"I'd like to escort my father to the hospital before I leave." She demands as she walks up to me.
"No, you can't. I'll have some of my men escort him if you wish."
She gives me a dirty look, "Don't you have a father? How can you be so cruel?" She asks, and I almost laugh. Father? I want to grab her neck and yell. Tell her that her father was the reason why I didn't have a father, a family for that matter. I chuckle. "I did, at some point." I answer, trying to calm myself. I continue, "But now, I don't and I certainly don't care about you or your father." The only reason why I was
"You can't stop me from seeing my father, I will see him with or without your consent!"
"I'm your husband, Natalie," I say as I pull her closer to me, squeezing her arm, I continue, "and, you will do as I wish."
There's so much anger and hatred in her eyes as she squirms, "In name alone. You will never be more than that to me." I let her go, irked. Just a few hours with her, and she'd been able to provoke me numerous times.
Natalie's Pov
Carrington comes down from the car and rushes over to my side and opens the door, a gesture that surprises and irritates me at the same time.
"You don't need to pretend with me. I can get the door myself. I'm not an invalid." I say as I ignore his hand.
He frowns, "Welcome to your new home. Carrington Manor."
It's a huge mansion, way bigger than mine. The place seemed quiet and lifeless. The fountain was turned off. Luke begins to walk ahead of me, but I still stand there looking at my new home.
"Please, Mrs. Carrington, you must come in."Luke says to me, mocking me as he smiles. I look away, trying to stop the tears from falling out. I wouldn't give him the pleasure of seeing me cry.
"Don't call me that." I say to him as I walk into the house. The house is quiet, grey walls and the ceiling's painted white. The chairs are all leather and brown in color. There's a huge dining by the corner and the house smells like tangerine and vanilla.
"Impressed?" He says in a mocking tone.
He leads me to a room, one which I suppose we are both to share. I'm about to get a proper look at the room when someone suddenly rushes into the room.
"Luke!" The girl screams, as she jumps on Luke, wrapping her legs around him. I adjust my hat, to get a good look at what was going on.
"I missed you!" She says, still hugging Luke.
"Laurel," Carrington says, trying to get her off his body. I stand there, looking like the moron I am. So he also had someone whom he loved? Then why go as far as marrying me?
"I missed you too, Laurel." Carrington says, his tone softer as he looks at the girl.
The girl finally notices me, and gives me an odd look. "You brought a new maid? She doesn't look like one though, is she your employee?" She asks and chuckles quietly.
"No, no," Luke says as he comes to stand beside me.
"Natalie, this is Laurel, my childhood friend." He says to me, "Laurel, this is Natalie, my wife." He says.
Immediately, her facial expression hardens. It's as though she'd just seen a ghost. "That's too much of a joke, Luke." She says.
"I'm not joking. Natalie and I got married today." He says as Laurel looks on, perplexed. It was clear that these two had something going on, and I couldn't be happier. Hopefully, it could end up being my lucky card in getting out of this disgusting agreement.
"You got married, Luke?" She says, her eyes red. I couldn't tell if she wanted to cry of it was anger on her face, or maybe it was a mixture of both.
"Yes, I did."
"You didn't think to tell me?" She says, and in a split second rushes out of the room ready eyed.
"Excuse me." Luke says as he leaves, obviously to pacify her. As soon as he leaves, I quickly look for my phone and begin to call Rocky. I had to get out of here as soon as I could.
"Please pick up, Rocky!" I plead, nearly in tears. He picks up, "Rocky, Rocky, my love, please, there's a big problem. I'm in a-a terrible situation, it's a nightmare, I need you to come get me." I say, breaking down.
"You mean away from your husband's house?" Rocky asks on the other end, leaving me stunned. He had found out already. Bloody hell! I wanted to be the one to break the news to him. I was too late.
"You have to believe that I didn't plan for any of this to happen— my mother forced me, I wasn't given a choice, but I don't like it here, please!" I sob, confused and distraught. My life had turned ugly in a matter of days. I wished I never came home.
"Where are you?" He asks and I close my eyes in relief for a few seconds.
"Somewhere in— someone drags the phone from my hand, and I turn around to see none other than Carrington. He looks really pissed. He smashes the phone on the wall. "Ah!" I scream, closing my ears, crying.
"Who the hell was that?! Your lover?" He comes close to me and I run to the bed.
"I told you before. You will never be more than my husband in name. I'm even disgusted falling you that. You don't know how much I abhor you."
"I asked you a question! Was that your lover?!"
"If you know it so well, why do you keep asking? Yes, that was him!"
"You will not step foot out of this house. You will have no phone, no freedom." He says, moving closer to the bed.
"Get away from me!"
