Chapter 4

"We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think and feel."

-Marshall B. Rosenberg-

***

“So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?” Karina did not feel like beating around the bush anymore. She was already depressed enough being kidnapped and taken away from the life she knew, she couldn’t bear anymore surprise.

“What’s the rush, we have at least thirty minutes before the dinner is over. Why don’t you enjoy your meal first and we will discuss the matter after dessert.” He suggested.

“No, let’s talk now. Are you going to release me?” Eden almost couldn’t believe she was still at that. He guessed everything he had done for her so far did not mean much to her. Even though she was no longer as bitter and angry as she did the previous day, she was still as cold to him as the first time they met.

“I told you, I already bought you with one million dollars, you will not leave my sight without my permission. However, I have decided to do it the right way. We are going to get married next week and that’s final.” Karina felt like she was being hit by a storm. Marriage wasn’t even something on her mind yet, she was twenty-four for goodness sake. Too young for marriage by her standard.

Even if she was going to get married, she planned on being married to Aaron before since they were engaged. She already had a future plan with him.

In a day, everything shattered and suddenly she was told she was going to marry this man she just met for a day? The universe must be crazy.

“No, I refuse. I don’t know you. I don’t know anything about you. How can I marry a man I don’t know? Worse, marrying my own kidnapper!?” She was getting slightly heated up. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

“I know you must be upset. But it has been decided. We are going to get married next week in this house. I have sent over the wedding invitations to some close family and friends. I have also booked a priest, professional chefs and event organizer to decorate this place. You don’t have to do anything.” He was calm, it was unnerving. She wanted to snap at him but she would like the ill-mannered person in the room.

“What about me? What about my feelings, my consent, my family and friends? They deserve to be invited to my wedding too. This is madness.”

“Karina. I told you before, but I know you. You don’t have any family members, your parents have passed away in an accident. Your grandparents passed away too three years ago. You are not close with any of your distant relatives"

"As for friends, You have no real best friends except for a few friends from your school and college, you don’t trust your work colleagues and your ex fiancee is a traitor. Who exactly are you going to invite if you had the chance to? You have no one but me now. I will take care of you, so don’t worry.” He read her relationships like it was out of a list. She was stunned.

“How could you know them?” She wondered. It was getting a bit creepy how he understood very well who she was and her relationships with the others.

“I think I’ve told you this a million times, but I know you. I know who you are, Karina Swan. Otherwise, I would never allow you into my house, paid a million dollars for you and make you my bride if I didn’t know who you are. Everything I am doing now has been carefully planned. You just have to go along with it, for your own sake and happiness.” Karina took a bite of her cheesy pasta.

She was too speechless. Karina had lost all her courage to speak and couldn’t argue anymore, all she wanted right then was to be left alone with her own thought, but she couldn’t because he was there.

After she went quiet, he realized he might be a bit too harsh with her earlier. He stood up and approached her. She refused to look at him but then he pulled a red velvet box from his pocket and opened it up.

Inside was a huge radiant cut diamond ring with pure 24K white gold band. He took her hand in his and placed the ring on her ring finger.

“There, to make everything complete.” Karina had been through it once before. When Aaron proposed to her, he placed a silver ring with a round moissanite on her ring finger, but after discovering the truth, she tossed the ring into the bushes. She did not expect another ring to be placed there so soon.

“If you don’t like the ring, we can exchange it later after we’re married. After the wedding ceremony is complete, I’ll let you out and we can travel together. But until then, you need to remain inside the house, do you understand?” He asked. She did not answer at all. She did not even bother to look at him.

Eden was not used to being ignored, he could feel his own temper rising with her attitude. He took deep breaths, doing his best to remain calm and collected, but it was difficult.

Eventually, he decided to leave, skipping dinner altogether and headed straight to his personal gym, where he often came to exercise and vent his anger.

He quickly removed his top and picked up his boxing gloves, then he headed straight to the punching bag and gave his all.

