The words from my father's call echoed in my mind, each syllable biting deeper than the last. My fists tightened, the blood from my earlier punch still dripping onto the expensive carpet.
A fake bride? Marriage? The absurdity of it all made my stomach churn. The relief I'd briefly felt when my truth came out was buried in a pool of dread.
Mike cleared his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Jordan, you need to decide quickly. The media's going to keep hounding us, and your father…"
"I know," I snapped, pacing back and forth. "But I refuse to let that man control my life again."
Mike adjusted his glasses, looking hesitant. "There's something else you should know."
I stopped pacing and turned to him, my gaze narrowing. "What now?"
He hesitated, then pulled out his tablet and tapped a few times before turning the screen to face me. On it was a new headline: "Pastor Jude's son is facing criticism, leading to calls for people to blacklist T&S Enterprises."
"They've started targeting the company," Mike said. "Shareholders are already panicking. If we don't act fast…"
My jaw clenched. Of course, they'd go after the company. My pristine image was the foundation of everything. Any crack in that image and the entire empire could crumble.
"I'll deal with it," I muttered, though I had no idea how.
Mike raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you plan to do that? The board's already calling for an emergency meeting. They'll want to hear from you directly."
I didn't answer. Instead, I grabbed a towel from the nearby chair and wrapped it around my bleeding hand. The pain was sharp, helping me stay calm amidst the chaos.
The sound of my phone buzzing broke the silence. I glanced at the screen. My father again.
"Are you going to answer?" Mike asked.
"No," I said, tossing the phone onto the bed. "Let him stew for a while."
Mike sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Jordan, if you don't play along, he'll make this worse. You know how he operates."
I did. My father wasn't the kind of man to back down. If I refused to follow his plan, he'd escalate things until I had no choice.
But I wasn't that scared, naive teenager anymore.
"I'll figure something out," I said, more to myself than to Mike.
Mike didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyway. "In the meantime, I'll try to manage the media frenzy.… try not to make things worse."
After Mike left, I sank onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. The room felt suffocating, the weight of the situation pressing down on me.
As much as I hated to admit it, my father's plan was the only solution. A fake marriage could divert attention, restore the company's image, and buy me some time to figure out who leaked the photos.
But the thought of lying again, of pretending to be someone I wasn't, made my skin crawl.
I didn't want to do what he said, yet I've forgotten how my father works. I thought things would get better in a few days but it only got worse. I wasn't given even a single chance to rest from the emotional and physical attacks from people; and not only that, My father threatened to tell my mother the truth if I didn't do as he said.
He is a cruel man and I know what he was capable of doing. I ended up accepting his offer without a second thought. I have always been powerless against my father. That was the main reason I worked harder to get to where I am today yet I was still powerless against the man.
I still feared him despite the money, the fame, and all the influential companies I owned. Ever since I was little, I've always believed that we were a perfect family. My mom and dad loved each other and they always showed that they did. My dad would kiss and hug my mom with so much love every now and then- A constant display of affection. I didn't mistake it, they were very much in love, and yet...
My dad changed when I turned 7. He'd hit my mom any chance he got and with anything he could lay his hands on- a rod, a belt, a knife, each of them getting more brutal than the last. Anytime we tried to intervene and stop him from hurting my mom, he'd hit us too. I asked my dad countless times what went wrong. Weren't we happy?
Why did you become such a piece of shit?
He told me that my mom was a lying, cheating whore and that she had slept with countless men under his nose for years and it was time for her to finally learn her lesson. I didn't believe him. My mom wasn't a whore, she still isn't. She loved my dad so much that she could never imagine doing such a thing to him.
The abuse continued for 2 more years.
My mom's skin started to form scars and bruises, purple, dark, and some places red and blue. She lost her smile little by little and then she grew to detest Jude. However, I underestimated her hatred for Jude. I never knew it'd grown to the point that when I was 9, she hit me in the face with a metal steel, mistaking me for Jude cause of our huge resemblance.
She felt guilty but she masked it and didn't help me. She left me on the floor, bleeding profusely and my brother, sett had to take me to the hospital.
I didn't blame her. I never did.
It was all Jude's fault.
He ruined our Family!
When Jude discovered what had happened, he dragged my mother to the mental rehabilitation center. I hated him for that. My mom wasn't crazy! She hit me cause she was scared and to her, She was trying to defend herself from his attacks. He made her that way.
Barely a week after she was sent to the mental rehabilitation center, the center called and said my mom had escaped and was involved in an accident. We reached the hospital and my mom woke up acting all lovey-dovey with my dad. It was almost like we were back in the past when Dad hadn't changed so much. The doctor explained what had happened to her, she lost all of her memory of recent years and could only recall things that occurred before dad's change. He said that mom wanted to get rid of memories that gave her so much pain and that we shouldn't try to make her remember those memories or else, it'd take a toll on her mental health for good.
He said everything would be fine if she remembered it slowly on her own. So I made a deal with my dad. I would do anything he asked if he didn't do anything to remind my mom of those gruesome memories. He agreed. Jude was a greedy bastard, of course, he'd agree to anything that favors him. I hated that my mom saw him as the man she loved in the past- A good, kind, and caring husband, the complete opposite of what he is today but I couldn't tell her the truth.
Her radiant smile returned, and I could see the joy sparkling in her eyes once more. If I tell her the truth myself, she could go crazy forever and my dad knows that. He knows how much I loved my mother and he knows I'd do anything for her, that was why he was threatening me with her.
I clenched my jaw in anger. I'm about to do as he say.