The wife he never Wanted

The night I agreed to marry Damian Cole, I watched my father sell me without saying a single word. I didn't know that was what was happening at first. I thought we were having dinner. A strange dinner, perhaps, considering my father had spent the entire drive here refusing to tell me where we were going. But I never imagined I was being brought to a mansion to be offered as payment for a debt.I should have known something was wrong the moment we passed through the iron gates. The mansion stood at the top of a hill, surrounded by perfectly trimmed gardens and tall black gates. Lights glowed from every window, illuminating the massive stone building against the dark New York sky. I stared through the car window. "Where are we?" My father didn't answer. "Dad." His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "We're meeting someone." "Who?" Silence. I turned toward him. "You've been acting strange all week." "I'm fine." "You haven't been fine." He finally looked at me. There was something in his eyes I'd never seen before. Fear.Real fear. My stomach twisted. "What's happening?" He looked away. "Just trust me tonight." That was the first lie. And it wouldn't be the last. --- The moment we entered the house, a man in a black suit greeted us. "Mr. Williams." My father nodded. "Is he here?" The man stepped aside. "He's waiting." He. I glanced at my father. "Who is he?" My father didn't answer. Again. I was beginning to hate that word. Who,Why,Waiting,Secrets. Everything about tonight felt wrong.The man led us through a long hallway.The house was breathtaking. Marble floors. Massive paintings. Crystal chandeliers. Everything looked expensive enough to make me afraid to breathe. Then we entered a dining room and I saw him. Damian Cole. I knew who he was. Everyone did. At twenty-nine, Damian Cole was one of the youngest billionaires in the country. His name appeared in business magazines, newspapers and gossip columns almost every week. He owned hotels, real estate companies, technology firms and half the businesses people whispered about at parties.People called him ruthless, cold,unreachable.There were women who had spent months trying to get his attention.He had ignored all of them. Now he was sitting at the end of a twelve-seat dining table, dressed completely in black, looking at me as if he'd been waiting for this exact moment. His eyes met mine and he didn't look surprised.At least that was the first thing I noticed. He looked... Certain. As though he'd already known I would walk through that door. My father cleared his throat. "Damian." Damian didn't respond immediately. His gaze remained on me. Then, finally— "Sophia" My heart skipped. I had never met this man before.Yet he said my name like he had every right to. I looked at my father. "You know him?" "Of course." "Then why didn't you tell me we were meeting him?" My father's jaw tightened. "Sit down, Sophia." I didn't move. Something about the room made every instinct in my body scream at me to leave. Damian leaned back in his chair. "She doesn't have to sit." His voice was deep and calm. "She can leave." I looked at him.He gestured casually toward the door. "You're free to walk out." I almost did. Then Damian added, "Your father's company won't survive the night." I stopped and looked at my father's face as it went pale. "What does he mean?" "Sophia—" "What does he mean?" My father said nothing.The silence was answer enough.I laughed once.Not because anything was funny but because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You're in debt?" He lowered his eyes. "How much?" "Sophia." "How much?" Damian answered for him. "Two hundred and eighty million." Immediately I felt the room spin as I stared at him. "What?" "Your father borrowed against the company." My father finally spoke. "I was going to fix it." "You've had six months," Damian said calmly. I looked between them.Six months.My father had known for six months.Six months of telling me everything was fine,Six months of smiling at breakfast,Six months of asking me not to worry about the bills I'd noticed,Six months of lying. My eyes burned. "You brought me here because of this?" My father stood. "Sophia, please." "No." I stepped back. "You should have told me." "I was trying to protect you." "By lying to me?" His eyes filled with shame. "I didn't have a choice." "There is always a choice." Damian watched us silently and that made me angrier. I turned toward him. "And what do you want?" His expression didn't change. "Your father knows." I looked at my father and He wouldn't look at me.Something cold settled in my stomach. "No." I shook my head. "Whatever you're planning, no." Damian stood. The movement was so effortless that somehow it made him more intimidating. He was taller than I'd expected.He walked toward me.I instinctively stepped back. He stopped several feet away. "I haven't asked you anything." "Then ask." His eyes held mine. "I want you to marry me." For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him.Then I laughed. Actually laughed. "Excuse me?" "Marry me." This time my smile disappeared. I stared at him. "You're insane." "I've been called worse." "You don't even know me." Something flickered across his face. "So you think." I frowned. "What does that mean?" He didn't answer. I looked at my father. "You brought me here to marry him?" My father closed his eyes. "Sophia..." "No." I shook my head. "No. Absolutely not." I turned toward the door. Damian's voice followed me. "Your father will lose everything." I stopped. "You'll lose your home." I slowly turned around. "Your father's employees will lose their jobs." My fingers curled into fists. "And your younger sister's college fees?" That made my blood run cold. "Leave my sister out of this." "I'm not threatening her." "Then stop talking about her." "I'm telling you the consequences." I hated how calm he was.Like my entire life wasn't collapsing around me.Like he was discussing the weather. I looked at my father. "You really agreed to this?" His silence broke something inside me. I whispered, "You agreed." "I didn't know what else to do." "So you decided to give me to him?" "That's not what this is." "Then what is it?" He had no answer. Damian did. "A contract." I looked at him. "One year." "What?" "You marry me for one year." "And then?" "We divorce." I stared at him. "Why me?" Silence.For the first time since I'd entered the room, Damian looked away. Just for a second but I saw it.Something had changed,something dark,almost painful. Then he looked back at me. "Because I need a wife." "Then find someone who actually wants to marry you." "I don't." I frowned. "Then why are you doing this?" His eyes hardened. "Because neither of us gets everything we want." I should have walked away.I should have told him to go to hell. I should have left my father's ruined company behind and figured out how to survive on my own,but then Damian placed a file on the table.A photograph slipped from inside it. It landed face-up and I looked down. The photograph was old,Very old. A woman stood in the middle of it, smiling at the camera. Her hair was long, her eyes were warm,her face was unmistakable. It was my mum. My fingers trembled as I picked up the photograph. "Where did you get this?" Nobody answered. I looked at Damian.His expression had changed completely, no arrogance or coldness. Only something I couldn't understand. "You knew my mother?" His jaw tightened. "Yes." My heart began pounding. "My mother died when I was seven." Damian said nothing. I swallowed. "Didn't she?" Still nothing. I stepped closer to him. "Damian." His eyes met mine. "Who told you she died?" I froze. "My father." Damian looked toward my father. The room became painfully silent. My father's face had gone completely white. "Dad?" He looked at me,and for the first time in my entire life, my father looked like a man who had run out of lies. "Sophia..." My voice broke. "What aren't you telling me?" He didn't answer. I looked back at Damian. He walked toward me slowly. When he stopped in front of me, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Marry me." I stared at him. "Why?" His eyes dropped briefly to the photograph in my hand. "Because the woman you were told was dead..." He paused. "...is the reason I chose you." My breath caught. I couldn't move,couldn't speak, couldn't even breathe properly.Because suddenly, the marriage wasn't the thing frightening me anymore. The truth was,and judging by the look on my father's face—the truth had been waiting for me far longer than Damian Cole had.