chapter 3

Elizabeth's POV

“I’m Nathan Anderson Tate,  I'm your husband.” 

His devil-may-care Outlook and his stellar smile did no Justice to the rubbish of words he had just spoken. I stared at him,  eyes wide waiting for him to correct his statement.

At this moment,  I only find myself working at him. a flicker of curiosity grows Inside Me. His only flemish was the bottled brow which furrowed with expectation and confusion. It only takes me a short while before I realize that his hand is stretched out towards me and he's waiting for me to shake it.

“ Elizabeth,  the young handsome man has said something,  do you not have any response to that?”  my mother asks suddenly. when I look at her and then back at the attractive man I can only nod my head trying to incorporate the level of information that I had just been given. it still settles in my mind that this might be a joke of some sort. A mistake or perhaps a misunderstanding.

“He just said he's my husband's mother,” I said with a chuckle, ignoring the outstretched hand. 

“Is something funny?” He asks, his voice silky and rich with so much masculinity and sexiness. The aura that he carried around him was out of this world. I could tell the fabric and outlook of his garments spelled luxury. Based on the number of cars he had come with, and the fact that he had a chauffeur at his beck and call, told me everything I needed to know. 

I was fucking imagining things. 

“i…im..Im sorry, I think im imagining things. What did you sa..”

“I’m Nathan Anderson Tate, and I’m your husband.” He interrupts, taking my hand in his, shaking it casually as his almond-shaped eyes connect with mine. 

My eyes widen with horror, a short questionnaire occurs in my brain where I wonder if I was on drugs. 

“ Mum…Who is this man and is he out of his mind?” I direct the question towards my parents pulling my hand away from his own immediately. 

Taking a step backward, I gave myself from there several men inside our compound dressed in suits. Something was f****** happening and it was happening right now. And I needed answers before I went crazy.

“ Elizabeth,  why don't we sit down and have a conversation inside.” my mother calls out to me, stepping forward as she places her hand on my shoulder. I look at her and then back at my dad then towards the hunky stranger that still stood in front of me.

“ Is this some kind of joke?”  I asked him, hoping that he could provide information that was not masked and hidden like what my parents were trying to do. There ought to be an explanation for this.

“You have not told her…” the man answers,  his head falling,  shoulders dropping as he exhales in somewhat frustration and annoyance. The way the muscles of his arms flex around his suit when he dives his hand into his pocket is sensational. 

“ We felt that it was best if the both of you first met before giving her the news. I mean is it not obvious Sir. Nathan? My daughter already likes you. she's in love with you. I mean look at her. She's going to make a wonderful wife for you. We have trained her to be a modest woman, one who…”

“WAIT! Wait! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?” I yell, clenching my fingers as anxiety threatens to obliterate me. 

The man stares at me with that odd expression and then back at my parents.

“Do you call that tantrum a well-trained woman?” he asks dismissing me as though I wasn't even in his presence. this ought to be a f****** dream. In no way in this world can this be happening. well-trained? like a puppy or something? As a joke? was this a prank?

“Look at my love…”  he says turning to me once again. He enters the house,  inviting himself in as his hand rests on my lower back, pushing me inside with him. Goosebumps stretch over my body as the beating of my heart fastens. If this Madness continued any longer I'm pretty sure I was going to have a heart attack.

“Have a sit right here,”  he says as if he had already made himself accustomed to the house.

“I suspect that your parents were afraid to tell you this or they were holding back for a valid reason,  but we are going to be getting married within a period of 2 months.” He drops the bombshell, a cosmic smile on his lips as he reads my face waiting for a reaction. 

Rising up from the couch immediately, I take a step back and breath deeply. 

“You’re crazy. You are really crazy.” I say to him. “Mom, come liste..”

“He's telling you the truth,  daughter. This is why we have been preparing since morning. this is why we have been so nervous the past few days. We accepted the money that he offered and you're going to be his wife before or within two months. He's a billionaire. you don't need to worry about anything. He is a nice young man and he has promised to take care of you. think about it. He is going to pay for your education. Especially for Law School you no longer have to work two jobs and you need not worry about providing for us. Everything is the conqueror.  We've already received the down payment…”

“What?” I repeat yet again, the words echoing in my head as my eyes widen. “Down Payment? His Wife? You…You sold me!” 

I arrive at the conclusion in a much more horrifying way than I had expected. And I was prepared to argue that result with everything that I had. But the guilty look on my mother's face and the satisfying look on my father's tells me everything I needed to know. 

They had sold me out.

“Listen,” I say to him, watching as he stands up and looks at me. “You must be a really sick man to offer money to a bunch of people in exchange for their daughter. And you're even much sicker to think that a woman can be bought with money. It tells me how low your standards are. It tells me how pathetic you are and how it may be possible that you are so miserable in your love life you needed to go buy a woman against her will. but that person isn't going to be me. I don't care how much money you've given my parents but it's not enough. It will never be enough. My worth is not measured by materialistic things. I am a human being for crying out loud. I am not a commodity. I am not an item you can buy at the market or from those two people standing right there. In light of this… I would like you to understand that it is safe to collect the money you've already given to my parents. You do not have a wife in this home. I have an education ahead of me. And once I'm through with that, if I'm ever going to get married, it's going to be to a man that I'm in love with. At my own pace time and with a decision that I have made by myself.” 

 Turning around hoping to make the dramatic exit, two gigantic men stand at the door. 

“ tell your minions to let me out,” I say to him.  he remains silent,  his hands in the pocket of that beautiful immaculate suit as he slowly approaches me first for some reason I was breathing different also but that did not excuse the fact that even though this man is incredibly handsome in attractive, he is a sick bastard. He liked the decency of being a normal human being. Chances are that if he had asked me out or showed interest in me then maybe we would have gone on a date like what other normal people will do. But marriage? Within the period of two months? Being sold by my parents? The betrayal of that tabs much more than anything I have ever felt. It slices my heart almost in half and it reminds me that in this world there are things I should remain afraid of. Like the betrayal of people, I trust the most. people that I have grown accustomed to.  Had I not given enough for my parents? Was it not enough sacrifice to work two jobs in hopes of finding good deals and my own? Catering for my own education? Only to be sold out like an item in the market.

“Listen, love… I agree with half of the things that you've just said. and of course, you are a woman of value. but I'm not going to tell you that I respect that. because at the end of the day I've given your parents a shitton amount of money that I would have invested in a business or something. and we've already made the agreement and the documents are going to be signed. like it or not baby girl,  I own you!” 

The way he speaks those words with so much confidence irritates me the most. my lips pressed in a thin line as I take a step forward. standing on my tippy toes just to make sure that I am almost looking at him directly, I clench my fist with anger trying to figure out the perfect response.

“You are f****** delusional”