Chapter 1

Isabella inhaled deeply, calling up the courage which she knew didn't exist, from deep within her. She knew she had to do this, for she had absolutely no power over this.

Turning to look at the girl behind her, her friend, she said, "Let's go in."

She placed her hand on the door knob and pushed it open as the person behind her also pushed her wheelchair inside the room. Her movement stopped when she got to the desk, and even with her head bowed slightly, Isabella knew that her friend had left her alone in the room, alone with her husband.

"Welcome home. I hope your drive was not stressful?"

She snapped her head up when she heard that cold and gruff voice, and her eyes immediately came in contact with his face. His deep set, expressive blue eyes which were fixed on her, his frowning face with chiseled jawline, and his large muscled body which were moving towards her right now. With jaws slacked in surprise, Isabella wondered how a man could be this handsome.

"Miss Yates?" He sounded angry, and that alerted all the brain cells in Isabella's head as she hurriedly bowed.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Hunt!" She exclaimed, and silence ensued in the room.

'Why, what happened? Is he angry? Did I not greet him the way a real aristocrat was supposed to?' she asked herself inwardly, her head still bowed lowly.

"Let's not waste any time and get straight to our main reason for meeting. Miss Yates, you do know why you are here, right?"

"Y-yes Sir! I have been informed," Isabella replied. She was here to serve him, as her parents already gifted her to him, in return for a kind of support or something. However, to keep the matter safe from the public prying eyes, they had made her sign a marriage contract which would make her look like a wife to him to outsiders when she would actually be a slave for him.

"Good. I will be leaving for a meeting now and I expect you to cooperate with the butler when he comes to escort you."

That was the last words he said to her and then he was out the door. Finally raising her head up, she heaved a deep sigh of relief.

"He is your husband, Isabella. He is Nicholas Hunt, and he's the most terrifying man in the whole of this country. If you annoy him, you can be assured that you won't spend the next 24 hours on earth," she chanted to herself, trying to remember everything she had heard about Nicholas Hunt and the warning her father gave her concerning him an hour ago.

One Hour Ago.

"What are you saying, Ma'am?" Isabella whispered, her eyes fixed firmly on the woman standing before her. Since she was on her wheelchair while the woman was standing, she had to crane her head up to maintain eye contact.

"I said what you heard, Isabella Yates. Aren't you shameless? Your father and I have been catering for your needs since you were born and now, just when we need you to help us out, you want to disappoint us?!" The woman asked with voice raised enough for everyone presently in the Yates family mansion to hear.

Seeing that her mother was fuming already, Isabella turned her wheelchair to face her father.

"Sir, I..."

She was interrupted before she could say any more, by her father Lucas Yates.

"You don't have to argue, Isabella. We need help from the Hunt's family urgently but their monster of a first son is asking for a collateral, which is you. You will help us, right?" The man had a small smile on his face as he looked down on his first daughter's confused face.

"Sir..."

"Don't worry about yourself, Isabella. He won't hurt you as long as you obey his instructions, just like I do here. I only take you to the punishment room when you disobey me, right? Now, the only thing I need you to do is to sign that contract lying in front of you."

Isabella could sense the subtle threat in her father's words. If she disobeyed him and refused to sign this paper in front of her, she would be punished just like yesterday and the day before, as it had always been for as long as she could remember.

Shivering, she pulled the table in front of her closer to herself and picked up the pen lying on it. Scanning the words written on the paper even though she could not understand any, she finally signed at the lower left part of the paper.

Even though Isabella was not educated, the one thing her parents taught her was how to sign a contract. In the 22 years of her life, she had signed more contracts than an average person signed. Normally, her parents would shut her in the punishment room and when the woman inside was done with her, they would bring her to this room and place a paper and pen in front of her.

"That's my filial daughter," Lucas praised, the creepy smile on his face turning genuine for a second. He couldn't help it as he had just signed a very beneficial contract where he basically had to do nothing, but would receive hefty amounts in his bank account at the end of each month. All the work would be done by this foolish girl here instead.

"Thank you, Sir," Isabella smiled back. That was how she was taught. To every praise and blame, she had to thank the person who noticed her enough to do that.

"It's alright now. If you listen to my instructions, then you will have nothing to worry about. Nicholas Hunt is a terrifying man, actually very terrifying than I can ever be, so you have to be very careful when you get to his house. It's normal that he would punish you every now and then, but it should not be too much if you behave yourself. Also, never implicate out family over there. If you do so and you end up returning here, then know that you are coming back to die," he paused, waiting for Isabella's response which she gave almost immediately.

"Yes Sir!"

"Yes, and don't ever forget to grant us help whenever we ask. From what you signed, you will at least be entitled to a little bit of pocket money per week. They will be basically useless to you so just forward it to your sister's account instead. Gabrielle would need it more."

Isabella nodded again, and that was it. Her purchase by Nicholas Hunt, which was disguised as a contract which Isabella could not even read, was finalized.

The very next moment, her mother who had never touched Isabella's wheelchair walked behind Isabella and pushed her out of the room to the living room. When she got there, she could see all the members of the household awaiting them there.

They all stood to their feet to greet the head of the family when Lucas walked in, a wide grin plastered on his face. Signaling them to take their seats, he began,

"As you all know that I and my wife wants nothing but the best for our two daughters, it's with nothing but pleasure that we announce the marriage of our princess, Isabella, to Nicholas Hunt, who doesn't need any form of introduction to all of us here. He has been visiting here frequently this days so no one should bother asking how he and Isabella met. Finally, she will be leaving tonight and will be accompanied by Angela as we don't want her to feel lonely in such an unfamiliar environment—"

"What?!" Isabella gasped, unable to withhold her surprise to herself. No one had told her she was leaving tonight!