An hour later...
My door burst open and in came the devil himself. The look on his face made me cower in fear as he stormed through the room slamming the door behind him. The sound of it made me flinch and I stepped back away from him. His penetrating gaze was nearly enough to slice me in half. Despite wanting to run, I remained steadfast and resisted the urge. "You will do as you are told!" his gruff voice sent chills down my spine. In denial, I only shook my head at him biting at my lip. "You are forcing me to get mean here, but before I stoop to that level my dear I will give you one last chance! Now think before you speak!" he growls out.
Although my head was screaming for me to just bow down to this man, to give in to his demands... my mouth found its own way to a nearly damning reply. "I WILL NEVER MARRY YOU. Get that through your thick stupid brain!" I spat angrily at him. I wanted to see what his limits were, so I waited for his response. To my disappointment, he simply shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his phone from his pants pocket.
I had the feeling that something serious was going to happen, something I wouldn't like. In curiosity, I bit my lip in anticipation. A few seconds after he placed the call, "Yes, boss?" was heard.
He looked straight into my eyes and said, "Granger, I want you to put the phone up to her mouth so that she can say hello!"
"Yes, sir," he replies, and then after a few seconds, we heard a low shuffle sound on the other end, and then I heard her voice and immediately recognized it at once.
"Hello?"
I did not even realize that I was crying. "No... why do you have her? Let her go!" I begged him.
"Not until you sign the marriage contract!" he says, clicking his tongue.
Anger welled up inside of me, and I was unable to control it. He was blackmailing me now, "Why are you doing this to me?" I screamed at him.
He shook his head at me, "I told you not to raise your voice at me." he warned me, oh the nerve of this man to say that to me right now. It wasn't like he owned me. I was an independent young woman and I had the freedom to choose what I wanted. So I lunged at him, grabbing a hold of his collar.
"You can't control me like this, no amount of blackmail will convince me to marry you Asshole!" I gritted my teeth at him and pushed him away. The man didn't even flinch. He straightened his shirt, turned off the speaker, and placed the phone to his ear.
As he spoke, "Shoot her in the head on the count of three!" I was immediately alerted, and tears began to fall down my face. I felt as if the earth was shaking violently and I staggered in fear as I stared at him with wide frightened eyes. It dawned on me that I couldn't afford to be selfish at this moment, for if she died right now then I would never be able to forgive myself for causing her death. Then I heard him say, "One."
"No, please Jasper..."
"Two."
"Can't we negotiate this..." but he didn't let me finish what I was saying as he kept on counting.
"Two and a half." his voice echoed in my ear and I sobbed, unable to flee the fate that loomed before me. I was helpless, without a choice. I was a fish in troubled waters and in order to ensure the safety of the people that I loved, I said the only words I could utter at that moment.
"Fine... you win. I will marry you!" I sobbed between the sentences. He smiled triumphantly at me.
"Granger, you can let her go," he said as he thrust the file into my hands. I snatched it out of his hands, opening it up quickly recognizing the paperwork from before. He held out a pen for me to take, which I snatched from his hand. I placed the pen against the papers and signed my life away. He snatched up the papers from me without saying anything to me for a few moments. "Do not cry." he sighs. I glance up into his face, tear stains falling down my face. As he stared into my eyes, I saw a small glimpse of sympathy.
But I sniffled angrily at him, "Why don't you just go rot in hell?"
Then he gives a small chuckle while saying, "Goodnight, Mrs. Van Doren." He winked at me before walking out of the room. I heard the lock slide into place yet again, and I threw a pillow at the door in frustration knowing that it wouldn't do anything.
The next day...
After crying all night long, I woke up with an irritating headache and a stuffy nose. I had literally cried myself to sleep and after crying like that, I would always wake up the next morning with a mild headache.
The situation in which I find myself is not good at all. I was stuck with this cruel person who always seemed to enjoy pushing my buttons. Not to mention, what was going to happen to my father? I stand up from the bed and make my way into the bathroom... I needed to pee. After hopping into the shower to wash my body and hair, I dried my body with a towel and wrapped it around me. Once my hair was braided, I entered the room to find a maid inside making up the bed. Upon seeing me standing there, she grabs a dress from the sofa and walks over to me. "You have to wear this, Ma'am. He wants you to join him for breakfast," she says handing me the dress.
