011

Elara Kings

“I will get married to you,” I announced in a tight voice, forcefully holding myself from tearing up and blinking vigorously.

No, I was not going to give Cassian the pleasure of seeing my tears, he was not going to see the effect that his words had on me.

But that seemed to be futile as I was already giving in to his demands now, wasn’t it?

He gave a satisfactory nod in return,

“It is decided then, you will get married in a week and Elara will represent you at the company until you recover,” he declared with a final tone.

My skin prickled as Xander sat on his chair with his face forward, giving away no expression whatsoever.

The atmosphere in the room was sickening, and I could not handle it any longer.

“Is that all?” I cut in sharply.

He turned his gaze to me with a measured look before nodding his head, just once.

One imperceptible nod was enough for me, it was all I needed to storm out of the room.

The walk back to my room was a struggle as rage bubbled within me and I felt ready to burst, tightening my fists at my sides to hold in my emotions.

The door swung before me as I burst into the room, letting go for that one second.

My feet traversed the space as I paced back and forth.

I was disappointed in myself for giving in so easily, but what else was I supposed to do.

I was left with no other choice after the prepositions I was presented with.

I let out a scoff as I ran through the memory of earlier:

**********

“I don’t care what you have to say, but I am not getting married to your brother,” I declared as soon as we stepped into the secluded part of the hallway that he had dragged me to.

“Oh but you will,” he stated like his words were law.

My response was a well-deserved glare.

“I will do no such thing!” I retorted quickly.

I expected him to argue and tell me all the reasons he wanted me to marry his brother.

Or perhaps, try to convince me by offering me more money.

However, he did no such thing, his next words pulling the rug under my feet.

“Do you want to go to jail?” he asked in a very calm and eerie tone.

I paused at his strange words,

“What are you going on about?”

Of course, I did not want to go to jail, but what did that have to do with anything?

“Because if you don’t get married to my brother, that is where you will end up,” he answered plainly.

I hesitated for a second, “Is that a threat?”

I could not believe what I was hearing; he was going to get me arrested because I refused to get married to his brother.

What is it with rich people and their sense of entitlement?

He shifted on his feet, regarding me with the same calm expression — what infuriated me the most.

“You may call it whatever you please, whether it be a threat or whatever else, but you will get married to my brother.”

I stared back at him in silence, stumped at his sheer audacity.

At my silence, he continued,

“You see, there is one thing you missed while signing the contract, some hidden clauses that you crossed over,” he revealed.

“What are you talking about?” my heart constricted in my chest and I had a feeling that whatever he was talking about was going to land me in very big trouble.

“To put it plainly, I am obligated to sue you for impersonation if you fail to meet your end of the contract or if you don’t give in to any of my demands.”

“What?” I spluttered in disbelief.

He couldn’t have possibly done such a thing.

“That is not possible, I… I read the contract. I went through it,” I argued weakly, willing his words to be inaccurate.

“Every detail?” he threw back at me with a raised eyebrow.

I hesitated.

Of course not, I had been too impatient for that.

And he knew that too, as he stared back at me with a smug smirk.

“You cannot do that; you deceived me,” I said in realization.

He did not look fazed, shrugging nonchalantly.

“I just took a precaution,” he stated casually.

I was more surprised than anything else by the change in his demeanor.

Where was the polite and kind man that had convinced me to treat his brother?

It was then that I realized what I had signed myself up for; I had practically signed a deal with the devil.

**********

And now, as I simmered with fury, I knew that it was my doing.

This was as a result of my desperation.

The threats from my landlord, the piling debts and bills, I had broken under the pressure of it all, leaving behind my job at the hospital — my only sense of stability.

I thought I was moving on to greener pastures; oh, how wrong was I?

I had been too blinded by the ghost of a check he had offered me. The thought of having my debt cleared, of ridding myself of my financial hole.

I had forgotten in the first place, the reason I detested the affluent so much.

That was a slap into reality.

But now it was too late.

I was trapped in this contract, and soon an unwanted marriage.

I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, a vase, threw it across the room, and watched it hit the wall and shatter into a million pieces.

I knew that my life was now like that vase, broken and irreparable.

This time I had thrown myself in a slowly sinking ship with nothing but endless sea surrounding me.

To top it off, I could not even swim.

Cassian was the devil in disguise and Xander was my husband-to-be, I knew then without a doubt.

I was doomed.