Chapter 1 Tovia

"Tovia! Tovia!"

That morning, her father had called her, shouting her name as she prepared to go to college.

"What is it this time again?" Tovia murmured angrily as she descended the stairs.

"Don't you hear me calling you?" Mr. Page lashed out at his only daughter and child, but she only stood with an angry face, looking at her father. Tovia knows that whenever her father starts calling her like that, there has to be something that she will regret later.

"Prepare yourself tonight. We are both meeting the Woods," Mr. Page said, adjusting his tie.

"The Woods!" Tovia squeezed her face, looking ugly.

"I have already finalized your marriage with Jerry. So we need to meet with them tonight to talk about the wedding preparations," Jones added nonchalantly.

"No drama, you hear me?" He warned as he dashed out of the mansion, with his assistant following closely. Tovia stood still, like she had just been struck by heavy lightning. It takes a while for her to crawl back into her room.

Sitting in front of the mirror in her room, she stares at her reflection as if she has lost the sense of time. Suddenly, she yells.

"I hate myself! I hate myself!" Hot tears flow down her cheeks as she cries. Her face turns sore because of anger.

"How could he? How could he do that to me?" Tovia cries and starts to throw all the things on her dressing table away furiously. The sound of things shattering attracts Maggie, the househelp, who is working downstairs. She quickly runs to Tovia's room. Maggie had already secretly heard Mr. Page talking to Tovia about the marriage that morning.

"Young Miss," Maggie calls and quickly holds Tovia's hand, who is now crying seriously at the sight of Maggie. Maggie sighs seeing Tovia crying. She slowly bends down and starts picking up all the things Tovia threw on the floor.

"Young Miss, you need to pull yourself together," Maggie stands up, looking at Tovia's wet face in pity.

"How could I pull myself together in all this? How could I?" Tovia sheds more tears. Maggie then pulls closer to Tovia and hugs her by the side.

"I know it's difficult, but since there is nothing we could do about it..." Maggie pauses because she does not want to add to Tovia's pain.

"Why would he choose to marry me to those goons?" Tovia laments, still crying.

"Not even someone better, Jerry! Jerry, for that matter," Tovia cries at the thought of Jerry.

"Everyone in this city knows Jerry and the Wood's family are pure evil, and they have no regard for anyone. How could I marry into such a family? To that arrogant Jerry, at that?" Tovia looks frustrated and angry at the same time. Maggie sighs terribly, knowing the Woods.

Indeed, no one would be so unfortunate to marry into the Wood's family. Everyone knows that the Woods are just as their name suggests: brutal, evil, and the talk of all the bad things in the world.

"How could someone who is sane allow his only child to marry into such an evil family?" Maggie thinks worriedly, but does not utter a word about her worries.

"Only Jones would do that," Maggie mutters to herself and heaves a long sigh.

"Young Miss," Maggie calls Tovia after some time, knowing she has already calmed down.

"Maybe I should talk to Master," Maggie said slowly. Tovia looks up at Maggie. She can see how worried and concerned Maggie is because of her. Looking at the two, one could see how close they are to each other, even though they have the relationship of a master and servant.

Tovia has always regarded Maggie as her own mother, but she is just a househelp who has been working with the family for a long time. Tovia grew up with Maggie working in her family household, and Maggie always treated her like her own child too.

Tovia wiped the tears that stained her face because she did not want to bother Maggie with her problems. She really wanted someone who could talk to her father, but she knew that her father always did whatever he wanted. There was no way to talk her father out of his decisions.

"He has never listened to anyone, how will he listen to you?" Tovia sighed sadly. She looked at Maggie's worried face and slowly held Maggie's hands, then forced a smile.

"Thank you so much, Maggie, you are the only one who is always worried about me," Tovia looked gratefully at Maggie.

"But... I don't want to put you in trouble with Dad," Tovia said sluggishly. Maggie slowly bowed her head low at what Tovia said.

"I will do something about it," Tovia assured Maggie with a forced smile. Maggie knew that Tovia was just trying to act strong in front of her, so she also forced a smile.

"Just trust me," Tovia added since Maggie seemed not to believe her. Maggie smiled pretending to believe that Tovia would do something.

"I will go back downstairs, take care young Miss," Maggie turned and left.

After Maggie left Tovia's room, her face turned sore and ugly as she took heavy steps downstairs, feeling really sad. She slowly walked downstairs to her room in the basement. She lived in the basement of the mansion, and her room looked shabby, as if she was not paid well for her job in the Page's mansion.

Though the room was neat and tidy, there were only some old clothes hanging on the bed and a small table and chair. Maggie sat on the bed and cried seriously.

"Your mother is not capable," Maggie murmured as tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked at a small picture for some time and later hid the picture carefully.

"I know you will be strong, Tovia," she said with a cracked voice and wiped her tears.

Tovia started to pace back and forth after Maggie left her room.

"I cannot marry that Jerry," she thought seriously.

"But... is there any way to escape from Dad?" Tovia bit her lower lip frustratingly and blinked away the tears that formed in her eyes. She knew that there was no way she could win against her father in any decision he made for her. All her life, her father had been the one making decisions for her, and she had been enduring them all, thinking that those decisions were things she could do and that would not affect her. But now her marriage.

Tovia had thought that after college, she would be freed from her father's dictates. But now she had to marry someone he wanted. If it was someone else, she might have tried to go along with it, but not the Woods and not Jerry!

"Over my dead body will I marry Jerry. No! I will not marry him, I cannot marry Jerry," Tovia let out devastated. She continued to think of how to escape from her father's decision this time.

She thought that her marriage was the only way to get freed from her father's clutches, but now she had no option. She believed that if she agreed to the marriage, then she would forever be miserable.

"Should I just run away?" she thought, but she instantly dropped the idea because she knew who her father was. If she ran away, her father would find her, even if she was hiding in hell.

"Not even when the Woods are involved," Tovia sighed terribly.

The Woods are dangerous people. They are known for all the atrocities anyone could think of, since they are born gangsters, and they also controlled the underworld. Thinking about that, Tovia knew there was no way of escape for her.

"So, what do I do?" Tovia cried. The tears she had been trying to fight away fell again.

"Mom!" she muttered sadly. She knew that even if she called for her mother until eternity, her mother would not come to her aid because she is dead. She had been told her mother is dead ever since she grew up. She did not see any of her mother's pictures or know anything about her mother or her mother's family. Tovia felt so helpless in front of her father at all times since there was no one to help her.

It was only when she went to college that she felt a little happy and relieved. She sank down beside her bed, and then her phone beeped. She slowly took her phone to check.

"I am late for class," she instantly remembered having a lecture and stood up but sat back slowly.

"Why should I worry about going to class when my life is about to end?" she hissed.

"I will just go," she stood up sluggishly to get ready for class.

"Even if I have to die this time, I will not marry Jerry," Tovia looked determined as she headed downstairs to go to college.