CHAPTER THREE
1267 Words
CHAPTER THREE
Emily woke early, not because of the sunlight streaking through the massive windows, but because she hadn't slept much at all. Sleep had become a rare luxury since she started living at Reid Manor. It had been two days since she attempted to escape this prison. She hadn't seen Daniel since that night, not even once, and yet the conversation they had that night replayed in her head repeatedly. Each time fueling her with more anger.
There was a sharp knock on the door.
Emily reached for the robe on her nightstand and draped it around herself before the door burst open. Adam and two other men stood at the door.
"Good morning, Mrs. Reid", Adam greeted and Emily cringed.
'Mrs. Reid', the name still felt uncomfortable to answer to. Of course, officially it was still Carter-Reid. She couldn't just drop the Carter name, regardless of the fact that her family was no longer what it used to be. And if Daniel had a problem with that, he hadn't said anything. But here in Reid Manor, everyone called her Mrs. Reid.
Emily stared blankly at them.
"Mr. Reid has ordered that you move into the main house immediately," Adam continued.
Emily blinked.
"Move into the main house?" she questioned.
"Yes," he confirmed.
Emily scoffed.
"No," she said simply, and began to turn her back to them.
"I don't think you understand Mrs. Reid, this is not a request."
Emily turned back to face them. She looked at them incredulously.
"I have not set eyes on your boss for the past two days. He disappears as he sees fit and what? He thinks he can just order me around? I said no", she spat fiercely.
"Then you can tell him yourself, Mrs. Reid," Adam replied.
Emily blinked at him.
"What?"
"Is Daniel here?" she asked.
"He's waiting for you, in the main house," Adam replied.
He didn't get to finish his words before Emily burst out of the room.
~
Emily's footsteps echoed as she walked down the endless marble hallway of the main house. Adam and the two guards flanked her. Their presence is silent and menacing. They didn’t touch her, but they didn’t need to. The surrounding air crackled with violence. She still remembers how they treated her when she tried to escape two nights ago.
As they reached the massive double doors at the end of the hallway, her heart began to thud louder than her footsteps. Her hands curled into fists. She wouldn’t beg.
The doors swung open.
Daniel Reid stood at the center of the room like a monarch in his throne room. The office was cold and impersonal; dark wood, clean lines, floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the grounds. But it was the man who drew the eye.
Six-foot-four of controlled power. Sharp jaws, hair dark as midnight, and a suit tailored within an inch of its life. But it was the eyes that undid her, ice gray, still, merciless. The kind of eyes that had watched kingdoms burn and felt nothing. He turned his gaze to her like one might observe a painting they didn’t particularly care for. A flash of amusement appeared in his eyes.
“You were so excited to see me that you came to me only in your night robe?,” he said, amused.
Emily looked down. She had been so filled with rage and the urgency to confront Daniel that she had forgotten she was still in her night robe. But hearing Daniel berate her for it when he was the reason she was this way only made her more angry.
Emily raised her chin. “Go to hell.”
The guards didn’t react. They’d heard worse.
"You disappear for days, you reappear when you want to and when you do, you think you can just order to move as you see fit? Like a puppet dancing to your music? How dare you?!"
Daniel’s lips twitched, but it wasn’t quite a smile.
“I see you’ve decided to keep some of that Carter fire. Good. I’d hate for you to become boring.”
“I’m not here for your entertainment.”
“No,” he agreed, stepping forward.
“You’re here because your father lost everything and traded his only remaining asset, you.”
The words hit like a slap. She clenched her teeth.
“That doesn’t mean you own me.”
“Technically,” he said, pulling a folder from his desk and tossing it onto the table between them, “I do.”
She didn’t look at the papers. She already knew what they said. Marriage. Dowry. Conditions. Signatures. A price tag where her freedom used to be.
“You think this makes you powerful?” she hissed.
“You think having me like this gives you some kind of victory?”
“I already won,” he said. "I bought you.” And in doing so, destroyed the last piece of Richard Carter’s legacy.
There it was, the truth.
This wasn’t about her. It never was. She was just collateral damage in a long game.
She crossed her arms, to the tremor in her hands.
“What do you want from me? A trophy wife? A s*x toy? Someone to parade around at events so you can feel like the king of the goddamn world?”
Daniel’s expression didn’t change.
“I don’t need a trophy. And I can buy s*x anywhere. What I need is for you to learn the terms of your captivity.”
“Captivity,” she repeated, the word sour in her tongue.
“Marriage,” he corrected, with a tilt of his head.
Emily took a step forward, her voice low and shaking.
“I will never love you. I will never be yours.”
“I don’t need your love, Emily,” he said, his voice cool and final.
“Only your presence... and maybe your silence.”
She stared at him, her stomach churning with disgust and something else. Not fear, no, never that, fury. Pure and righteous and blinding.
“You think you’ve caged me?” she said quietly.
“You’ve just made your first mistake.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. He stepped closer until they were nearly touching. She could feel the heat of his body, the tension vibrating off him like a live wire.
“My first mistake,” he said, voice like velvet wrapped around a blade, “was not claiming you from your father sooner, like the prized cow you are.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the air like lightning; neither of them moved.
Daniel didn’t raise a hand to his face. He didn’t flinch. But the room seemed to tilt, gravity shifting between them.
And then, impossibly, he smiled.
“You’ve got guts,” he murmured. “This might be fun after all.”
Emily stepped back, disgust rolling through her.
“Go to hell,” she spat.
He turned his back to her, already done with the conversation.
“Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Reid,” he said without looking back.
“You’ll find your new room upstairs, Adam will show you," he said.
As if waiting on a cue, Adam stepped forward and gestured that she follow him. Emily knew she had no choice so she did.
"Oh and try to run again, and I’ll break more than your spirit.” Daniel's voice echoed in the room.
As they ascended the stairs, Emily didn't cry, she didn’t scream.
She made a promise.
One day, she’d burn Daniel Reid and his empire to the ground.
- Writer
