Chapter 4: The Unraveling

Tension permeated the modest flat that Izora owned. The only sounds in the room were the soft hum of the refrigerator and the far-off tap of rain against the glass, which contrasted sharply with the wild ideas whirling in Izora's head.

  Benedict stood before her, his typically cool attitude broken like fragile glass, his features drawn and tight. As though it were the only thing keeping him anchored, his hands clutched the bag's strap.

  "Izora, you don't understand," he started, his voice tight and every word spilling out as if it were a terrible admission. “You have a marriage contract signed with Kaiser Eirian.”

  Izora's head whirled, the words descending slowly like stones into a deep, black well. Her throat closed as her body stopped. Her breath seized in her chest. "When!? No, it cannot be the truth.”

  But the look in Benedict’s eyes, the terror there, told her everything she needed to know.

  "How?" Her voice came out in a shaky whisper, barely audible above the storm outside. "How did I”.

  "You signed it," Benedict said, snapping sharply and sounding frustrated. "You were the one not looking at what you were signing, Izora! "You looked over the contract hardly at all since you were so very poor!”.

  His comments left a piercing ache like a knife cutting through her. Her chest tightened with both guilt and fear as she pulled back from his sharpness. Benedict turned away, pacing in little, tight steps across the floor, his face contorted with wrath and his fists shaking at his sides.

  “I thought it was just for work. How could I know what it was? How could I have known you had made a mistake?”

  “And not only that, the people had to be Eirian Kaiser? The mafia boss of the city!”

  Benedict neglected to pay attention, though. His wrath kept boiling over, and the unfairness of it made her feel little, as though her anxiety had no relevance. Why is he behaving in such a manner? She wanted to yell at him, tell him he was the one that had let her down. It was he who had made the error and handed her the incorrect paperwork. But Benedict seemed to be deaf to all else but his guilt in his fear.

  “No, I never knew!” Panic drove Izora's speech, her eyes wide as she fought to grab at any last piece of reason. I just had Mom's operation and needed the money. Never considered”. Her voice stopped, falling into the terrible truth of what she had done without knowing.

  Desperate in his words, Benedict turned back to her with wild eyes. "Your opinion counts not at all! You skipped over reading the contract. And now you are wedded to a man who could” Once more, his voice cracked, but this time it was not rage. It was dreadful. She is terrified. Fear is shared by both of them.

  Izora staggered back, her legs wobbly under her, reaching out to grab the arm of the adjacent chair to ground herself. She had not entirely understood what he was saying. She was unable to do it. The words seemed to come from another planet, from a dream she was unable to wake from.

  "Uncle, I don't," she started, but her words stammered as a chill tore over her, a cold unrelated to the rain outside and everything to do with the horrible realization chewing at her insides.

  Her lips were dry, her throat tight as though the air itself was turning to cement in her lungs. She swallowed forcefully. "How did I sign a contract of marriage to him?" The words were only a whisper, a breathless insight as if simply uttering them would bring it all too close.

  Guilt and regret tightened Benedict's face. "I have no idea how it came about," Izora. But I have already made the error. We now have to correct that as well.”

  Izora looked at him, not sure if she could understand. Her ears could detect her pulse, which sounded like a drum banging. Her ideas broke off, flitting between one terrible reality and another.

  Kaiser Eirian. She shared a marriage with him. Her hands shook as she tightened her jumper over her body, as though the warmth could protect her from the horror wriggling at her chest.

  "I. How could I? How could I have?” Izora started once more, but when a recollection rushed through her head her voice stopped. Eager to help her mother, she signed the paperwork she had signed in the sterile, frigid office, but the small type blurred her eyes. Her head turned back to that moment, the pen in her hand, the urgent desire to finish the papers allowing her to go back to her sick mother. How could I have overlooked it?

  But as the shock of it sank more into her bones, a new, colder truth started to pound her heart: should she be legally wedded to Kaiser Eirian, then what about his fiancée, Aralyn? Long before Izora even knew what a mafia boss looked like, she had heard of her being beautiful, composed, and a part of Kaiser's life.

  “What about his fiancé?”

  Benedict seemed to be reading her mind; his eyes narrowed. His voice quiet and under control, he advised, "Don't worry about her.” Still, Izora could sense his discomfort in tone. Not about her, this is not. “It concerns you and addresses this mess.”

  Izora gave a head shake. "I'm not sure," she said softly. "In what ways may I correct this?”

  Benedict's face grew dark, his jaw clenched, and then he inhaled deeply. "You have to sign the divorce docs, Izora."

  The comments felt to her like a slap to the face. "The Divorce Papers?" Her voice trembled; a knot in her stomach threatened to climb into her throat. “Still, would it not be real if I signed them? Even if we divorce, I will still be married to him.”

  Ben groaned, his face tightly pulled from tiredness. "It's not formally a divorce until two months unless you can get Kaiser to approve of it. You are not at choice, though. He will hunt after you if you refuse to sign. And you object to that as well.”

  Izora stood still, the weight of what he was saying hanging thick in the air. Her chest thung with a harsh, agonizing pulse. Her breath sounded to her as shallow and too quick, as though she was choking.

  “You’re telling me I have to sign papers to divorce a man I don’t even know, a man who’s part of a mafia?” Izora’s voice wavered, her eyes wide as she stared at Benedict.

  Benedict nodded gravely, his face drained of color. “It’s the only way to make sure you’re free. But you need to sign them now before he gets any ideas. Time’s running out.”

  Izora looked at the papers on the table, two copies of the same document, one for her, one for Kaiser Eirian. She could nearly sense their weight and their finality. Her fingers twitched above the papers as she felt the frigid air on her skin.

  In the quiet, she could hear her own shallow, rapid breathing like the seconds before a storm. Her fingers brushed the paper as she reached for the pen, prepared to write her name; the sound of her motions enhanced in the quiet room. 

  Izora flinched back when the door suddenly blasted open with a fury that shook the walls. Her heart leaped in her breast. 

  Then Kaiser Eirian stood in the gateway, tall and commanding as a storm itself. 

  Izora stopped. 

  Her head became blank. She was unable to breathe. Not moved at all. She could not understand the picture of the man standing in her flat in front of her, who had somehow become a terrible aspect of her existence. 

  He is in my house how? Izora gasped, her voice hardly audible, the panic snarling at her throat. Kaiser's chilly gray eyes fixed on hers, a smile flickering at the margins of his mouth. His voice low and menacing, he said, "You must be my wife."

  Izora’s blood ran cold.