Taken At The Altar

Episode 003

Naomi Sinclair POV

It had been weeks.

Weeks of quiet suffocation in Rowan's penthouse. Weeks of pretending. Weeks of being a wife in name only, trapped in a stranger's life that wasn't mine.

Someone I was forced to be with. Someone that treated me like a liability.

I have never imagined having a wedding like this. I don't have a man, right but I also do not want to be entangled with a man that hates my scent.

He hadn't touched me. Barely looked at me. Always having a hard cold face on.

And I hadn't asked for more. We played our roles at the public and work places, smiling for cameras, standing side by side as power couples do. But the moment the doors closed, he became a ghost.

And I was the haunting.

I clung to the routine because it was all I had. Wake up. Shower. Read the reports he left on the table. Attend charity dinners. Nod. Smile. Play Seraphina's part better than she ever did.

But inside, I was burning. And today, the thread snapped.

I hadn’t seen my father in weeks. Mother said he was “resting,” but her vague replies had worn thin. So I went without telling anyone, hailing a car and slipping out through the service elevator.

The hospital room was bright, too bright. The scent of antiseptic hung to the walls like a warning. He was thinner than I remembered. Paler.

He blinked slowly when I entered, his eyes watery and unfocused.

“Daddy?” I whispered, pulling a chair closer. “It’s me. Naomi.”

His lips moved, dry and cracked. I poured him a cup of water, helped him sip, brushing his graying hair back gently. I have never seen him so down like this. The last time I saw him, he was still much healthier. It felt has though he wasn't being treated. Like he was abandoned.

Do not ask me why I haven't been here, mother hid him quiet well from us.

“I didn’t run,” he mumbled suddenly. “They did.”

My heart stopped. “What?”

He stared past me, eyes teary like he felt he would be gone sooner or later. “They planned it… Marlene and Sera. Knew she’d bolt. Made Naomi take her place. Made it easy.”

I froze. “What do you mean?” I shook him gently. “What did Mom do? What did Seraphina do?”

He coughed, voice barely a whisper. “All for Seraphina. Always her. Golden child. Naomi… she didn’t know. She didn’t know.”

He was beating again, words slipping, but something in my chest twisted sharply.

“They used me,” I said, the realization dawning like ice. “They planned for me to take her place.”

He looked at me then, for a fleeting second. Clarity in his eyes. Pain. Regret.

“I tried to stop them,” he whispered. “Tried. Too late.”

I stood up so fast the chair making sounds My vision blurred with tears, but I didn’t cry. Not yet.

I couldn’t, not in front of the already too broken man. If I cried, it would only worsen things and I didn't want that for him.

**********

The Sinclair house felt wrong when I arrived, too warm, too alive. The front door wasn't locked

And then I saw her.

Marlene Sinclair—my mother. Sitting in the parlor with a champagne flute in her hand, dressed in soft pastels and smiling like nothing was broken.

As if the world hadn’t cracked wide open.

As if she hadn’t sold me like a bargaining chip.

“You’re home early,” she said, raising her glass. “I thought you had that charity brunch today.”

“I cancelled it.” My voice was hard. “I went to see Dad.”

Her smile faltered, just for a moment.

“You should’ve told me,” she said with false concern. “He’s not doing well. You could’ve been upset. Was he blabbering nonsense again?”

“I am upset,” I said, stepping into the room. “Especially after finding out he isn't doing well like I imagined.. and he muttered something's.”

I didn’t wait to see her reaction.

“He said you and Seraphina planned for me to take her place. That you helped her leave.”

Marlene stood slowly, setting the glass down on the table. Her perfectly manicured hands smoothed her blouse as if she could iron the lie away.

“Your father is confused,” she said, voice tightening. “He’s on medication. You can’t take his ramblings seriously.”

“He didn’t sound confused,” I said. “He sounded guilty.”

She laughed.

“Oh Naomi,” she sighed. “This again?”

My blood boiled. “This again? Are you seriously pretending this didn’t happen? That you didn’t push me down that aisle to save face and salvage the merger?”

“You’re being dramatic,” she snapped.

“I was forced to marry a stranger!” My voice broke. “I was humiliated. I had no choice. And now I find out it was planned? That you knew Seraphina would run? You acted all drainy and was in tears, do you remember? Now I am trapped.”

Her lips curled. “So what if I did? Isn't there enough reasons to? After all you have collected from us.”

The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.

I stared at her, heart pounding. “You admit it?”

She stepped closer, cold elegance radiating off her. “Everything I did was for this family. For you. Do you think we could’ve survived if the merger fell through? If Rowan backed out?”

“I would’ve survived just fine without being sold off like cattle!”

She scoffed. “You don’t know what survival is, Naomi. You’ve never had to claw your way up from the dirt like I did. You think life is about love and choices. It’s not. It’s about power and survival. Seraphina understood that.”

“And yet she ran.”

“She did what she had to do,” my mother said, voice calm. “She was never meant for Rowan. He would’ve destroyed her.”

“But I wasn’t?” I choked. “What am I then, a sacrifice?”

“You were convenient,” she said, and there was no malice in her tone. Just truth. Cold and brutal. “You fit the dress. You were already there. We needed someone. You’re the responsible one. The one who follows rules.”

I took a step back like she’d slapped me.

“So I was the backup bride,” I whispered.

“No,” she said. “You were the solution.”

My hands trembled. “You used me.”

“And you’re better off now, aren’t you? Look around. You live in a penthouse. You have wealth, status. All the things I never had.”

“I have nothing,” I hissed. “Nothing that matters.”

“Stop being ungrateful,” she snapped, voice rising. “You should be thanking me.”

“For what?” I said, trembling. “For throwing me to the wolves? For ruining any chance I had at a life of my own? Do you know how it feels to be hated? Of course, you wouldn't because all you care about is seraphina's happiness.”

She smirked. “There never was a life of your own, Naomi. You were born into this family. You do what’s necessary. You obey. That’s what we do.”

I chuckled inwardly. “Do you hear yourself? Are you honestly a mother here? Because no, you can't call yourself my mother. My mother would never utter this out on me. I expected better. Perhaps a denial with this whole situation would have made my day but I forgot you never cared for my pains and feelings. Not even when Seraphina spoiled my eyes. Infact, you even blamed it on me. It started from the moment.”

I stared at her like I was seeing her for the first time.

Not a mother.

Not a protector.

Just a woman who would burn her own children to keep the Sinclair name afloat.

I turned without another word.

“Where are you going?” She called after me.

“To find the truth,” I said. “Because clearly, I won’t find it here.”