the same model as the one I had chosen to marry Ramiro. How does Lucas know about this? I wonder again and remove the little card inside.

"Since you haven't worn it with him, I thought you could wear it with me. I'll wait for you. Lucas"

Idiot, I don't know what he intends with all this, but I am in his hands. I'm about to take off the white silk robe I'm wearing to start putting on my dress when my cell phone rings.

I look at the screen, and it's my father. I can't answer right now. If I do, he will realize that something is wrong, so I decided to write him a quick message to remain calm.

**Father, I can't answer right now; I'm with the girls. **

I need him to keep believing that  I'm with my best friends at the club.

Within a few minutes, I receive his reply.

**Okay, call me when you can. It's not urgent. **

**Okay. ** That's all I answer.

I put my cell phone aside and took off my robe to start getting dressed. I look at the simple white dress I have brought, and it occurs to me to use that dress instead of the one Lucas bought me, but what if he gets angry and decides not to help my father? I can't take a risk now.

I slowly fasten the buttons on the dress one by one as I look in the mirror and think about everything that happened these days. I have not stopped thinking about the excuses that Lucas has given my father to invest, telling him that he should wait for authorization from Italy. I meditate on how much he has warned me not to say anything to him. I think of the contract I have signed where I guarantee to marry him and remain together for a year in exchange for the 500 million dollars investment in my father's company. That is the agreement that both agreed. I do not even have to mention the pre-nuptial contract that has made me sign where his assets are protected. This man is anything but an idiot, and every step is sharply calculated.

I finished fastening the buttons and looked in the mirror once again. I don't understand what Lucas wins by marrying me. Am I worth the 500 million? I don't think it's precisely a matter of money; for him and his family, that's nothing. There must be something else behind all this, but I haven't been able to figure it out these days.

I fix the last details of my hairstyle, touch up my makeup, and put on my shoes. I want to run away from here, but I can't. I will not let all my family's efforts be spoiled because of me. I take a deep breath and the courage to leave this room. I go to the living room that he had indicated to me hours before we arrived here.

I walk the hotel corridors under the watchful eye of the guests and their compliments towards me. I try to be friendly, smile at them, and say thank you, but it's hard for me; I'll marry someone I don't love just for business. I have Lucas Sandonini's worst concepts. He is a presumptuous, self-centered, cold, calculating man and has bought a wife because no woman can fall in love with him no matter how handsome he is.

I opened the living room door, and there I found him with his black tuxedo of elegant and imported fabric. His black hair is perfectly combed, his beard is neat, and her blue eyes intersect mine. He looks at me from head to toe and smiles triumphantly as he sees me walk towards him.

I'm so keen to take away that damn smile. I think as I get closer to him.

I stop by his side and look at the judge, who is surprised at my attitude.

"You had chosen your wedding dress very well," He says, and I feel his eyes running down my body from head to toe.

"How did you know?" I ask him while I am looking at him.

He gives me a half-smile and shrugs his shoulders, "I know what I want to know," he answers, and his attitude is unbearable.

I'm not too fond of his attitude. I hate standing here next to him. The judge starts the civil wedding ceremony. For me, it is only to seal the other part of the contract that I have signed previously. With my hand shaking, I sign the documents, and the only thing I can think of is that this year will pass quickly, and I will be a free woman again.

"You can kiss the bride," the judge says once we both sign the marriage certificate.

He stares at me and raises his eyebrows. We are standing on our side facing each other, and his arms are tied to my waist. I want to get away, but he holds me tightly.

"Don't even think about kissing me," I warn him in a whisper so that the judge does not listen to me.

"You are my wife, and I will kiss you when I like," sentences, and it is at that moment where his lips kiss mine by force.

I follow his game for only a few seconds, trying to reject him, and then I turn away from him drastically. I looked at him with hatred and made my way to the room's exit while I heard his footsteps following me.

I walk the hotel's corridor as fast as I can, but he reaches me and holds my arm. "You are my wife now, so it's your turn to do what I tell you," he indicates to me firmly, and with each passing second, my hatred for him grows.

"I've already married you, and now I only have one year left! I won't do anything I don't want to do", I manifest, and he denies it.

"You're wrong. You will do what I say, and the first thing is to go to our reception", Lucas expresses firmly, and I deny.

Reception? What is he talking about?

"I don't want to," I expose, avoiding asking anything.

"I am not asking you if you want to, you will come because guests are waiting for us," he says and pulls my arm, forcing me to go with him to another room of the hotel.

While complaining, we came to the door, and when I entered, I couldn't believe what I saw. There are many tables with guests and a room with luxurious décor. Everything is like in a movie, but when I find my father's confused look at me dressed as a bride, the film turns into a nightmare.

"What have you done?" I ask with a thread of voice.

"I have done the same thing that your father has done to mine. I've taken away what he wanted most in the world", he says, looking at me in a threatening way, and I understand absolutely nothing.

"What?" What are you talking about?" I ask as the guests' applause echoes in the room.

"Your father fell in love and drove my sister crazy and then left her as she wasn't worthy when she told him she was pregnant. My sister died with her baby in a traffic accident while claiming your father's abandonment, leaving my family destroyed. Now it's my turn. Ramiro only did a small part of what I needed him to do. If you say something to your father, forget about money, act normal and go with the flow", He tells me as we walk towards my father. I couldn't believe what he told me.

Did my father have anything with his sister?, Were they going to have a child? When did all this happen? I want to run away. I'm scared. Lucas's gaze scares me, and I can't believe that Ramiro has also been part of his revenge plan. I feel trapped in a nightmare from which I cannot wake up.