ELLA
The gates of Dark Stone were massive and black and they opened slowly like the jaws of some enormous beast waiting to swallow me whole.
My father drove through without hesitation and I watched the gates close behind us in the side mirror. I felt something inside me close with them.
There was no going back now. There was no running away. I was here and I was trapped and in a few hours, I would belong to someone I had never even met.
The estate was beautiful in a cold and intimidating way. The main house sat at the end of a long driveway lined with ancient oak trees and it rose up against the grey sky like a fortress.
Everything about it screamed power, wealth and danger.
My father parked the car and turned to look at me for the first time since we left home.
“Do not embarrass