"I will make you suffer and you will beg for your freedom, but you will never be free." He says. He leaves, and I fall in the bed, crying. This had to be a nightmare.
It was evening, and time for dinner. After coming back from his meeting, Luke had made it abundantly clear to me that I had to come for dinner even if I didn't want to. I could either come for dinner, or he would bring dinner to me.
There's a knock on the door and although the door is locked, I hurriedly rush to the door and press my body against it, as though I was using my whole might to stop the door from opening.
"Go away!" I yell, not wanting to see his face.
"No lady, it's me, Emmanuele, the cook— The boss has sent me to bring you a few clothes. Please, open up." I sigh in relief and open the door. Maybe she could help me.
"Good evening, Mrs. Carrington." She says, a smile on her face.
I scratch my head, "Tell your boss I said I don't want these. I'd rather die than accept them."
She nods, "I'll tell him you accepted the clothes." She says, and turns to leave. "Wait!" I yell. I hold her hand. "Please, I broke my phone. Can you please lend me yours, I just want to make a quick call. Please."
"We've gotten strict orders to not give you or let you use any mobile phone, ma'am. I'm sorry, but I can't help you."
I glance at the clothes and look at the clock, it was almost nine in the evening. I was ready to go for dinner even though I was terrified. After dressing up and applying a thick coat of red lipstick, I head downstairs when I notice Carrington already on the dining, alongside the strange girl, Laurel.Carrington gets up and takes out my chair for me. I don't say anything but I give him the could shoulder and glare at him. I was petrified. He frowns slightly."Laurel, please, could you excuse us? Just a minute.""Yes, sure." She says, and I could swear she gave me a dirty look."Thank you, for wearing the dress I sent. I must say, it suites you."I chuckle softly, annoyed by his guts. "I told you to stop acting friendly with me. Stop pretending to be a good person, because we both know you're not."He sighs, "Look, Natalie, I really don't hat
I didn't know what time it was because I hadn't left the room since what transpired between Luke and I earlier on. I was curled up in my bed, with no tears left to cry. My mind drifted into thoughts about my father. I hoped he was doing well and recovering well. I missed him so much during these hard times. I wonder if he knew what my mother had done. If he knew that I had been sold off like a piece of furniture just to save our name and money. My mind drifts off to Rocky. Why hadn't he come for me? Did he hate me? It wouldn't come as a surprise after all, I did betray him.I had decided to take a tour round the house— if I was going to escape again, I needed to know every possible escape route. Luke's house was indeed very huge. There was a total of nine rooms and every room had a bathroom in it. There was a mini theatre on the second floor and beside it was a chapel with the statue of Mary in it. I had prayed there for a while, asking and b
Luke had offered to get me a glam team for my hair and makeup but I had refused, because I would feel more uncomfortable than I already was if he kept throwing favors my way.I am getting ready when the door opens. I look through the mirror to see who it is. It's Luke. There's total silence for a few seconds until I speak."What do you want?" I ask, still looking at him through the mirror."May I come in?" He asks. "You already opened the door, didn't you? Might as well enter." He enters, a box in his hand."What is it?" I ask. He opens the box and it's a ring. A very expensive, shiny, beautiful blue ring. I look at him, my face emotionless and his, hopeful."I realized that I didn't get to give you this because of the way things happened so fa—"You mean how you coerced me into marrying you?"He's quiet. He
Luke’s Pov"I asked you a question, Bart," I ask, wondering what it could be. Was he taking drugs?He gives a wide smile, "Nothing serious, sir." He replies, but I don't believe him. Naturally, Bart gave off an awkward vibe and his personality was negative. He always tried to play the good guy but any wise person could see through it. I don't believe him."I don't want you doing drugs or anything illegal in my home for that matter so get rid of whatever the hell it is you're on." I continue, "I need you to arrange a bouquet, a very huge bouquet of all the freshest flowers available and send them to my wife before noon, okay?" He nods.He looks agitated and sweaty but I ignore it and leave. I had a long and interesting day ahead."Good morning, Mr. Carrington." A female staff says to me as I walk the grounds of Carrington Enterprise
Beep Beep Beep, I hear, as I struggle to open my heavy eyes. The light is too bright, so I use my hands to cover my eyes."Where am I?" I ask, immediately my eyes land on Luke."You're in the hospital, Natalie." He responds and in a split second, memories start flooding my head. I touch my lips alarmed. I wasn't gagged anymore. I sit up and look at my legs. They were bandaged."I was kidnapped!" I say, my hand on my mouth. I look at Luke, "I was kidnapped, it wasn't a dream.”"I know. Do you remember exactly what happened? Where were you last night?" He asks and I freeze. Thankfully, Laurel enters at that exact moment and the attention is directed at her- something she must've been ecstatic about.I use the back of my left hand to wipe the nonexistent sweat on my face. What would Luke do if he found out I tried to escape again? Bloody hell,
