Chapter 1

"Emma the daughter of Mr Lucas was betrothed as a bride to our young master at 17 years. She is 21 years and has come of age now and it is time for the Lucas family to keep their own part of the deal and marry her to the young master." The butler read out the content of the letter he held in his hands.

It was from the Carlos family.

Emma sat quietly on one of the chairs in Mr Lucas's study. He had called her in when the letter came in.

She sat, facing the butler directly but she was lost in her own thoughts.

"It feels like yesterday." she mumbled.

Her mind traveled back in time to the time when she was a free bird and could do whatever she liked without anyone restricting her.

"I miss life in my hometown." Emma mumbled, her lips moving.

"You should prepare yourself, you would be meeting your husband to be probably by tomorrow." Mr Lucas stated but he did not get a response and he looked up to see a dazed Emma whose lips moved.

"Were you saying something to me?" he asked, snapping a finger in front of her face.

Her eyeballs darted back and forth and then to reality, "What is it, sir?"she asked, looking caught unaware.

"Have you been listening to me?" Mr Lucas asked, watching her from the rim of his glass.

"I am sorry, sir. I dazed out for a bit but I heard everything other thing from the beginning."

"And where did you keep the "dad" to pick up the "sir"? Stop making it look like I am a bad parent. I am trying my best for you, my daughter and that is why I am doing all this." spreading his hands out, his shoulders slouched in some sort of distant closeness.

"My tongue slipped for a while, dad. I am sorry about that." she apologized.

Emma could not tell her dad that she was a little worried not because she was not going to agree to the wedding. She agreed to it all with her whole heart but she could not stop thinking of the threat from Maya.

She looked calm on the outside but her mind kept bothering her about it.

Maya had met her yesterday and threatened to make life miserable if she went ahead to marry Adriel Carlos.

"You stole him from me so I will make life miserable for you. You won't have peace until you decide to divorce him on your own. Your life may even be on the life if you still try to cling. Enjoy your time while you can with him now because things will start getting sour soon."

Maya's words rang in her head consistently and it was almost like her own voice now telling that to her.

"What about Maya, dad?" she blurted out without realizing what she had just done.

"What do you mean by what about Maya? Listen Emma, you are our daughter and our blood flows in your veins so you deserve the best. It does not matter if she was betrothed to him when the were younger, the good thing now is that Adriel understands and has accepted you as his betrothed bride."

"Besides, Maya would not stir up any trouble. She is not as calm as you but she is definitely not going to cause trouble. That is the least she can do in exchange for letting her still stay in the house and have access to the Lucas family."

"You certainly do not know the daughter you trained for the past years." Emma thought aloud in her head as she looked at her father who thought Maya was innocent.

"Do you understand everything I have just said? You don't have to worry about anyone. Focus on your marriage to Adriel."

"I understand, father. I won't bother about it anymore."

"So when is the wedding going to take place?"

Mr Lucas had a surprised look but it did not last long. Guess he was thinking she would object a bit to it.

"The date for the wedding has not been fixed yet. You have to meet with Adriel and get to know a little about him. Maya was the one who was betrothed to him first but you are going to be her replacement."

"I understand, dad. I will do my best and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"What could possibly go wrong? The company is fine. This is just keeping to promise. And I am only asking you to meet him and get to know him, that's all."

It was clear it was an arranged marriage for business purpose but he was trying to paint it in a nice way to Emma. Emma knew this but agreed wholeheartedly.

She could not say no after all. She was trained to be obedient and submissive to her elders especially her parents. Now that her father was impressing the whole marriage stuff on her, why should she object? She had little places to turn to for help if she was driven out of the family.

"You don't have to tell me everything, I understand father."

Mr Lucas sat startled for a few seconds at her answer. She was too submissive and agreed on a whim to everything he said, a direct opposite of Maya.

Pushing up his glasses to the bridge of his nose, he asked, " Do you have any questions about him or is there anything you would love to ask me?"

"No, dad." she shook her head in negative.

"Adriel knows about this and has accepted you as his replaced bride. You should respect him too for accepting you."

"I will do as you have said, dad. Can I go now?" she asked.

He waved her off to leave. As she was about to step out of the door, he called her back, remembering something he had forgotten to tell her.

"Don't be too surprised, Emma. The fine young Adriel, your husband to be is crippled."