Just a pawn, the words kept on repeating themselves in her mind.
Because of The news that Joyce had received early in the morning from his father, her entire day was spent in a depressed mood especially when George had refused to talk to her.
She could not bunk classes. The professor marked the attendance online and her father had hacked into the system to make sure that if she ever bunked it, without his knowledge, it would only take him a few seconds to know.
Also, because of the request, to be put in polite words, that her father had made about coming home earlier she had to decline the lunch that she was going to have with George and their early classes in the morning would also cut out the breakfast from their schedule.
And for obvious reasons, she could not bunk her classes.
So all in all, her day had gone shitty. George is not responding to her texts or phone calls and she knew the moment she reached home, she would have to turn off the phone she used for this Which in the end, she did.
The phone slipped into the secret pocket of a bag, forgotten for the remainder of the day until she went back to college.
No one was at the door of the house to greet her, thankfully. She slipped into her room only to find the dress on her bed, carefully ironed out and placed to be worn by her in the evening.
Her parents were definitely not playing around.
The door to her bedroom opened suddenly, making her jump and turned around to it. Her mother popped her head in and was almost relieved at the sight of her. "I thought you came in."
She entered the room and made a point to lock the door behind her.
"What is it?" Joyce questioned. "Why are you locking the door?"
Breanna did not say anything until she passed Joyce and took a seat on the bed. She was careful enough to stay away from the beautiful dress so that it was not creased in any way.
"Do you remember everything I have taught you?" Breanna went straight to the point. "everything that I have taught you from how to sit and stand in the presence of a man and many to how to hold yourself in the arms of someone powerful like your father?"
"Yes, I do." Her defence went up immediately on hearing that question. Those lessons were gruesome, tiring and relentlessly given by her mother. Even a governess was hired to teach her everything from basic manners of the Victorian era to the modern etiquettes.
"Good," Brianna nodded to herself and she could sense the panic in the movements of her mother. "Good."
Joyce slowly moved to stand in front of her mother before kneeling down and placing her hands on her knees. "Can you tell me what's going on? You are clearly panicking. Did father say something to you?"
When her mothers eyes turned away to look away from her, it was evident that he had. "What?" She asked again.
Brianna gulped. " He is angry. They're losing territories quicker than anything and he's getting angrier by the day because he can't do anything. Declan can't do anything either because he's the only heir and your father does not want to be killed." She huffed. "you are his only hope at the moment and he has been biting my ass to make sure that you do everything correctly tonight.."
Brianna took Joyce's hands off her knees and held on to them tightly. " Please, child, whatever you do, do not mess up tonight. You need to look like the perfect—"
"merchandise?" Joyce completed. "I need to look like the perfect mark and die so that my father can sell me off?"
Brianna's eyes narrowed. "Do you think I like all of this?" She snapped at her daughter. "Do you think I like the fact that your father has to sell you off so that he can assure something, some fucking future for his child that he should have done without your health? No, I don't."
"but as a mother, I have to choose to prioritise the happiness of my children. Which is why I want you to marry someone who is going to bring something to this family while taking care of you till the end of time. Do you understand how hot it is for me to divide my heart and put it in front of all of you?!" She screeched Like a banshee at the end of it.
Brianna stood up and threw her arms up in the air before taking a few deep breaths to come herself down. She didn't turn to do the mirror in her daughter's room and smoothed down the dress she wore and the top of her head.
She turned to Joyce, with a levelled expression on her face like she had not lost her cool a few seconds ago. " I am going to send a makeup artist to you. She's going to do a minimalist makeup look on you. Be ready half an hour before the time."
And poof! Her mother was gone.