5

“I'm sorry sir,” Emily heard George, their old butler say. I have not been able to locate Miss Farrington.”

“Well look harder! Do you have any idea what her stunt today could have cost me? I--”

Emily quickly knocked and opened the study door to save poor George. He had been with their family since her father was a baby. He did not deserve to be berated for her little rebellion this morning. 

Looking toward the study door her uncle’s eyes quickly zeroed in on her. “Where the hell have you been? I have been looking for you for hours,” Emily’s uncle raged at her. “You were supposed to be here for lunch to meet your fiance!” 

Trying to rein in her temper, Emily replied in a calm manner, “I’m sorry if I upset you Uncle. I told you last night that I had no interest in marrying Lord Rottenford. I do not love him, in fact I find everything about him to be repulsive from his horrible manners, to his lack of proper hygiene, and how he behaves around any female.” 

“His name is Lord Rotterford, and you damn well know it,” her uncle seethed. “I do not care if you love Lord Rotterford or not. He is very willing to bring some large business this way if he can marry you. As your guardian, I have decided that you shall marry him. You will be leaving tomorrow actually to travel with him to his estate in the mountains,” her uncle finished smugly. 

“You cannot be serious,” Emily exclaimed. Taking a few steps closer to his desk she squared her shoulders and looked her sick uncle in the eye. “You cannot force me to marry him! If you want me out of the house, that is fine,” she said waving her hand. “I can take my inheritance from my mother and get a small place of my own, but I will not be forced into a marriage with that horrible man! Better yet, let me see the contract I signed the day of my father’s funeral. I think that it is time that I started running my own estate. You are not doing what you promised,” Emily finished triumphantly. 

Smiling at her outburst, Emily’s uncle stood and walked around his desk. He perched on the front and handed her several papers that had been on his desk. “I thought that you might say something like that after your little stunt today. I took the liberty of having these papers pulled so that you can review them,” he said while continuing with that smile that was starting to give Emily pause. 

She reached out her hand and took the papers that he extended toward her. As she looked through them she felt the blood draining from her face. This could not be right. How could he control everything? How had he got control of the money that was in a separate account that her mother created for her? “H-How did you do this,” Emily stammered, clutching the papers. “This money was separate from the estate. You did not have access to this. That was in an account just for me. It was to be part of my dowry or for an emergency for me,” Emily said, feeling more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by.

Smiling, her uncle reached for the papers that she was clutching in her shaking hands. Emily reluctantly let go of the papers after once again seeing her signature and initials on the papers that her Uncle had handed her. “Well, you see it is quite easy my dear. Your father died without a will, and since I am the closest relative that was of age everything came to me,” he gloated. “It was all the easier when you signed the paperwork on the day of his funeral that approved of me controlling everything.” Her uncle chuckled, “Imagine my excitement when I found that nice little sum about a year ago. It really was quite helpful in helping pay off some expenses that came up unexpectedly around the estate. The bank did not hesitate to let me pull the money when I explained how we needed to update a lot of the equipment, hire additional workers, update the house, you get the idea,” he finished with a satisfied smirk. 

“None of that has happened though. I saw the ledgers a few weeks ago. What did you do with all of that money? We are barely staying afloat,” Emily asked as a sinking feeling was growing in her stomach. She had an idea of what had happened to the money, but she wanted to hear her uncle say it outloud. She also had a bad feeling that she knew why he was pushing so hard for her to marry Lord Rotterford now. 

“Ah, well you see, I am having a little bit of bad luck with a few bets that I have made recently. I know that my luck will change soon, but until then your marriage to Lord Rotterford could easily fix our, I mean my little financial issue,” her uncle said. 

“You mean that you want me to marry someone that I cannot stand to help you pay off your gambling debts,” Emily asked incredulously. “I cannot believe that you seriously think that I would ever agree to that,” Emily exclaimed. “I would rather be poor and homeless than to help you,” Emily yelled as she jumped up from the chair. 

Holding out a hand to pause her from storming out her Uncle stated, “I thought that you might say that too,” her uncle tisked while shaking his head. “I was hoping that you might be agreeable to make the experience not so bad for you, but apparently you need to hear the hard truth. You belong to Lord Rotterford already,” her uncle said with an evil smile. 

“What do you mean,” Emily asked. “I do not belong to anyone! You cannot sell a person,” Emily exclaimed as she felt her blood pressure rising. At the same time she was scared to hear what her uncle would say next. 

“Actually, as your guardian, I can. You see, I had a really bad night the other week and Lord Rotterford helped me out. As payment, I promised him you. He actually has the right to take you in any form be it as a slave, mistress, wife, or anything. He chose to take you as his wife. You should feel honored that he is choosing to give you a good life and title,” her uncle finished grandly. 

