Addicted To Her Lips

Isabella inhaled deeply, calling up the courage which she knew didn't exist, from deep within her. She knew she had to do this, for she had absolutely no power over this.

Turning to look at the girl behind her, her friend, she said, "Let's go in."

She placed her hand on the door knob and pushed it open as the person behind her also pushed her wheelchair inside the room. Her movement stopped when she got to the desk, and even with her head bowed slightly, Isabella knew that her friend had left her alone in the room, alone with her husband.

"Welcome home. I hope your drive was not stressful?"

She snapped her head up when she heard that cold and gruff voice, and her eyes immediately came in contact with his face. His deep set, expressive blue eyes which were fixed on her, his frowning face with chiseled jawline, and his large muscled body which were moving towards her right now. With jaws slacked in surprise, Isabella wondered how a man could be this handsome.

"Miss Yates?" He sounded angry, and that alerted all the brain cells in Isabella's head as she hurriedly bowed.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Hunt!" She exclaimed, and silence ensued in the room.

'Why, what happened? Is he angry? Did I not greet him the way a real aristocrat was supposed to?' she asked herself inwardly, her head still bowed lowly.

"Let's not waste any time and get straight to our main reason for meeting. Miss Yates, you do know why you are here, right?"

"Y-yes Sir! I have been informed," Isabella replied. She was here to serve him, as her parents already gifted her to him, in return for a kind of support or something. However, to keep the matter safe from the public prying eyes, they had made her sign a marriage contract which would make her look like a wife to him to outsiders when she would actually be a slave for him.

"Good. I will be leaving for a meeting now and I expect you to cooperate with the butler when he comes to escort you."

That was the last words he said to her and then he was out the door. Finally raising her head up, she heaved a deep sigh of relief.

"He is your husband, Isabella. He is Nicholas Hunt, and he's the most terrifying man in the whole of this country. If you annoy him, you can be assured that you won't spend the next 24 hours on earth," she chanted to herself, trying to remember everything she had heard about Nicholas Hunt and the warning her father gave her concerning him an hour ago.

One Hour Ago.

"What are you saying, Ma'am?" Isabella whispered, her eyes fixed firmly on the woman standing before her. Since she was on her wheelchair while the woman was standing, she had to crane her head up to maintain eye contact.

"I said what you heard, Isabella Yates. Aren't you shameless? Your father and I have been catering for your needs since you were born and now, just when we need you to help us out, you want to disappoint us?!" The woman asked with voice raised enough for everyone presently in the Yates family mansion to hear.

Seeing that her mother was fuming already, Isabella turned her wheelchair to face her father.

"Sir, I..."

She was interrupted before she could say any more, by her father Lucas Yates.

"You don't have to argue, Isabella. We need help from the Hunt's family urgently but their monster of a first son is asking for a collateral, which is you. You will help us, right?" The man had a small smile on his face as he looked down on his first daughter's confused face.

"Sir..."

"Don't worry about yourself, Isabella. He won't hurt you as long as you obey his instructions, just like I do here. I only take you to the punishment room when you disobey me, right? Now, the only thing I need you to do is to sign that contract lying in front of you."

Isabella could sense the subtle threat in her father's words. If she disobeyed him and refused to sign this paper in front of her, she would be punished just like yesterday and the day before, as it had always been for as long as she could remember.

Shivering, she pulled the table in front of her closer to herself and picked up the pen lying on it. Scanning the words written on the paper even though she could not understand any, she finally signed at the lower left part of the paper.

Even though Isabella was not educated, the one thing her parents taught her was how to sign a contract. In the 22 years of her life, she had signed more contracts than an average person signed. Normally, her parents would shut her in the punishment room and when the woman inside was done with her, they would bring her to this room and place a paper and pen in front of her.

"That's my filial daughter," Lucas praised, the creepy smile on his face turning genuine for a second. He couldn't help it as he had just signed a very beneficial contract where he basically had to do nothing, but would receive hefty amounts in his bank account at the end of each month. All the work would be done by this foolish girl here instead.

"Thank you, Sir," Isabella smiled back. That was how she was taught. To every praise and blame, she had to thank the person who noticed her enough to do that.