Luke and I are seated on the dining as Laurel sets the table with our food."What's for dinner?" He asks and as I'm about to answer, Laurel begins to speak."Well, Luke, we were supposed to follow your meal plan today and we had already prepared that, but your wife insisted we make another dish even if I told her not to." SHE says, eyeing me slyly."Excuse me, Laurel?" I turn towards Luke, "Please, I didn't know you had a meal plan or anything- she didn't tell me anything."Luke looks at both of us back and forth, "Natalie, you should have asked. We have certain rules here.”I gasp in shock and utter disbelief. "I should have asked? I just told you, I did ask." I look at Laurel, "Why are you lying?!" I yell. "Luke, she didn't tell me anything, believe me.”Laurel is about to speak but Luke stops her, "Please, all I'm asking is th
Some weeks later. ..I feel ecstatic as the water pours all over my body. I squeeze my hair and rinse my face. The past few days hadbeen the best days of my life. I truly never knew that I'd be so content and happy with how everything started with Luke.Luke had made it more than obvious with not just his words but his actions showed that he truly loved me.I had also fallen in love with this man, but I knew he wouldn't believe me if I told him. He would doubt my motives and although it would hurt for him to doubt me, I would totally understand if he did because I had broken his trust severally. It was solely up to me, to prove to him that I wasn't going to run away again and that my feelings were sincere.Wearing a pencil skirt and a long sleeve blouse, I hurriedly brush my hair, side bangs. It was already Monday morning and Luke would le
I had been staring at Luke's face while he was sleeping for a few minutes. Last night was undoubtedly the best night of my life. Luke and I hadn't just made love, we had broken all the barriers between us, and our actions last night made it clear that we really did need each other.He looked so calm and peaceful as he slept. I lay my head on his shoulders and inhale his scent; a mixture of coconut and probably an expensive perfume. I hear him breath and stretch. "Have you been up?" He asks"Yes." I respond as I hug him. He returns the action and holds me."How was I last night, did I hurt you?""No, no." I say looking at him in the eyes, I cup his jaws, "You didn't, I know you would never hurt me intentionally." He smiles and checks his wristwatch. "You had your watch on this whole time?" I chuckle."I'm a businessman. Time is money— but that d
9 YEARS AGO. . ."Why are we running, mommy?"Lily asks, tired.Jack has a frown on his face as he waits for his mother to tell yet another lie."We're not running away, sweetie. We're just moving to somewhere much safer""Safer? Mom! We didn't do anything! Why do you and dad keep making us run from place to place? Dad's innocent so shouldn't have to run or hide!" Jack yells, tired of moving endlessly."We don't have another option, son. Please, no arguments, we need to get going and meet up with your father!"Jack gives up, but he's not satisfied. Anna was young, so she didn't quite understand what was going on or why they had to run continuously. But as for him, he knew what was going on, at-least, to an extent.Almost a two hour trip, Ava Hugh-Gray and her two children reach their destination. As so
Bloody hell! I wanted to give her a befitting reply, but I couldn't. I needed to get an explanation from Luke first. I open the study, hoping to find him there, but he's nowhere to be found. I walk back and forth, trying to dial his number again. This time, there's no service on my phone, and out of frustration, I smash the phone on the floor. Realizing I must've scared my poor child, I caress my stomach as I move to pick the phone up. Suddenly, my mind goes back to the day I almost fainted here, in the study. I touch the spot where the phone fell, and I remember that I'd felt something there that day. There was something under the rug, under the floor. I move the rug out of the way, and like I assumed, there was indeed, something under the rug. A hidden compartment. I open it up and there's a box inside. I open the box and begin to go through it's content. Pictures of a family. Pictures of a young girl, probably around age 5 or 6. There's a few white papers inside and I op
The time Lucas gave me to leave the manor was almost up, but I had one last trick up my sleeve. Wearing my lingerie and night robe, I adjust my ring. I wanted to make Luke remember our bond—what we shared, physically, emotionally and sexually. This was the only way I knew how to. I leave my bedroom, with aunt Ruth and Lydia rooting for me.I enter Luke's room. It was my second time being in his bedroom. I'd never gone there before, because we mainly made use of my bedroom and the study. I was always curious about his room, but never thought to satiate my curiosity.The room is too dark. I can still see, but it is extremely dark. His room is huge, way bigger than mine. The room is almost empty, except for the bed, a few paintings I recognize as Van Gogh's. There stood a tall library by the far corner of the room. I move there. I don't have the time to carry out an inspection, I just needed to find Luke. I take out my p