I roll my eyes as I take the dress from her hands and place it back on the sofa. "Even though the dress is pretty, I will take my breakfast here in my room," I said as I opened the closet door. I was not a bit surprised to find so many clothes inside that were in my size, so I picked a pair of jeans in the latest style and a T-shirt and walked back into the bathroom to change.
Someone else was waiting for me when I emerged. Sitting there on the sofa right next to the damn dress was Jasper Van Doren, my now-husband. He was typing furiously on his phone when he finally noticed me he stopped typing. He eyed me up and down and then stood up abruptly, "Change into the dress that I sent for you right now, then come downstairs within the next ten minutes. A second late and I will personally see to your punishment!" he orders.
"What is with you always yelling at me? Threatening me with punishments if I don't do as you say... why can't you just be a normal person for once?" I wonder irritatedly.
"Oh sweets, don't tempt me this early in the morning. Just do as I say!" he glared at me.
"And what if I don't?" I challenged him. In the next moment, I found him dangerously close to me as he became angry at my words. I held my breath as he fanned my face. We were barely an inch apart, and my fear was that if I flinched, I would surely touch his face. While I gasped for breath, he quickly closed the distance putting his mouth next to my ear. His closeness sent my insides into a frenzy.
"Gracelyn..." he whispered huskily. "You only have seven minutes left to join me for breakfast in the dress!" The words were enough to snap me into submission. He let out a low chuckle as he just simply walked out of the room.
Angry, I kicked the door as I cursed at him, "Ow!" I yelled out, jumping up and down and clutching my toe which was beginning to throb with pain. "Oh, God help me to survive it here," I muttered under my breath as I picked up the dress and headed back to the bathroom to slip it on.
As I followed my guard down to the dining room, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I didn't know what I was walking into. As I walk into the dining room I glance at the abundant food on the table. My gaze traveled to where Jasper was sitting with a coffee mug in hand reading the day's newspaper. I quickly noticed that he hadn't touched anything else and I could literally feel the anger oozing out of him. But I was so hungry, I hadn't eaten for a few days so I quickly grabbed a plate filling it to the brim with food before sitting down in one of the empty seats. The dress he made me wear, clung to my form showing off my curves and I knew that was the whole purpose of the damn thing. I tried to ignore it when his gaze lingered on me. A few minutes into the meal, I began feeling like the silence between us was suffocating so I tried to break it. But when I opened my mouth to speak to him, he swiftly stood up and left the room without uttering a single word to me. Had I really pissed him off that badly?
Feeling major disappointment, I stood up and started to walk back to my room followed closely by my guard when I saw a younger girl approach me with a wide friendly smile on her face. I noticed quickly that she was in a maid's uniform, and her black hair was tied up in a high pony behind her head. "Hey, you're Gracelyn right?" she asks as she draws closer to me. I nodded to her swiftly.
"Oh my god, the old hags were right! We finally have another female around here!" she screams out with joy, twirling around happily as I watch her in utter confusion.
I glance at my guard who shrugs his shoulders with a chuckle, "What do you mean by that?" I ask her sharply.
She stops what she's doing and glares at me for a second before answering, "Look, everyone here are guys... except the old hags who work as his maids. I am the only young one around, and the only reason I even am here is because of my dad who also works for him. He gave me a job, and a place to stay so I wasn't stuck out there on the streets and I am very grateful. However, it's so lonely as I have no friends here. Around me, everyone is getting older, so I feel like I am in a constant struggle between growing old and being young. Then I heard one of the guys talking about the master bringing in a young new pet and the best part, your female! I am so glad that I ran into you today!" she blabbered and I couldn't help but focus on the part where she called me his pet, but before I could even get mad at her for calling me that she pulls me in for a tight hug. Releasing me from the hug, she pulls back and looks at me apologetically, "Oh I'm sorry... I forgot to introduce myself to you. I'm Magdalyn, but everyone calls me Maggie!"