Chapter 5: The cost is too heavy.
1537 Words
A man walked into Liam's office. They shared similar features, but he had boyish qualities. He took a seat across Liam's desk and passed a white envelope to him.
“Here's the revised copy,” his expression heavy with concern.
“Li, do you have to do this? You should walk away from this.”
“I can't,” he sighed.
“It's enough you bought the company, why bring her into this?”
“It isn't enough,” “What about my father's assets? You don't expect me to let it go, I'm not her,” he said, his voice catching on the last word.
“You can always get that without marrying Ms Vance.”
“I don't want to either.” His voice dropped to barely above a whisper.
“I can't break that promise, the cost is too heavy.”
His eyes flickered in fear: “There are things I don't have the luxury of ignoring.”
“Let's change the subject,” he glanced toward the door. “She'll be here any moment.”
Yuna held her wheelchair's arm tightly, her veins popping out with anger, every word dropped on her like a bucket of ice poured on her.
She needed clarity to understand this man she was marrying, so she held still and let every word settle with her, one by one, she analysed everything she heard. Each word landed heavier than the last.
She knew he was hiding something and the company purchase proved it.
It was no shock, it was simply the confirmation of a feeling she had never been able to name.
Those three words landed quietly, but the weight in it was anything but small. “I'm not her,” he said,
‘Could he be referring to me?’ She evaluated his words.
Right there, it struck her for a moment and this time she was certain, he didn't sound like he was addressing her.
Whoever she was had cost him something, she could sense his voice, like a wound he had to learn to walk with rather than to heal.
Fury flared inside her. If Cole was right, Liam didn't even need to marry her to secure his father's assets. ‘None of this makes sense’.
‘What harm could my family have done to deserve this wickedness from him?’ She pondered.
‘What kind of promise binds a man this tightly, and to whom did he make it?’, her life had been ruined because of a promise made without her knowledge.
The thought that followed was the one she had pushed away since the incident and it was right before her.
Right outside that door, something shifted in her, an instinct she carried for weeks, and could no longer ignore.
She lost her parents' company because of some selfish pact she had no part in and no power over.
Her life had been scripted all along, arranged, piece by piece without her.
Nothing about this felt like a coincidence anymore. Too many pieces connected in ways she couldn't ignore. If Liam knew this much, then marrying him might be the only way to uncover the truth.
“Dr. Liam, this marriage between you and I... if you're the one behind everything, I swear I'll make you regret it.” She whispered to herself.
After her decision, she calmed herself, not wanting to alert him to her findings.
She knocked on Liam's door, and the door was opened by his friend,
He ushered her into his office, her eyes drifted from him to Liam,
She tried to tell the difference between them. They looked like twins.
“Welcome, Ms. Vance, this is Cole Harrington, my lawyer.” Liam introduced him to Yuna.
“You could just say his your brother, what a look you two share,” Yuna shot back.
“You see that Li, even she confirms it, she's got a good eye, I respect it,” Cole responded cheerfully.
Liam shot him a look that said, “What the hell? What happened to keeping it professional?”
“Mr Cole, this is Ms Vance, the other party for the contract.” He sternly stared at them, increasing the tension in the room
Cole stretched forth his hand to Yuna for a handshake. "Finally, we've been expecting you.” He smiled warmly at her.
“It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Cole,” still in the handshake. “Does he usually bully you with his eyes? He does that to me too, he's terrifying. ”
She tried to warm up to him, he seemed approachable, she thought getting information from him would be easier than Liam.
Before Cole could answer, Liam reached between them and broke the handshake.
"Mr. Cole." His voice carried enough warning.
“Can you please read out the new clauses added to the contract?” he passed back the white envelope to him.
Cole chuckled at Liam's reaction, he paused, going through the clauses again.
“Ms. Yuna, your concerns have been revised, your conditions added, but I added some new clauses.” Liam stated, “Let's hear it, Mr. Cole.” His attention went back to Cole.
“If Party A (Dr Liam Weston) breaks any clause in the contract, he pays heavy compensation and transfers fifty percent shares of the company to Party B (Ms Yuna Vance). Cole's eyes rested on Yuna, observing how calm she was.
“If Party B (Ms Yuna Vance) breaks any clause in the contract, she pays a massive penalty to Party A (Dr Liam Weston) and loses all claims to the company.
At this point, she turned angrily at Liam: “Why do I get all the harsh penalties?”
“You're the one who tried to walk away,” he said sternly. “I don't take risks twice.”
She thought for a moment, was this how he was also threatened to keep his promise. What could he lose?
Cole, sensing the shift, handed each of them their copy of the agreement: “If you both agree with the clauses and terms, you should sign.”
Yuna picked up a pen. It felt heavier than usual, she had signed numerous deals and contracts as a model, but this felt different, she looked at the line ‘Party B’, above the name, these two letters somehow had become a summary of how she was about to set everything right.
She thought of her mother's hands signing documents at the head of a boardroom table, she had inherited those hands and intended to use them the same way she signed.
After both signatures were done, the silence that followed was heavier than the decision itself.
Liam looked at her legs carefully, “Did you try the ankle rotations I showed you?” He crouched before her to check her ankles.
Yuna flinched, trying to avoid his touch, her eyes unreadable.
“You weren't like this yesterday.” He tried to read her face.
“Stay still,” he picked up her left leg.
“Whether you like it or not, you're still my patient," he placed his thumb on her ankle, giving a soft massage.
Yuna mentally mimicked his words, ‘You weren't like this yesterday’.
She silently glared at the top of his head while he remained focused on her ankle. ‘I should kill you after everything I heard today.’
She remained calm, she was good at performing, that, at least, that was something she had always known how to do.
Cole collected the copies, signed as a witness, he received a call, and he stepped out of the office.
Liam slid a copy of Yuna's agreement towards her, his fingers rested on it for a moment longer than necessary,
His voice was lower than his usual controlled tone. “You should keep this somewhere only you can access it.”
It sounded like practical advice, but the way he said it, specifics on ‘only you’, made it like a warning, not against her but for her.
She filed this moment in her mind, just like the blackmail record but this, she labeled it differently.
After a while, Cole returned, shook hands with both parties, stating he needed to attend to an important matter, Yuna also took the cue to leave Liam's office for her ward.
“We'll discuss other further arrangements, Ms. Vance,” Liam said as she exited.
Yuna didn't move an inch, her gaze fixed on the door across from Liam's office.
She wondered to herself, “I married in desperation, in a wheelchair.”
A humorless laugh escaped her. “Who would have thought that the great Yuna Vance would have to pay to get back her rights?”
She reminisced about the good old days when she called the shots, when she demanded more than she deserved and still got it.
She said to herself, “Old Yuna lost everything once, this Yuna wouldn't lose again. If Liam Weston had truly destroyed my family, then becoming his wife would be the greatest mistake of his life.”
With that vow etched into her heart, she tightened her grip on the contract and wheeled herself forward.
- Writer
