The Billionaire's Captive Bride

The Last Warning

Sonia

The air in the room felt a little emptier, the vibrant buzz slowly fading into silence. I stood by the entrance, chit chatting with my best friend. I may be a billionaire's wife now, but we would still be the five and six we always were. She was more than a friend to me and I loved her so much. I tried not to cry or she made sure I didn't cry. How are things going to be now? Would our friendship suffer? I swore in my head to make sure we'd keep in touch.

“Come here,” my stepmother demanded.

She was standing outside, her arms crossed and her expression one of impatience.

I didn’t want to, but I knew better than to ignore her. A sense of dread filled my chest as I made my way over to her. My stepmother always had a way of making everything feel more suffocating. Gosh! How much I hated her!

“I need to talk to you,” she started, without even offering a greeting. Her gaze hovered over me, her eyes scanning me from head to toe as though I were some kind of object she was inspecting for faults.

“Yes, Ma?” I asked quietly, trying to maintain some sassy composure. She wasn’t a woman known for softening her words.

She frowned. “You look like you’ve lost your will to live. Is this how you want to be in this marriage? Is this what you’re bringing to the table?” She gestured toward the entrance of the court house behind us where Adams had just gone into. “This is your chance. Your only chance to do something good. And yet...”

I wanted to argue, to remind her how I didn’t ask for this, how I didn’t choose this life. But I knew better. Any attempt to defend myself would only make her angrier, as if my very existence wasn't enough disappointment to her.

“Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your position?” she continued, her voice biting. “You’ve married a man who could give you everything you ever wanted. And yet, you stand there like a statue, unable to appreciate it. You're just like your mother!"

Her words stung. How dare she? How could she intentionally say such a thing on my wedding day! She knew I hated such conversations. She knew my temper was uncontrollable. But I wasn't going to let her win today. One thing I knew was my mom would never have agreed to this, She was big on free will.

Of course, if it was her in my shoes she'd have objected. She wouldn't have ever even been in my shoes. Her parents were very sweet. They would never had allowed their daughter to get married off to a stranger as a debt! To pay off a loan they were too reckless to reimburse. Unlike my father, her father was business smart and knew what he wanted. Mine, a puppet to his second wife. If something was certain, I wasn't as courageous as my mom was. What option did I have?

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” I said, though the words felt hollow. My chest was tight, and my hands were clenched into fists at my sides. I could feel the weight of my step mother’s disappointment crushing me, draining the very breath from my lungs.

She ignored my comment. “It doesn’t matter what you asked for. What matters now is making sure this marriage works. Make him happy. Have his children. Don’t ruin everything like you always do.”

My throat itched as I looked at her. “You never gave me a chance. You never—”

“Don’t start that nonsense,” she snapped, cutting me off. “You’ve had chances, plenty of them. But you squandered them on your dreams. What’s important now is making sure your husband is happy, and you better be good at it. He’s not a patient man. Don’t expect him to just sit there and tolerate you being... nothing.”

I could barely hold it in any longer. The frustration, the anger, the years of living under her cold, uncaring gaze.

Just as I was about to respond, a calm voice interrupted us.

“I think we’re done here,”

I looked up, startled to see Adams in the doorway. He veered towards us with an air of authority that made my heart race.

“Mrs. Emerald,” he called out rudely, “I believe this conversation is over. I would like to spend some time with my wife.”

There was something chilling about the way he said the word wife. No affection, no joy, just a cold and factual statement. I felt my breath catch in my throat, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

My mother’s face tightened, her eyes flashing with anger, but there was nothing she could do. The situation, the very words he’d used, had settled the matter for her. I was no longer under her care.

“Fine,” she said curtly, stepping back. “We’re done here, then.”

Adams didn’t even acknowledge her as she walked off. The silence between us felt heavy, as though something unsaid hung in the air.

I turned back to him, my thoughts spinning, trying to process everything that had just happened.

“Thank you,” I said softly, unsure of what else to say.

He didn’t look at me. “It’s nothing,” he muttered. “I’m sure you’re used to it by now.”

I bit my lip, my heart sinking. I wasn’t sure what hurt more. The fact that my mother had so little regard for me or that Alexander had witnessed it all.

The car ride to his house was silent.

The driver focused on the road. Adam stared out the window. It was as if I didn’t exist.

Fine. I wasn’t desperate for conversation either.

But my heart pounded with every mile closer to his home.

The Lorenzo family was known for their power, their influence. But beneath the polished exterior, there were whispers, rumors of betrayals, of hidden feuds. If the rumors were true, then I had just been married into a battlefield.

And the biggest red flag?

Not a single member of his family had attended the wedding.

As the car pulled up, my breath hitched.