Author's point of view...!
Taking a steadying breath, I pulled myself together, feeling something shift deep within me. If they want me dead so badly, then let it be...! “Fine,” I muttered, biting back the bitter taste forming in my mouth. “I’ll go through with the wedding, Dad, but I don't think this would work out well...?" His eyes narrowed, I continued under my breath, "You won't be able to leech them for long" He gritted in frustration and grabbed my wrist, stopping me from going out. "If it's not going to work, you will have to make it work, Ericka. No matter what..." he said in his menacing tone. I squeezed my eyes shut. This man could be the cruelest father in this entire world and the heavens had cursed him upon me...! I sucked in a cold breath and calmed my nerves. I was never a loser, and I won't be one in the future as well. "Okay fine...! I will marry him..." I blurted out, pulling my wrist from his grip. "I will go through it. Even if it is to fight for every breath I take." I said that to myself. He looked at me with smug satisfaction, already dismissing me as if I were some chore he had finally completed. I forced myself to stand properly, my heart feeling both fractured and hardened. I turned and walked away. When Chairman Davis put this proposal before me, I tried hard to refuse it but he was so serious about it. He didn't let me talk to him anymore. I thought maybe it was for my good and his son might be the right partner for me. God...! Who could have guessed, what his son actually was?? I walked back to my room and slammed the door behind me. As I know I couldn't avoid this, I can at least make it bearable. Sitting on my bed, the first thing I did was block Logan's number to let my mind suffer less from his venom. A week passed and Dad indulged himself in the so called preperation of the wedding. I didn't hear anything from Logan after that and I had been avoiding Dad as well. I was glad that at least I wouldn't have to hear those venomous words again, but soon, my little shell of safety shattered. The day before the dramatic wedding, my Dad walked in with his phone in his hands and my heart skipped a beat. My intuition was screaming in my head that it might be something, something was really off. Did Logan call him? And what is he up to now? "What is it, Dad?" I asked, puzzled, and as expected, Dad replied with some urgency in his tone. "It's Logan, Ericka" My heart sank, I couldn't avoid him any longer. I extended my trembling hand towards him to get his phone. Preparing myself for the curses that would follow, but Dad didn't lend me his phone;; instead, he said excitedly. "Get prepared, honey" I was stunned for a moment. Did he just call me honey!! As if smacking me out of my trans, Dad continued. "He hung up but he called me just to invite us to a family gathering and you to his bachelor party..." Wait...! What?? "What...!!" I was so shocked. That scumbag is actually inviting me to his party...! No way, right? Is that for real!! Or is that some kind of trap that he laid carefully for me!?? No way...! There is no way I am going to be his prey. I won't go there...! "Come on, get ready..." My Dad's desperate voice pricked through my thoughts, and I tried hard to protest. I can't go...! I must not...! "No Dad...I wouldn't..." I protested but he cut me off yet again. "What did you say..." Dad's eyes narrowed and his demeanor instantly changed into something ugly. Not again...! Before I could repeat myself, he blurted out through his gritted teeth. "I don't want to listen to that nonsense crab again, Ericka..." he smacked, "Your father-in-law had arranged everything for you to get ready for this party, and you would do whatever is needed..." I froze, speechless. It seemed that I couldn't just avoid this disaster. "Mr. Jameson had personally asked me to tell you to dress up elegantly as this will be your first time meeting your future husband..." he added, seriously as if stating a chapter of solemn oaths. My future husband...! Yeah, right!!! I heaved a sigh. Dress up to be humiliated or to be killed...? I have no idea what he had planned after I ditched him. He must be going crazy with anger by now. Everything that I had been trying hard to forget, to bury, resurfaced. I found myself trapped in this. My mind insisted that this was the trap he had been preparing all this while, and I could not afford to go. He is a monster and I am sure he would go to any extent to stop this wedding. Though we share the same goal, he would never consider my safety to achieve his goal. Instead, he would rather kill me without any hesitation. "We will be leaving early this evening. Be ready and don't you dare play any tricks this time, Ericka" Smacking that, Dad left me alone to cry. What a loving father...! I stayed in my room all day, with no food and no one to talk to. How could I even think about eating when I knew that something wrong would happen to me tonight? That was so annoying...! In the evening, I was called out by my father. I descended the stairs only to find the entire hall crowded. As I reached the bottom, my eyes widened. There were young women everywhere, dressed in matching uniforms, bustling around like a carefully choreographed performance. Mr. Jameson had apparently arranged for a whole team to prepare me for tonight’s ordeal—maids, makeup artists, stylists, and even assistants holding a lineup of designer dresses, bags, heels, and jewelry. The setup was impressive, like something straight out of a fairytale. But instead of feeling pampered, I felt trapped. This wasn't helping. A knot settled in my gut. I tried to take in everything, but still, my hands and legs shivered. The extravagance around me felt suffocating. All of this was for bringing me to him...! Logan, the man who starts hates me to his core. Just the thought of his name sent a shiver through me, a nauseating churn roiling in my stomach. I didn't understand why I had to do this. Why was he throwing a party if he despised me so much? The entire team worked swiftly, doing all the chores they were supposed to do, but I couldn't help but feel uneasy. “Ma’am, we’re ready,” one of the makeup artists said, her voice cutting through my anxious thoughts. I blinked, snapping back to reality, and hesitated before looking at my reflection. "What the heck..." I exclaimed in shock. “Is that…me?” I murmured in disbelief. The person in the mirror who looked back at me didn’t look like me at all. The transformation was stunning, almost unrecognizable. I looked like some high-fashion model, too polished, too poised. A stranger, to be honest. "You look so beautiful, ma’am," the girl beside me said, her voice soft with admiration. I forced a tight smile, trying to appreciate the compliment, but something inside me just wouldn’t let it settle. I sighed, my eyes falling from the mirror. No matter how beautiful I looked on the outside, it couldn’t erase the turmoil I felt within. "Ma'am, we will leave now," the girl from earlier said in a low tone, and I nodded. The entire team left, leaving me alone in my room. I inhaled and exhaled a few times to let my mind settle into reality. No matter what was waiting for me out there, I had to face it. **************Author's point of view... Sitting in the office chair, Nathan had been trying hard to concentrate on the file in his hands. