The Abducted Bride

The Man Who Decided My Fate

Lulu didn’t sleep again. The bed was too soft, the room too quiet, and the truth Albie Darlington had dropped on her chest sat there like a weight she couldn’t push away. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Wilder’s furious face, her mother’s frozen expression, her father’s silence. Contracts. Money. Lost.

You don’t have one anymore. The words replayed relentlessly. She sat curled near the edge of the bed, knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around herself as if that alone could keep her from unraveling. The room smelled faintly of cedar and something clean, masculine. How calm everything was irritated her. As if her entire life hadn’t been ripped apart hours ago.

The door clicked. Lulu’s head snapped up instantly. Albie stepped inside without haste, dressed in a charcoal shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms. He looked exactly as he had earlier. Composed, deliberate, untouched by panic. The kind of man who moved through crisis as though it were just another item on his schedule.

William followed behind him, broader, alert, his gaze sweeping the room before settling respectfully near the door.

“She’s awake,” William said unnecessarily, his voice low.

“I can see that,” Albie replied calmly.

Lulu’s nails dug into her palms. “You don’t get to walk in here like this is your house.”

Albie closed the door behind him. “It is my house.”

That only made her chest tighten further.

“Then unlock it,” she snapped. “Let me leave.”

William shifted slightly, but Albie raised a hand, stopping him. His attention never left her. “Sit comfortably, Lulu Averill,” he said evenly. “No one here is going to hurt you.”

“You already did,” she shot back.

For a brief moment, something flickered across his face. Irritation? Perhaps. Or regret. It vanished just as quickly.

“I didn’t take you to harm you,” he said. “I took you to stop something irreversible.”

She laughed bitterly. “You think kidnapping me is reversible?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “Compared to what Wilder Taylor planned, it absolutely is.”

Her throat tightened. “Stop saying his name like you know him.”

“I do know him.”

Albie crossed the room, stopping several feet away from her, close enough that she could feel the gravity of his presence, far enough that he wasn’t invading her space. He gestured subtly to William.

“Bring it.”

William left briefly and returned with a slim tablet. He placed it on the glass table between them and stepped back, arms folding across his chest.

Albie tilted the screen toward her. “Look.”

Lulu hesitated. Every instinct screamed at her not to trust anything he showed her. But curiosity, one that is terrifying, traitorous curiosity, won. Her breath caught.

There were documents. Bank transfers. Digital contracts stamped with signatures she recognized instantly. Her mother’s. Her father’s. Her own name printed neatly beneath clauses she had never seen before.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “This isn’t real.”

Albie’s voice softened, just slightly. “They signed you into a private marital agreement tied to a series of offshore transactions. Once the marriage was finalized, you would have been legally bound to Wilder Taylor in ways no court could easily undo.”

Her vision blurred. “Why would they…”

“Because they were desperate,” Albie interrupted. “And because Wilder promised to erase their debt.”

Lulu shoved the tablet away as if it burned. “They wouldn’t sell me.”

“They already did.”

Silence fell again, heavy and crushing.

Her chest rose and fell unevenly as tears threatened, but she refused to let them fall. Crying would mean breaking. And she could not afford to break. Not here, not in front of him.

“So what now?” she demanded hoarsely. “You expose them? You call the police? Or do you just keep me locked up here like a trophy you rescued?”

Albie studied her, something unreadable in his gaze. “None of the above.”

“Then explain,” she said sharply. “Because right now, you’re no better than him.”

That earned her a slow exhale from him.

“You’re wrong,” he said quietly. “Wilder wanted ownership. I want protection.”

“Protection isn’t consent.”

“No,” Albie agreed. “But survival sometimes comes before comfort.”

Her hands trembled despite her efforts to stay composed. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”

“I already did.”

The bluntness of his admission hit harder than anger ever could. Lulu stood abruptly, ignoring the dizziness that followed. “You think because you’re rich and powerful, you can rewrite my life?”

“I know I can,” he replied. “Because people like Wilder don’t lose unless someone stronger forces them to.”

“And you’re that someone?”

“Yes.”

She stared at him, really stared this time. At the control in his posture. The sharp intelligence in his eyes. This wasn’t a man acting on impulse. This was a man executing a plan.

“What do you want from me?” she asked quietly.

Albie held her gaze. “Your cooperation.”

“For how long?”

“As long as it takes to dismantle him completely.”

“And after that?”

Something in his expression shifted, just a fraction. “Then you’ll be free.”

The word sounded hollow.

William cleared his throat. “Sir, Right TV is already reporting a possible abduction. The Ink News is speculating internal disputes.”

Lulu’s heart skipped. “They know?”

“They’re guessing,” Albie replied calmly. “Which is why we move next.”

“Move how?” she asked warily.

Albie turned back to her. “By controlling the narrative.”

“I don’t want to be a narrative.”

“You already are.”

She swallowed. “What are you planning?”

“A public engagement,” he said simply.

Her breath caught. “What?”

“You disappear from Wilder Taylor’s life and reappear at my side,” Albie continued. “As my fiancée.”

“That’s insane,” she whispered. “You think pretending to be with you will protect me?”

“I know it will,” he said. “Because Wilder doesn’t fight fair. But he won’t touch what belongs to me.”

Her stomach twisted violently at the word belongs.

“I won’t sleep with you,” she blurted.

Albie’s gaze sharpened. “That’s not part of the arrangement.”

“I won’t smile for cameras. I won’t lie.”

“You’ll do both,” he said calmly. “Because the alternative is letting him claim you publicly and privately.”

She looked away, chest aching. “You’re forcing me into another cage.”

“No,” Albie said quietly. “I’m giving you armor.”

Lulu closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, fear had settled into something colder. Something steadier.

“If I agree,” she said, voice firm despite the tremor beneath it, “you don’t touch me. You don’t control my every move. And when this is over, you let me go.”

Albie held her gaze for a long moment.

“Agreed,” he said finally.

The word echoed in the space between them, heavy with consequences. As William stepped forward to escort Albie out, Lulu sank back onto the bed, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. She had escaped one man only to be bound to another.

And somehow, she knew. This was only the beginning.