Four
1441 Words
In the grand hall of the Fernsby estate,
chandeliers glittered overhead like icicles ready to fall.
The long table was cleared, but no meal had been served. Instead, fury sat in every chair.
Nora Fernsby, dressed in emerald silk, stood at the head like a general mid-campaign, her cold stare sharp enough to stop anyone in their tracks.
“You are not marrying that man,” she said sharply, voice slicing through the space.
Analia stood across from her, arms folded, black trench coat still on, hair pinned back with furious precision. “It’s not up to you, Mother.”
“The hell it isn’t!” Nora snapped. “I built this family’s image from the ashes your father left. I will not see it tied to some street mystery with a last name no one respected until yesterday.”
Behind her, uncles, cousins, board members, and hanger-ons murmured their approval. At the center of it all stood Aldin Cakebread, unfazed, leaning slightly on his cane.
Justin stood just to the side, calm, unmoved, watching Analia’s family like they were lions pacing a cage that no longer fit them.
“Justin Sallow is not just a nobody,” Nora went on, pointing a jeweled finger. “He is a liability. A man with no past, no proper legacy, no stake in our world.”
“He has my name,” Aldin said suddenly, voice calm but heavy.
The room silenced instantly.
“What?” Nora turned, stunned.
Aldin stepped forward slowly, his cane tapping once against the marble. “You forget whose house this is, Nora. And whose legacy this family owes its existence to.”
“This isn’t the old world anymore,” she hissed. “You can’t force marriages and hide behind bloodlines.”
“No,” Aldin agreed. “But I can choose my heir.”
Gasps swept the room.
Analia’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Aldin didn’t blink. “Justin Sallow is my heir. I named him this morning. He will take my seat on the High Table. My shares, my stake in the consortium, my vault codes—everything. Including this union.”
“You can’t be serious,” Analia said, each word shaking with rage.
“I am,” he said. “And you, my dear, were promised to this family long before you decided to build empires in your own name. Your father agreed to the match in writing. The contract still stands.”
“It was never valid,” she shot back. “I was a child!”
“You’re not anymore,” Aldin replied. “And this city doesn’t respect broken pacts. It sees bloodlines and unity. Symbols. That’s what you’ll give them.”
Nora stepped forward, fury coiling around her like perfume. “Aziz Villin has already submitted a proposal. A generous one. He’s powerful, presentable, and—”
“A snake,” Justin said quietly.
Everyone turned.
He hadn’t raised his voice, but the word echoed.
Nora narrowed her eyes. “You have no right—”
“I have every right,” Justin replied, stepping forward now. “He drugged your daughter at a gala. Left her in the hallway to rot. I picked her up. That’s not rumor. It’s fact.”
Analia’s face twitched.
The room paused, confused. Murmurs swelled and dipped.
Nora looked to Analia. “Is that true?”
Analia didn’t speak.
Aldin didn’t wait. “The wedding happens tonight. Quietly. We’ve secured a government registrar, private venue, limited press. A few signatures and it’s done.”
“I will not sign,” Analia said.
“You will,” Aldin said softly. “Because if you don’t, the board at Fernsby Enterprises will question your judgment. The press will devour the truth. Aziz will paint you as unstable. Your position will unravel before you even blink.”
“You said he was coming,” she whispered. “Aziz.”
“He’s already moving,” Aldin confirmed. “He’s seeded stories in three outlets, leaked old photos, and met with two of your board members behind closed doors.”
Analia’s nails dug into her palm.
“You think you’re protecting me,” she said. “But what you’re doing is caging me.”
“I’m giving you armor,” Aldin said.
She turned to Justin. “And what are you getting out of this?”
“I already told you,” he said quietly. “I don’t need your money. I don’t need your name. I’m here because I was asked to be. And because if this city’s about to burn again, I’d rather stand with someone who can handle the fire.”
Analia’s lips curled into a sneer. “You don’t know what fire is.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “But I’ve walked through worse.”
She turned away, her back to all of them.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, without turning, she said, “Fine. But I won’t pretend to be happy. And I won’t pretend to like you.”
“You don’t have to,” Justin replied.
Aldin clapped once. “Excellent. Ceremony’s in three hours. I suggest we all go prepare.”
Nora stormed out, muttering furious curses under her breath. The rest of the room trickled away, some throwing glares at Justin, others just confused.
Justin and Analia remained.
“You think you’ve won something,” she said without looking at him. “But this isn’t a victory.”
“I’m not here to win,” he replied. “I’m here to last.”
"Three hours later, inside a sleek city office with a view of the harbor, the lights were too bright and the room too quiet.
A thin man in glasses slid the documents across the table.
“Sign here, please,” he said.
Analia picked up the pen like it was a weapon. She scribbled her name without blinking. Then shoved the papers toward Justin, not even meeting his eyes.
He signed, slowly, precisely.
The official nodded and slid the documents into a black folder. “Congratulations,” he said dryly. “You’re legally bound.”
Analia stood before the sentence even ended.
Aldin stepped forward, beaming. “Ah, my children,” he said. “Our legacy is safe. Our enemies are cornered. And the next chapter begins.”
Analia offered a tight smile. “This chapter’s a tragedy.”
She turned to Justin.
“You’ll never touch my company. You’ll never know my real accounts. You’ll never have access to anything I don’t approve of. And if you so much as try to play husband, I’ll have the media turn you into a ghost.”
Justin nodded once. “Understood.”
Her voice dipped lower. “I’ll smile for the camera. I’ll walk beside you. But make no mistake—I’m not your prize.”
“You were never a prize,” he said gently. “You were a fire. And I walked in willingly.”
That stopped her for a beat. Just a second.
Then she turned and walked away, her heels echoing down the marble hallway like war drums.
Aldin chuckled behind them. “I give it a month before she actually talks to you.”
Justin didn’t laugh.
Instead, he stepped to the window, watching her disappear into the waiting car below.
“I don’t need her to like me,” he said, voice low. “I need her to survive.”
“Then you’d better brace yourself,” Aldin murmured. “Because Aziz Villin’s just getting started.”
That night, as city lights shimmered over the bay and quiet storms gathered in the sky, Analia sat alone in her high-rise office.
Her reflection glared back from the window—flawless, composed and furious.
She sipped wine with one hand while flipping through reports with the other.
A new press article had surfaced. Rumors of a mysterious marriage, speculation about a legacy merge and underneath it all, a single sentence from an anonymous source:
“The Peacemaker has married the Phoenix. The fire will either consume him—or make him eternal.”
Analia’s eyes narrowed.
“I’ll bury him,” she whispered to herself. “Slowly, perfectly and publicly.”
She closed the report.
Then she opened her private channel, keyed in a sequence, and typed one line:
“Begin undermining Project Sallow, start with his funders and track every ally.”
Her assistant replied:
Understood, targets logged, phase One in motion.
Analia sat back and smirked.
Let him smile, she thought. Let him think he’d married a shield.
I’m the weapon.
And he just volunteered to bleed.
- Writer