"It's alright now. If you listen to my instructions, then you will have nothing to worry about. Nicholas Hunt is a terrifying man, actually very terrifying than I can ever be, so you have to be very careful when you get to his house. It's normal that he would punish you every now and then, but it should not be too much if you behave yourself. Also, never implicate out family over there. If you do so and you end up returning here, then know that you are coming back to die," he paused, waiting for Isabella's response which she gave almost immediately.

"Yes Sir!"

"Yes, and don't ever forget to grant us help whenever we ask. From what you signed, you will at least be entitled to a little bit of pocket money per week. They will be basically useless to you so just forward it to your sister's account instead. Gabrielle would need it more."

Isabella nodded again, and that was it. Her purchase by Nicholas Hunt, which was disguised as a contract which Isabella could not even read, was finalized.

The very next moment, her mother who had never touched Isabella's wheelchair walked behind Isabella and pushed her out of the room to the living room. When she got there, she could see all the members of the household awaiting them there.

They all stood to their feet to greet the head of the family when Lucas walked in, a wide grin plastered on his face. Signaling them to take their seats, he began,

"As you all know that I and my wife wants nothing but the best for our two daughters, it's with nothing but pleasure that we announce the marriage of our princess, Isabella, to Nicholas Hunt, who doesn't need any form of introduction to all of us here. He has been visiting here frequently this days so no one should bother asking how he and Isabella met. Finally, she will be leaving tonight and will be accompanied by Angela as we don't want her to feel lonely in such an unfamiliar environment-"

"What?!" Isabella gasped, unable to withhold her surprise to herself. No one had told her she was leaving tonight!

"What's the matter, Princess?" Lucas turned to her and asked, the earlier smile on his face now transformed into a frown.

"I...I didn't know that I was leaving tonight. Don't I need to pack? Also..."

"Hazel," Lucas called, cutting his daughter off.

Hazel nodded in understanding and pushed Isabella away from there, stopping her from asking any more stupid questions. When they were a little distance away from the living room, she stopped and went to stand before Isabella.

"What are you trying to do by asking that stupid question over there? Shouldn't you know that you are supposed to pack? You don't think Mr. Hunt would waste his money buying dresses for someone like you, right?"

Isabella was silent, not able to find any words to refute her mother's claim. In fact, she could not dare to do it as the scars on her body were not healed yet.

"Okay then. You should start packing now, I'll send Angela over to help you. Mr Hunt's driver is waiting outside already."

And she was gone. Isabella had to wheel herself over to her room which was not far from where her mother left her alone.

Back To Present.

Isabella opened her eyes to starry pink ceiling of her assigned bedroom in the Hunt's mansion. She raised herself up to sit on the bed, picking her phone from the bedside table.

She unlocked it the way her parents had taught her, and pressed on the speed dial one to call her friend. The call connected after the very first ring.

"Angela, can you come over to my room?"

"I'm right at the front of your door," Angela's voice came from the other side of the line, and the door was pushed open right at that very moment.

Isabella hung up on the call and waited for her friend, who was now looking around the room, to come closer.

"Good morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?" Angela asked, her eyes finally settling on her friend face.

"I think I did, but it's all because of this bed. How about you?"

Angela hurried over to her friend's bed when she heard that, her face screaming that she was scared.

"I slept well too, Bella, and that is scaring me. You met Mr Hunt yesterday, right? Was he as intimidating as the rumours say?"

Isabella sighed, her face beginning to show signs of fears too.

"For me, I think he was more than intimidating. But then, why did he assign us to good rooms? Or was it a mistake on the butler's part?" she asked.

"Then that's not our fault then. We don't have to be scared since we didn't choose the room ourselves," Angela reassured her, placing her own hand on her friend's clasped hands.

"Alright. Help me get on my wheelchair, Angela. He ordered me to cooperate with the butler so I think we need to get ready to work. I pray we get to work in either the kitchen or the garden; cleaning will be difficult for me..." Isabella trailed off as her friend slipped her arms under her, carrying her up to place her on the wheelchair.

Though she noticed the way Angela's grimaced in pain when she dropped her, