THE CONVICTED SON IN LAW

A LOVELESS MARRIAGE

The first time Jayden laid eyes on Michelle Roland, it had been like stumbling into sunlight after years of shadow. She was radiant, the kind of woman men in Kreg City whispered about, admired from afar, and never dared approach. Her beauty wasn’t just in her face or her figure, it was in her air of belonging, of confidence, of a life lived far above the struggles of ordinary people like him.

For Jayden, who had grown up without a family name, without a fortune, without even a clear memory of his past beyond the orphanage that raised him, Michelle was a dream. However against all odds, she had chosen him. So he believed.

It had been less than a year ago, and yet it already felt like a lifetime.

........

The small wedding had been rushed, so sudden that even Jayden himself couldn’t quite explain how it had happened. Michelle had walked into the dingy little community center, where a weary official read out vows in front of a handful of Roland family members and some distant relatives. No church bells, no grand ballroom, no extravagant feast just a legal binding of two people from two entirely different worlds.

Jayden had worn the only suit he owned, a secondhand navy set that was slightly too large at the shoulders. Michelle wore a pale cream dress, elegant but simple compared to the gowns she usually flaunted and wore.

He had been nervous, his heart pounding wildly, not because he feared the future but because he thought truly that this was love.

Michelle had held his hand stiffly as the vows were exchanged, her smile faint, distant. He didn’t notice then. He only saw the curve of her lips, the flicker of her eyes, the reality that she was his wife now.

For Jayden, that day was the happiest of his life.

For Michelle, it was merely… an escape.

"Why him, Michelle?" Cassandra had hissed the evening of the ceremony, when the Roland sisters were alone in one of the mansion’s luxurious bedrooms. Of all the men in Kreg City, you choose him? He has nothing, no name, no money, no family. Do you enjoy humiliating us?"

Michelle rolled her eyes, tugging at her earrings in front of the mirror. "Don’t be dramatic. I had my reasons."

"What reasons? Cassandra demanded. "You’ve turned down senators’ sons, businessmen, heirs of families just as wealthy as ours. Now you marry a man who probably can’t even afford a taxi fare without begging?"

Michelle didn’t answer at first. Her reflection stared back at her, flawless, untouchable. "Because, she finally whispered, he’s easy. He won’t question me, won’t control me. He’s… convenient."

Cassandra gasped. "You mean"

Michelle turned, her eyes glinting. "Don’t tell Father. He will just play along for now. It’s better than being forced into some arranged match with a man I don’t want. Jayden will keep them off my back for a while. That’s all."

It was the truth Michelle never confessed to her husband. To Jayden, she offered faint smiles and distant touches, just enough to convince him that her choice had been out of affection. He, blinded by gratitude and yearning, never saw the calculation in her eyes.

..........

The Roland family had despised the marriage from day one. Roland Senior, a man of influence and business acumen, had nearly torn the dining table apart the night Michelle told him.

"You marry who? His voice had thundered through the mansion, the veins in his neck bulging. “Do you know what this does to our family’s reputation? To me?"

"Father, I’ve made my decision, Michelle had said calmly, her arms folded. I don’t need your permission.

Roland Senior had slammed his fist on the polished oak table. "You think you’re in love? Don’t be ridiculous. That man is a beggar. He brings nothing to this family. Nothing! He will humiliate us."

"Then let him,"Michelle had replied, her chin raised defiantly.

It had been the first and only time she defied her father so openly. Though he seethed, Roland Senior had eventually relented, though not without ensuring Jayden knew his place.

"You may have married my daughter, he told Jayden coldly, after the ceremony. "But you are not one of us. You will never be one of us. Remember that."

Jayden had bowed his head, swallowing the insult, convincing himself that one day he could earn their respect.

.......

The first weeks of marriage were a blur. Jayden moved into Michelle’s lavish apartment, a place that smelled of perfume and power, filled with luxury he had never imagined owning. At first, he tread carefully, waking early, cleaning, cooking, doing everything to show he could be useful.

But Michelle was distant. She often returned home late, sometimes drunk, sometimes with lipstick stains on her dress that weren’t her own. She brushed off his questions with a wave of her hand.

"Don’t bother me, Jayden. You wouldn’t understand."

He tried to believe she was simply busy, that the pressure of being a Roland made her cold. He convinced himself that, with time, she would soften, that she would see his loyalty and grow to love him.

But time only made her colder.

Six months into the marriage, the whispers had begun.

At a gala hosted by one of Roland Senior’s business partners, Jayden had stood awkwardly in the corner, holding a glass of champagne he couldn’t bring himself to sip. He watched as Michelle laughed with Venny a tall, broad-shouldered, a man whose family owned a chain of luxury hotels. The intimacy between them was obvious, the way Michelle leaned close to whisper something in his ear, the way Venny’s hand brushed her waist as if it belonged there.

Jayden’s stomach twisted, but he said nothing. When Cassandra approached him, smirking, he realized everyone saw it.

"Enjoying the view, brother-in-law?" she asked sweetly, her voice dripping with mockery. "Don’t worry. Everyone knows she married you out of pity,or boredom.But men like Venny? That’s where she belongs."

Jayden clenched his jaw, his grip tightening on the fragile stem of the glass until it nearly snapped.

Later that night, when Michelle finally returned home, he had tried to speak. "Michelle… are you seeing him?"

She had turned sharply, her eyes blazing. "And if I am? What will you do? Lecture me? Threaten me? Don’t forget where you came from, Jayden.You are nothing. You should be grateful I even let you share my roof."

Her words had been like knives, carving into his heart. He hadn’t pressed further.

From that night on, he stopped asking questions.

The humiliation only grew.

Michelle disappeared for nights at a time. Sometimes she returned the next morning, sometimes after a week, always without explanation. Jayden never dared confront her. He knew the consequences of Roland Senior’s wrath, Cassandra’s mockery, Michelle’s cruelty.

He found odd jobs around the city, small shifts at construction sites, cleaning cars, anything to make himself feel less like a leech. But even then, Michelle mocked him.

"Look at you, she sneered one evening, tossing her purse on the couch. You’re supposed to be my husband, yet you spend your days scrubbing floors and lifting bricks like a common laborer. Do you know how pathetic that looks?"

"I’m trying," Jayden murmured.

"Trying? Michelle laughed bitterly. You will never be anything more than what you are now. Don’t fool yourself. A man like you doesn’t rise. He stays in the dirt."

That night, Jayden lay awake on the cold edge of the bed, staring at the ceiling while Michelle slept soundly beside him. He wondered, not for the first time, why she had married him at all.