As Emily stood there speechless for a moment as her uncle continued to look at her like she should be overflowing with happiness and gratitude. “How dare you! How dare you use me to settle debts that you have created! I refuse to be sold as a payment for your debts,” Emily said, pulling herself together. “You cannot do this. I will go to the authorities!”

“Ah yes, the authorities,” her uncle said smiling. You mean the same authorities that are run by the captain that Lord Rotterford and myself gamble with each week? Yes, yes, I am sure that he will believe you over us,” he uncles said as he began to close the distance between himself and Emily. “So you see my dear, you really do not have as many choices as you think. I will say that you do have one more option,” her uncle said as he took the last few steps to close the distance between himself and Emily. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “You can always stay here as my wife.”

Recoiling in horror and quickly taking a few steps back, Emily had to try for a second to recover from her shock. “Y-you cannot be serious. That is not even legal. You are my uncle. You and my father were brothers. That is so wrong,” the reasons just kept coming. Surely he was just being cruel. He could not really mean what he just said, could he? Emily stumbled over to one of the large chairs by the fireplace and sank down into the chair. She needed to sit before her legs gave out, but she also did not want to be near her uncle. Surely all of this was just a horrible nightmare. It could not be real, could it? Emily tried pinching her arm and quickly realized that this was happening. Her crazy uncle really had suggested that she could become his wife or be forced into marriage with Lord Rotterford to pay his debts. 

Emily was not sure what to even say. Of course she would never agree to become his wife, but she did not want to marry Lord Rotterford either. Her mind was going in a million different directions all at once trying to find a way to get out of this mess. As her mind continued to whirl her uncle sat down in the chair across from her. 

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Never losing the evil smirk that seemed permanently etched on his face now, her uncle responded, “I am very serious. You have two choices. You can marry Lord Rutherford and help gain some large business contracts for me and pay off my debt, or you can marry me. Now that I think about it, I know which choice I prefer,” he said while looking at her chest. His tongue licking his lips as he continued to stare at Emily. 

Emily felt like she was going to be sick. She felt bile rising up in her throat and had to force herself to swallow a few times to try to keep from throwing up. What in the world? She had never cared for her uncle, but she had no idea that he was like this. She asked the only question that she could focus on for the second as her mind was racing in a thousand different directions. “Why? Why would you want to marry me?”

Her question finally brought her uncle’s attention back up to her face. “Because you look like your mother. She was supposed to be mine, you know. I saw her first. I was the one that she asked to escort her for her debutante debut. I was the one that she chose to spend her weekends laughing and shopping with. She would have stayed mine if your father had not shown up. He came back from a trip early and came to see what I was doing. He just wanted to see if he could steal the girl that he knew I was in love with. I could tell the moment that she saw him that she fell for him,” he said with a sneer. “My brother always got everything. He inherited the title, the estate, your mother, the money...everything. I was always in his shadow. Well not anymore,” he raved. “Now, I finally have it all! Well, almost everything,” he said, leering at Emily. “So my dear, what will it be? Will you marry me or Lord Rotterford?” 

Thinking quickly that she just needed to get away from her deranged uncle Emily said the words that she never would have dreamed about saying half an hour ago, “I will marry Lord Rotterford,” she barely whispered. 

Leaning back in his chair the smile vanished from her uncle’s face. “You are a whore just like your mother. You always want the bigger catch,” he snarled. “Well I hope you enjoy Lord Rotterford. You will be leaving with him first thing in the morning,” his demeanor quickly changing to a sneer. He quickly stood up and reached over and grabbed her arms in a bruising grip. Just to make sure that you do not try another stunt like today, I will personally be locking you in your room.”

“Wait! Stop! What are you doing? Let me go,” Emily exclaimed while trying to wretch her arms free of her uncle’s grasp. The next thing that she knew she was on the floor holding the right side of her face. She could feel the mark that was forming from her uncle back handing her. 

“Do not try me girl. My patience for you has run out. You will stand up right this instance and come with me,” he said while breathing hard and looking down at her. “I may have promised you to Lord Rotterford to pay off my debts, but I did not promise that I would deliver you in perfect condition. Get up now or so help me you will have more than a bruised cheek when you leave tomorrow!” 

Shaking and trying to hold back tears, Emily stood up still holding the right side of her face. She could feel her cheek swelling from the hit and taste copper in her mouth. She did not utter a sound when her uncle grabbed her left arm and dragged her out of the study and upstairs to her room. When he reached her door he shoved her in hard enough that she stumbled to the floor. 

He stood in her doorway looking down at her. “If you want any of your belongings you will have them packed and ready by first light. If you are not up and dressed by first light I will throw you into the back of the car naked,” he said and without another word he slammed her door closed. Emily could hear the lock as it clicked into place. 

Emily sat on the floor in stunned silence for a few seconds and burst into tears. How had her life gone so wrong? What had she done to deserve this? How was she going to get away?