Chapter 29: The Crumbled Clause
1230 Words
Lucy’s POV
After leaving Ryker's bedroom with my mother's Will, I entered my own quarters to look at it. I was still looking for answers and needed to search everywhere for them. I opened the surrogate contract to take a second look at it. There may be something I didn't check well because I was in a hurry to sign it and get medical help for Eli. As I opened the fake marriage contract, which bound me to Ryker for a stipulated time, something in me knew everything wasn't right. Then I saw it! I saw the clause!
“RYKER!” I shouted at the top of my voice.
He looked up from his desk, as he was busy doing whatever and never expected to see me so soon, especially after our last encounter in his bedroom.
“Lucy...?” he drew my name with a calm voice, so calm that it made me slow down. “What’s is it again? What went wrong this time?”
I slammed the fake marriage contract on his desk he was working on. “You tell me what you plan to do with this.”
He frowned like he didn't understand what I was saying. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t start with me,” I snapped at him, seeing the game he wanted to play. “Don’t act all innocent like you can't recognise before you, the same trap you manipulated me into signing."
Ryker leaned closer to take a look at what I kept on the table. “What trap are you talking about?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “The contract's hidden clause, Ryker. The finely printed letters in between. The very part that states; everything that ever belonged to me would automatically become yours immediately I give birth, and this surrogate contract ends."
His mouth widened as he tried to talk but closed it back again. Of course, he couldn't form a word, knowing that his sins had been thrown before him.
“You knew everything,” I whispered, moving closer to him like at gunpoint, “You knew me, who I was at the time of the contract, and that alone motivated me to go on with the deal. You knew right from the start that I was the surviving heiress to the almost-extinct Castellano Empire. That’s why you ensured I signed the contract quickly, stripping me of my inheritance."
Ryker’s voice was still shaky, not knowing how to defend himself. “It wasn’t what you think, Lucy, it...”
“Then explain everything because I'm all ears to hear them!” I screamed, almost hurting my lungs. “Explain how a contract that will strip me of my inheritance is not harmful! Tell me just one reason that would make me believe it was for my own good."
“It wasn't in the plan for you to find out in such a furious manner."
“Oh, that's so thoughtful of you,” I sneered, almost hitting him.“You planned to keep me in the dark forever, robbing me blindly so that it wouldn't hurt me, right?"
He stood up now, his size hovering over me like he would tear me up any moment, but that didn't shake me.
“I put in my best and protected you,” he said. “That contract you are bluffing about was the reason you have security today, and...”
“Did you just say security?!” I laughed. “You forced married me in my vulnerable state, trapping me in a fake marriage, and with a manipulated contract, you planned to leave me empty-handed with nothing after stripping off my inheritance in deceit. You had researched, discovered the empire, and planned to make it yours, not me."
He moved a few inches away from me, moving like he was scared I would hurt him. “I had no idea you were half werewolf, a hybrid from two different worlds, before we signed the contract of..."
“But you suspected that's why you went ahead! You even had the will in your possession. You saw everything, including the name boldly written on the wall. You knew how I was suffering with my sick younger brother to make a living."
He sighed, seeing I wasn't ready to back off without getting what I wanted. He started rubbing his temples, and I had seen him do that a couple of times, mostly when he was nervous. “At first, yes, you are somehow correct. I thought properly, you were just a normal person bearing the name Castellano. I needed all the leverage I could get to...”
“You fu*cking used me, Ryker!"
“I did that when I was still arrogant, but I fell for you along the line,” he said quietly. “But I can’t undo whatever pain I might have caused you. All I did was before I got to know the real you, and I can't bring back the hands of time."
My two eyes burned in fury. “Before you realised how much value I am worth, right?
He winced in pain like I was misunderstanding. “Lucy, I…”
I brought the contract and held it up for him to see. “Well, you don't need to worry about yourself explaining anymore. I've got great news for you, dear Alpha. This contract which you drafted in your favor? Well, it’s VOID now!”
His sprang up in shock. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, it's no news you entered into a legal agreement to get an heir to the throne with a human. After the contract, we discovered I’m not just a human, Alpha Ryker. I happen to be a HYBRID. And I tell you, and I made my research to find out that according to supernatural law, any contract, in the quest to cheat the other was signed under a false identity, would automatically become nullified the very moment the true lineage of the second party is revealed.”
He blinked; maybe he wasn't expecting such a move from me.“That’s not even possible, you can't do that.”
“For clarity purposes, check the archives, clause 9 B. That is the clause for a hybrid.”
He snatched the paper so quickly that he almost tore it, eyes wild like raging fire.
“I never wanted any of this,” he muttered. “I didn’t...at least sit down and think it through. Everything was done in haste.”
“I loved you, starting to feel safe with you. Was about breaking my walls just for you, but no...” I whispered.
“You are still safe with me, Lucy. I didn't even go ahead with the plan of transferring the asset again because I was beginning to fall for you.”
"That is simple. You were waiting for me to give you what you want, your heir, waiting till my birthday, when you can unlock everything, then you would toss me out of your house like I never existed."
“I never planned to do anything that would hurt you.”
“But you did anyways, even very perfectly.”
“Then give me the chance to fix it.”
“You can’t do anything to fix betrayal, especially this type, Ryker.”
- Writer
