Chapter 10 A Clash Of Wills

"This is absolutely absurd. I can't do such, Father," Alexander raged.

"You will marry Isabella Sterling, and that's final."

"I'm not going to marry that proud and disrespectful lady. She's not my type."

"Not your type? She's the best staff in that entire company. She built Luxe Pad, the very tablet that has made a name for this company. Are you sick in the head?"

"Father, I can't marry Miss Sterling."

"Ohhhh, you are marrying Miss Sterling, and there's nothing you are going to say that would change that."

"Father, why do you hate me so much? Why?" Alexander raged. He walked closer to his father, trying to intimidate him with his looks.

"Get the hell out of my face, Alexander. I can barely look at you. You are a disgrace, and I'm sure you took this after your mother."

"Do not put my mother into this matter."

"Fine. But you are getting married to Miss Sterling. How can you not see the future in front of you and run away from it? Ohh, I wish Sebastian was my first son."

Richard's words broke Alexander. He had received a lot of scorn from his father, but this was new.

"It's obvious you hate me, Father. But I'm telling you right here, right now... I, Alexander Gentry, will not marry Isabella Sterling, and that's final." Alexander turned to leave, slamming the door as he walked out.

"Fine! Run! That's all you know how to do. But you are going to come back to this house, and you are going to marry Isabella." Richard yelled and sat into his chair.

*****

"Wait, wait, wait, Dad. Is this what you want to discuss with me? Are you kidding me right now? Dad? Is this you talking? I can't take this. I'm out of here."

"You will do no such thing, Bella. I am your father, and I have spoken."

"You have no right over who I choose to love or spend my life with, Dad. Do not make me hate you." Tears welled up in Isabella's eyes.

"Bella, I do not hate you. And I know that my motive might seem selfish, but Bella, I need you, this family needs you." Charles lowered his voice.

"Don't you dare use family logic on me, Dad, don't... When you destroyed your business in the name of investing your wealth in a too-good-to-be-true business or whatever, was any of your family members involved?"

"I have made a mistake, Bella, and you are making this difficult for me. You don't have to remind me of my mistakes and failure. I never ever planned to throw all my cash, my life effort into the sea, Bella, I had this family in mind while sacrificing everything."

"You weren't forced into a marriage to do that, Dad. Why would you want to do it to your own daughter?" Bella cried.

Her father walked to Bella and tried to hold her hands.

"Don't touch me. I can't even look at you. I have always complained of how terrible Alexander is, and you want me to marry him, end my life literally because of your business."

"It's just till you give birth, Bella."

"Can you even listen to yourself, do you even believe your words?"

"Bella!" Charles shouted her name, shaking her to the marrow. "You are going to get married to Alexander, and that's final."

"I am Isabella Sterling, and I'm telling you right now, Dad, that I'm not going to spend even a day with that monster, let alone marrying him." Isabella walked out of the house.

"Damn!" Richard screamed, he grabbed a vase on the table in his room and smashed it on the wall.

"Nooooooo!! Damn it, Bella." He said and began to look at his portrait on the wall.

"What the..." Lily froze as she walked in. "What happened here?" Lily asked, noticing the broken vase on the floor.

"I just had a... a..." His voice became faint, and he began to stagger.

"Charles, what's going on?" She began to walk towards him, noticing how his entire body had changed.

Before she could reach him, he fell to the floor like a withered tree.

"Charles! Charles! Charles, wake up, just open your eyes." She held Charles, raising his head and placing it on her lap as she sat beside him.

"Olivia! Olivia!" Lily called her daughter.

And once Olivia appeared at the door, Lily asked her to call 911.

At the same time, Bella was on her way to a diner. She wanted a place not fancy, a place where she could just sit and process her father's words.

She couldn't help but wonder what had entered into her father and had forced him to utter such words to her.

She picked up her phone and dialed Sebastian's line; she wanted somebody to talk to, somebody not crazy.

But he wasn't picking up, even after she tried the second and the third time.

She also dialed Catherine's number, but just like Sebastian's, it kept going straight to voicemail.

"Why am I surprised? The entire world has decided to let me wallow alone in agony." She fought the urge to go to the bar, but the fear of her getting drunk and misbehaving compelled her to the door of a diner.

After placing her order, just a black coffee actually, she went to the back of the booth and rested her head while she waited to get her coffee.

"Hello, sir, how may I assist you?" The waiter seemed to be talking to another man.

"I'll have a coffee," the man said.

"Okay, sir, what type of coffee do you want?"

"Make it a double espresso."

Bella could recognize this voice anywhere, but she felt it was her head playing games with her, so she left her head still face down.

Not until the footsteps began to draw closer and that very musky cologne filled her nostrils, she raised up her head only to discover it was Alexander Gentry, the devil himself.

Their eyes quickly met, locked in an intense and charged moment, and a tumultuous sea of emotions churned within them.

And because every other booth was taken, Alexander had to sit directly opposite Bella, the girl he swore never to marry.