“Why couldn’t she just listen to me!?” He shouted as he punched the bag.

“I’m doing my best to make her happy. Why is she so difficult?” He continued as he landed another punch on it. After a while, his anger was fully vented over and he sat on the wooden floor.

“I know it’s my own fault for taking the faulty step. But what else can I do? How else am I going to get her attention except this?” He thought to himself after he had calmed down a little. Letting the sweat and emotion out was definitely helping. He felt much more relaxed but still out of breath from the exercise.

“Great, now I’m stinking again. I need to take another shower before bed.” He stood up and headed over to his room. Before that, he took a peek at the dining room to see if she was there. As he expected, she had gone back to her room.

“Whatever, it’s best to leave her alone for now. Tomorrow is a new day, a new chance.”

Meanwhile, Karina had gone to her room right after he left. She finished her pasta and then locked herself to process everything. As she sat on the bed, she took a look at the ring in her hand.

A part of her had to admit, it was quite impressive. She had never seen a diamond that large in person before and it didn’t matter what, she was still a woman and for a brief second, she started to think about what if it was going to be a good relationship?

“No, snap out of it!” She reminded herself as she placed the ring back in its box and buried her face with the pillow.

“You can’t let him get into your mind. He’s a kidnapper, you should call the police and get out of here.” She mentally reminded herself. She picked up her phone about to dial the police number but then she remembered it was the phone he had given her and if she called the police, he would surely figure out about it and something horrible might happen to her.

“Okay, let’s just sleep, you’re panicking right now. Let’s sleep.” She pulled the blanket and closed her eyes. It was better for her to forget about the situation for a while and just enjoyed the comfort she had at the moment.

The next morning, she woke up from a knock on the door. It was almost eight in the morning so she should have been awake but still too early for any guest. She opened the door and found Eden standing there with two women behind him.

“Good morning, princess. Today you’re going to get yourself measured for the wedding dress. These two would take good care of you and we will have the final fitting two days before the wedding.” She was barely awake and she had to deal with wedding dress fitting?

“Oh lord help me.” She pleaded in her heart. The two women seemed friendly and they asked for permission to enter her room. She gave the permission and he smiled seeing her annoyed face.

“I will leave you in their care. They also brought along some dresses for you to try on today. Make sure to show me each dress after you’re done wearing them so I can pick which one looks the best on you.” He requested before closing the door.

“Okay, now let the measurement begin.” The women asked her to remove her clothing and she was feeling so uncomfortable getting undressed in front of these two women but she knew they were professionals and they were just there to do their job so she did not want to make things to difficult for them.

They took her measurements and after they were done, they took out three different wedding dresses they had prepared in advance.

“Your fiancee personally selected these three for you. Why don’t we start with the first one?” One of the woman told her. The size they brought was an upsize so they fitted a bit large on her but not too much so it gave a pretty good idea of what she would look in them.

The first dress was a beautiful ivory-gold strapless dress with a two-meter skirt.

The second one is a silver white dress with some furring and lace embroidery around the neck area, it wasn’t as tall and heavy as the previous dress but she personally did not like the color.

The third one was a pure white Sabrina type of wedding dress that had some intricate detailing on the blouse part and three different layers of fabric on the skirt.

Each time she was done wearing one of the model, she would showcase it to him even though it was mostly to make the seamstress and designer’s job easier. Each time she showed him the dress, he would look at her with a poker face, she had no idea what he was thinking.

“Okay, I have decided on which one I want to get. I like the last one the best, what do you think, Karina?” He asked. She was a bit pleased knowing he still somewhat cared about her opinion for the dress but they had the same taste since she also liked the third one the best.

After their job was done, the women were gone. He approached her.

“I thought you looked really beautiful in them. So, how do you feel now after the dress fitting?” He complimented her.

“I still hate you.” She responded honestly.

“I know, but it won’t be for long. After our wedding, you’ll learn how to love me.”