He finally steps down from the stairs and we are face to face. I look away, closing my eyes as soon as I see his red watery eyes. Next thing, I'm being dragged by him up the stairs. I don't utter a word. He flings me into what I suppose is his room rather violently. I want to scream at him, and remind him that I'm carrying his child in my womb, but I ignore. "I can explain." is the first thing I'm able to say.He begins to shake, as he points his finger at me. "How many times did it happen?" I try moving closer to him, but he barks at me, almost making me tremble. "If you woul—he interposes, "Shut up!" He continues, "You are so loose, Natalie. You. . . are. . .no less than a prostitute." He says, leaving me stunned and heartbroken."Lu. . . Lucas." I whisper, unable to control the tears rolling down my eyes. I gasp as he begins to throw things around. "I know it was wrong, I know I should've told you the very first time I saw him
Nice meeting you again, Mr. Carrington. We met at the Richardson soiree? I'm the Senator's daughter in law." Lydia says, and I'm beyond shocked."Daughter in law?" I repeat."It's a pleasure. Please, do make yourself comfortable here- I know you're my wife's close friend."She nods, "Yes, Natalie. It was documents alone. I just had to sign some papers there was no wedding.""But still, you should have told me, Lydia, I mean I would've come over to you.""Excuse me, Ladies." Luke says before he leaves.I hurriedly drag Lydia to the sofa, so we can sit and discuss. "You have to make sure David doesn't come here." Is the first thing I can say. I couldn't risk having David or the senator around, especially when Rocky was still present in the house.Lydia nods, "I know- I came alone, and I come in peace. I just needed a getaway, Natalie.
It's almost seven in the evening and aunt and I had gone into the manor. I am on my way to the room to check on Luke because he wasn't in his study. I'm in the room and I scan the room but I don't see him around until I hear the shower running. I bite my lips in excitement as I remember my plans for Luke and I earlier this evening. I take off my shoes and tiptoe into the bathroom smiling. My smile disappears in no time as soon as I notice something odd. There was someone else in the shower with Luke. A woman. I slide the door open."Luke." I state, disgusted at the sight before me. He turns, alert. I can see the confusion on his face. I caress my temples in annoyance as I walk out. I quickly wear my shoes and I can hear Luke shouting at his companion as he rushes behind me."Natalie, I swear! I thought it was you, my love, you have to believe me!" He says, holding my arm. I jerk it off as I turn around. I scoff as I see Laurel wa
NATALIE's POV."I can explain." I say, as I try to hold my balance. This was it. This was what I feared would happen. He makes his way into the room, but I am unable to make out the expression on his face, heck I can't even look at him. Aunt Ruth is by the corner, shivering with fear."I wanted to tell—"I'm sorry for bringing it here, but it belongs to me, I have a gunroom and there's a bit of a situation, but I've got it handled." He says and I look in confusion. What was he talking about?"What situation?""There's no cause for panic, everything's under control. I've doubled the security.""What's going on, Luke?""Bart's on the run." He says. In a split second, I'm engulfed in fear as horrible memories come flooding back. "His first instinct would probably be to return here."I gasp, shocked, losing my
JUDITH's POV"My goodness, Francis. All you ever do is complain, please. I think you should concentrate on getting healthier, not nagging about things that shouldn't bother you."Francis coughs, and I continue brushing my hair as I admire myself in the mirror. Francis was a talker and it irritated me, deep into my bones. I did marry him for his money, but I had love for him. I mean, he fathered my daughter, my only child."How dare you ask our son-in-law for money, do you not have any shame?" He asks, sitting up. I could tell he was getting stronger by the day. He still spent most of the day sleeping, but whenever he woke, he was always stronger than the day before.I wear my diamond earrings, "You gave me these on our 9th year anniversary, do you remember? You spoilt me silly that I didn't even need to ask to be spoiled." I get up, "You gave me that life, Fra
LUKE'S POVNatalie and I are outside, beside our car. She looks tired and pale, something I'd noticed for the past few days."Are you ready to go?" I ask her and she nods. I place my jacket over her shoulders. She gives a small smile and I begin to talk to her about the party. I want to know why she had on such a stern face and a cold tone with Senator Jackson but I realize that she's completely zoned out. She's a bit shaky, and when I realize she's about to fall, I hold her as tight as I can."Shit!" I yell and the chauffeur comes out. "To the manor, as fast as possible!" I say to the chauffeur, panicked.I try to wake her numerous times, but she doesn't respond. However, she's breathing. "You have to hang in there, my love." I say as I reach for my phone to call Doctor Ava. She says she's on sick leave so she would be unable to make it. However, she'd send in another Doctor.We are at