Chapter 2 The House That Confirmed It

The drive was quiet, but not the calm kind of quiet.

It was the type that pressed against the ears, the kind that made thoughts louder than they should be. Tara sat stiffly in the passenger seat, hands folded so tightly on her laps like that might keep them from shaking. The city blurred past the window, but she barely saw nor registered it. Her mind kept returning to one phrase, looping like a mistake she couldn't undo.

"Six months."

"She was married for six months to a man she barely knew."

Ethan drove without looking at her. His gaze fixed on the road. One hand on the steering wheel, controlled and deliberate. The other tapped absently on the arm rest, posture relaxed but unreadable. He looked nothing like the half conscious man in the hospital on the wheelchair. There was no weakness here. No sight of uncertainty. This version of him

felt immoveable–just quiet authority radiating through the silence, steady and unsettling.

"So this was all planned," Tara said eventually, her voice close to a whisper but steady.

"Yes."

The word landed in her ears so cleanly.

She let out a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding in. "You didn't even hesitate."

"I didn't have the luxury of hesitation."

She scoffed, short and humorless.

"Must be nice."

He glanced at her then, briefly. "I never intended to trap you."

"And yet," she stole a glance, "here we are."He didn't respond.

The car slowed down as they approached a gated residential complex. Tall walls. Discrete security. Privacy that is embodied by wealth.

Everything about the place screamed separation, from noise, from normal people, from lives like hers. It immediately felt as though she was stepping into a totally different planet, one she never demanded nor desired for.

Tara felt that familiar pressure in her chest, the one that had followed her since the phone call.

The gates opened almost immediately without question.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Home"

The word felt–sounded misplaced.

"This is not my home." she protested.

"It is for now."

She wanted to argue, to refuse, but exhaustion from the day's chaos silenced her.

Everything had happened too fast, too much truth in too little time.

The car pulled into the driveway of a modern house, all glass and clean lines, like it was designed to impress not comfort. It looked like something from a magazine. Untouched. Impersonal.

Ethan parked and stepped out. Tara followed more slowly, her legs heavy.

Inside, it felt empty despite the space. Neutral colors, minimal furniture, no photographs, no frames, no warmth, no life, nothing that felt like home–just house.

"It doesn't feel lived in," Tara said quietly.

"It isn't," Ethan replied. "I'm rarely here."She swallowed. "And now?"

"Now you'll live here."

Her head tilted towards him. "With you?"

"Yes."

"No," she said immediately as though she knew his response. "That wasn't part of...."

"It's safer this way."

"For who?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"My sister."

There it was again. That nameless weight pressing against her conscience, the reason she couldn't easily walk away.

"Does she know?"

"No."

"Where is she?" Tara asked.

"At boarding school. She doesn't know about you yet."

"And when she does?" Rara pressed.

Ethan paused, "She'll know you're my wife."

The title still felt foreign and unreal.

"I don't want her thinking I chose this," Tara said. "I didn't."

"I know."

She wasn't sure he truly did.

"Do you?" she challenged. "Because it feels like you decided my life for me."Something shifted in his expression. Not guilt, not regret nor remorse, but something quieter. He exhaled slowly.

"I decided to survive," he said. "And to keep her safe."

She hated how honest that was.

A woman, probably a housekeeper, appeared briefly and showed Tara a bedroom down

the hallway. The room was large, immaculate and annoyingly impersonal.

"This is yours," Ethan said from the hallway. "My room is across the hall."

Her breath seized.... "We're not...."

"No," he interrupted. "That won't be necessary."

Relief came first then irritation tangled inside her.

"Six months," Tara said, meeting his gaze. "That's all, you don't get to ask for anything

else."

"I won't." he reassured.

"She studied him for a moment, more like on a quest for cracks, for signs that portrayed he was lying, manipulating again. Non in sight.

"I didn't save your life to become your solution," she said quietly.

His expression tightened just slightly.

"I know," he said tiredly, not weak. Just worn out.

But neither of them said anything else.

He left her there, the door closing softly behind him, Tara sank unto the edge of the bed, the weight of the day finally crashing down. Gaze fixed on the ceiling, hands over head, thoughts everywhere, breath seizing at intervals ending with heavy exhales like an asthmatic patient grasping for air. Trying to make sense of how one moment of compassion had turned her entire life around like a rollercoaster.This wasn't love.

This wasn't romance.

This wasn't fate.

This was legality dressed up as necessity.

And yet, somewhere beneath the anger, beneath the fear and disbelief, a question lingered, one that refused to leave her alone. Unwelcome, unresolved and unanswered.

What kind of man puts marriage as a weapon to protect a child?

Tara exhaled slowly, knowing one thing for certain:

Six months was a long time to live with a stranger.

And far too long to pretend nothing would change