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't just focus. A day before, on saturday, Luke said that he was going to organise a small get together the next day and all of them had to attend with a partner. His intention was clear. He wanted Nathan to bring Ericka to the party but Ericka had been avoiding Nathan like a plague. From the moment she received a rejection from Sea Hawks Enterprises, she never confronted him like he thought she would nor did she come out of her room. Even her meals were delivered in her room. It's not like she was being a child and throwing tantrums, she just didn't want to see him. That morning, Nathan sent some of the home staff to call her over to his study but they returned empty handed, telling him that Ericka wasn't in her room. Nathan gritted in frustration. She wasn't answering his calls nor did she inform him where she was
Author's point of view... In the master bedroom, Nathan got a text from Luke, "Hey dude, I did what you asked me for. But I really didn't understand why you asked me to reject Ericka's application! She was Awesome" Nathan didn't reply, as texting someone was never his game. Luke patted his forehead. Why did he even bother to ask!! He knew he wasn't getting anything out of that cold glacier anyways. As he thought about it, he was sure that something wasn't quite right between Ericka and Nathan. They don't look like a happily married couple. But he was sure that Nathan had a thing about his wife. Then a crooked thought occurred to him. Why not help them a little? After a while, he devised a plan and called Erik asking him out to come meet him at the club in the evening. Erik eagerly agreed. Soon after Luke, Mike called Nathan and his eyebrows knitted. If not for anything urgent, Mike would never call him this early. "What is it?" he asked, though calmly. "Boss,
Author's point of view... In the middle of the night, Ericka found herself walking aimlessly towards the garden outside the mansion. The staff had long been retired for the day and all the other rooms were locked. As she had nowhere to go, she was forced to sit on a bench near the flower bed in the garden. She still couldn't shake off the fact that Nathan had actually clarified the things with her. She didn't know if she should feel happy or trapped. It was not that she didn't like him, which woman wouldn't like a Greek god like man. She was attracted to him from the first day when she saw him in his office but she always thought that he was not in her league. He was her boss and the heir to the richest family in the city. She can't afford to have even the slightest feelings for a powerful man like him. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he became her husband. Despite the feeling of being tricked into that marriage, she wasn't upset about this arrangement. After all, Nathan was li
Author's point of view... Just as she was about to step out, Nathan's cold voice rang again and she froze on the spot. "Stop right there!" Ericka panicked. Will he force her again? But he didn't approach her. He just stayed where he was and spoke in a low yet cold tone, "Those divorce papers were fake..." Ericka was stunned. "Fake?" "But we signed them!" she exclaimed. Nathan took a deep breath before speaking again. "I prepared them... because I didn't know how you would react to this marriage." He reasoned, Ericka blinked in confusion. "That was just to show you that you were not trapped in this marriage of convenience and this marriage was nothing but a deal between us but you..." he paused and turned around to face her. Ericka unconsciously took a step back. Despite being normal, his dominant aura was far from gentle. That gesture didn't go unnoticed by hi though. Nathan clenched his jaws. He can feel her unwillingness. Do I make her feel disgusted...that
Author's point of view... Ericka cried her eyes out. She couldn't believe she was facing such a situation. It was indeed true that the man outside was her husband but after knowing everything, that he would eventually divorce her and that he doesn't give any respect to the solemn vows they had taken, she didn't want to take another step with him. What is the point of being in a relationship which is doomed to end abruptly from the beginning...! She sat on the wet floor, hugging her body tightly. Despite the coldness in the bathroom, she felt it was way better than the coziness from outside. At least she felt safe, though she didn't know how long. She could not comprehend why he had changed so quickly! Why was he acting weird? Was he not always uninterested in women? What's wrong with him now? She couldn't understand why Nathan was acting like that. They were about to get divorced soon then why must he act as a rogue. Though she didn't want to step out of the bathroom, she
Author's point of view... Just as Ericka thought she was alone in the room, the door to the bathroom opened suddenly and she jumped back in threat. A tall figure walked out with nothing but a white towel wrapped across his abdomen. His well maintained chest muscles shining with a red hue reflecting on him due to the lamp. Ericka stiffened. "Nathan..." she muttered. She was so shocked that she forgot to take her eyes off of him. He wiped his hair dry and looked back at her. A shiver running down her spine as their eyes met. She immediately averted her gaze. "You know how to come back" his cold and indifferent voice echoed in the room. Ericka swallowed nervously. She felt the urge to explain herself to him, though it wasn't necessary. "Nathan I..I went to..." she stammered only to get cut off, "I don't give it a damn where you were!" he groaned, clearly frustrated. Ericka exhaled. "You don't? Then why the hell are you making a fuss about it?" she thought in her mind