THE BILLIONAIRE'S FORBIDDEN DRIVER

A Future Sold

Chapter 2

The congratulations hit Arabella before she could take a single step. A woman wrapped her arms around Arabella without permission. "Oh my God, congratulations...what a beautiful couple, this is wonderful news!"

Another woman pressed a champagne glass into her hand, and someone else was already talking excitedly about wedding venues.

Arabella couldn't hear half of what they were saying because her ears were still ringing from the applause and the announcement of Damian Sterling being her fiancé. It all felt like poison to her.

A few feet away, her father stood on the stage beside Richard Sterling, shaking hands and accepting congratulations as if he had just closed the biggest deal of his career, and maybe he had, just that this time the deal was her.

The thought made her stomach churn, so she pushed through the crowd before another stranger could congratulate her.

"Arabella."

She stopped.

Damian was already walking toward her and his confidence irritated her immediately.

He looked perfectly pleased and calm, as if the announcement hadn't just turned her life upside down.

"We need to talk."

"Finally, something we agree on," she replied. And for the first time, Damian's smile slipped.

He moved toward a quieter corner of the ballroom while Arabella followed, not because she wanted to, but because she needed answers.

The moment they were alone, she folded her arms. "How long have you known?"

Damian didn't pretend to misunderstand. "A few weeks."

She gave a bitter laugh because definitely, everyone knew, except the woman supposedly getting married.

"A few weeks?"

"Our fathers wanted everything finalized first," Damian said.

The words only made her angrier because it made her feel like she was paperwork or something and her opinion didn't matter.

"Did it ever occur to either of you that I might want a say in my own future?"

Damian sighed and rubbed his hair with his hand. "You're overreacting," he said.

Arabella stared at him in disbelief. "Overreacting?" she repeated.

Her laugh was very sharp and humorless. "My father just announced my engagement to a room full of strangers."

Damian frowned." They aren't strangers."

"You know exactly what I mean," Arabella said, folding her arms across her chest.

"No, Arabella, I think you're letting your emotions cloud your judgment."

"My emotions?" she asked incredulously. "I'm supposed to be emotional, Damian. I just found out I'm engaged."

"Our families have been discussing this alliance for years," Damian replied.

"And yet nobody thought to discuss it with me?”

Alliance. There it was again. Business, money and power. Nobody was talking about love or marriage, they focused only on what their families would gain.

Something inside her hardened. "I am not a business merger."

"No." Damian stepped closer. "You're much more valuable than that."

The comment made her skin crawl, and before she could respond, he smiled again. That same confident smile, the one that made her want to walk away. "You'll get used to the idea."

Arabella laughed, and the sound wasn't pleasant. "I promise you, Damian, that's not going to happen."

His smile faded completely as she left him standing there and headed straight for the one person she needed answers from, her mother.

Eleanor Kingston stood near the orchestra platform holding her champagne glass so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

The moment she saw Arabella approaching, her face was full of guilt and that was enough for an answer.

"You knew."

Eleanor lowered her face. "Arabella—"

"You knew Mum"

The pain in Arabella's voice finally made her mother look up. "I wanted to tell you."

"But you didn't," Arabella said.

The pan in her voice made her mother flinch and lowered her eyes. "It wasn't that simple," she replied quietly.

Arabella stared at her in disbelief. "It wasn't that simple?" she repeated and gave a bitter laugh.

"Mom, you have known for a month, and you’re telling me it wasn’t that simple? Really?"

Her mother held the champagne glass so tightly with her hand. "I wanted to tell you."

"Then why didn't you?"

Her mother hesitated. "Your father has already made his decision on it."

"So that was it?" Arabella asked, shaking her head in disappointment. "You just gave up?"

Her mother’s face was so full of pain. "You know how your father is."

"No," Arabella said firmly. "That's the problem and everyone keeps saying that."

"I tried to talk to him, Arabella, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” her mother said, in a very low voice.

"And when he refused to listen?"

Her mother looked away, and the silence answered the question even before she could.

Arabella felt it in her heart. "You should have told me."

Tears gathered in Eleanor's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Arabella looked at her mother for a long moment because she knew she meant the apology genuinely, and it broke something inside of her, but it changed nothing.

Then she nodded slowly. "I know you are." And somehow, that made it hurt even more.

Arabella stepped away before the tears gathering in her eyes could fall because she couldn't do this, not even there. Not while her father stood across the ballroom accepting congratulations on ruining her life.

Looking at her father alone ignited fresh anger in her and, without thinking twice, she marched toward him.

The guest, speaking and congratulating her father, stepped aside immediately she approached.

Victor Kingston was speaking with several investors and the smile on his face vanished the moment he saw her expression.

"Excuse us,” he said. The investors disappeared immediately as no one argued with Victor Kingston, but unfortunately for him, Arabella had reached her limit.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" she asked her father.

Her father remained calm. "Not right now."

There was a dangerous silence between them. The music continued and the conversations resumed, but yet somehow, the entire ballroom felt frozen.

Victor set down his champagne glass. "You are causing a scene."

"You announced my engagement without telling me," she said, in a voice full of pain.

"And?" he replied.

Arabella blinked for a second to be sure if she'd heard him correctly.

"And?" That was his response.

She made fists with her hands so tightly. "I had a right to know."

"You know now,” he answered.

The dismissive answer nearly took her breath away because for years, she had tolerated his rules, control, decisions and his endless need to dictate every part of her life, but tonight felt different as she finally saw it for what it was. A cage and she was done pretending otherwise.

"I won't marry him," she said. The words left her mouth before she could stop them.

Her father looked at her sharply. "You will."

"No,” she replied quickly.

"You don't understand what's at stake," her father said.

Arabella laughed bitterly. "Then explain it to me."

Her father's expression got stronger. "The Kingston Group and Sterling Holdings are preparing a merger."

There it was, business, always business, money and power. It was never her or what she wanted. "You are using me."

Victor sighed, as if she were being unreasonable. "I'm securing your future."

"My future?"

The pain in her voice surprised even her. "This isn't about my future".

"Everything I do is for this family," her father said.

"No," Arabella replied immediately.

Victor frowned. "No?"

Arabella shook her head. "This is for you."

"Be careful, Arabella."

"Why? Because I'm telling the truth?" Her voice trembled with anger as she kept talking. "This isn't about protecting me, It's about getting what you want."

And for the first time, real tension entered the space between her and her father. He wasn't used to being challenged, not even by his daughter. He adjusted his cufflinks. This was a habit she recognized immediately. He does this anytime he’s trying to end a conversation or win an argument.

"The contracts were signed three weeks ago."

Arabella stood still and the ballroom noise disappeared.

Contracts? Her heart beat faster. "What contracts?"

"The merger agreements," he replied.

The word echoed inside her as her father continued speaking. "The integration begins after the wedding."

Wedding, Integration and contracts. The realization of this hit her more like a punch in the face, because this had never been about finding her a husband or her happiness, it was all for a deal, a transaction and a merger, and she was part of the package.

"You have already decided everything."

"Yes,” he said, without hesitation, or an apology or even regret.

Standing in front of her father, Arabella suddenly felt smaller than she ever had before, not because he was rich or powerful, but because she finally understood her place in all of this.

It’s all for a signature, a bargaining chip and an asset, nothing more.

Her father stepped closer towards her. "The engagement was never your decision to make."

The words struck harder than a slap this time and Arabella couldn't breathe. Then she noticed a movement near the ballroom entrance beyond her father's shoulder which caught her attention.

She opened her eyes wide in surprise. It was Lucas. He wasn't leaving or looking away, he was walking straight toward them, and judging by the look on his face, he had heard everything.