CHAPTER THREE — CHOOSE
909 Words
Lucien released my hair. I fell to the floor and my breathing was uneven. Tears blurred my eyes. The papers lay beside me. I stared at them for a long time — marriage papers, my future, and a prison, because I knew I would never be free in Lucien's house.
"Sign it," he said with a thunderous voice.
"I won't," I replied.
He looked at me for a long moment. Then he folded the papers and returned them to his pocket.
"Fine," he said as I frowned.
I ran toward the door with bare feet. I had completely forgotten that the bodyguards and my stepmother were outside. All that was in my mind was to escape. I thought to myself — if I could reach the gate or get outside, I would never come back. Someone would help me. Someone would save me.
My fingers touched the door handle. I opened the door and rushed out. I looked around — nobody was there. I rushed toward the gate. Then a hand grabbed me.
"No!" I screamed.
One of the bodyguards pulled me backward. I fought, kicked, and cried.
"Please let me go!" Nobody listened.
The bodyguard dragged me back into the sitting room.
My stepmother stood there clutching the envelope. Just watching.
"Mama!" I said — maybe she could rethink, maybe she could change her mind. But I knew my stepmother. If it was something related to money, she was never going to change her mind. Never ever.
"Please!" I said, facing her.
She didn't move.
"If you weren't foolish like your parents, do you think he would let you escape?" she said, not even remorseful.
Then I just gave up. Because nobody was going to save me.
The front gate opened. Footsteps moved fast toward the door. The front door burst open — it was Daniel. He stood there, his uniform dusty. His tie hung loosely around his neck. His school bag rested on one shoulder. Sweat covered his forehead. He looked tired.
Until he saw me.
Everything changed. His eyes landed on my tears, the bruise on my face, the bodyguard holding my arm — then they moved to the envelope.
His expression shifted immediately.
"What happened?" he asked. Nobody answered.
"Daniel..." I called his name.
He looked at me, and from the look on his face, I could tell he had understood everything.
"No." The word came out quietly.
"What did you do?" He faced his mother, because he knew what his mother was capable of.
"Mind your business," she said. My stepmother folded her arms. "I said stay out of it."
"You sold Elena?" he asked, but my stepmother was not ready to answer. She looked annoyed.
Daniel laughed. But there was no happiness in it.
"You're selling her?"
I felt almost happy, because somebody finally cared.
Daniel walked toward me. The bodyguard released my arm. He stood in front of me, protecting me. The same way he always had.
I flashed back to the way he always cared for me. Daniel secretly giving me food when his mother refused to feed me. Daniel standing beside me when his sisters mocked me. Daniel helping me study at night. Daniel walking me home whenever I returned from hawking.
The boy I had loved silently. He cared for me as if we were from the same parents — but we weren't.
He looked at his mother. "You are wicked."
I was shocked when he called his mother that. "Daniel, stop — don't call your mother that," I said. But truly, she was wicked.
"I have never seen anyone this wicked," he added as his mother pointed at me.
"Because of that girl you call your mother wicked?" she said, burning with anger.
"Because she's human!" Daniel said.
"Oh." Her eyes moved between us. "I understand now."
"What?" Daniel frowned. But my stepmother said nothing.
Daniel turned toward Lucien. "Leave her alone." But I guessed Daniel did not fully know who he was speaking to.
Lucien looked at him quietly.
"She isn't going with you," Daniel said as he grabbed my hand. His hand was shaking, but he held me tightly.
"Come with me," he said. Tears filled my eyes. For one beautiful second — I thought I was saved.
Then Lucien spoke.
"Take your hand off her."
Daniel looked directly into his eyes. "No. She is not going with you. You are shameless — how can you buy a young girl you could have fathered?" he said, but from his cracking voice, I knew Daniel was scared.
Lucien's bodyguards became alert. My heart started racing.
Daniel stepped in front of me. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me."
Lucien looked at him for a few seconds. Then he nodded once.
"Take him," he said to his bodyguards.
The bodyguards rushed forward. Daniel tried to fight back. He punched one of them, but another grabbed him. He struggled and kept fighting, but there were too many. They forced him to his knees.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Stop!" I cried. "Please stop!"
Daniel lifted his head. And even then — he was worried about me.
Then one of the men pulled out a gun. The barrel pressed against Daniel's head. He stopped moving.
Lucien looked at me. Tears filled my eyes. Daniel looked at me too.
Only one person could save him.
And it was me.
Then I whispered — "I'll go."
- Writer
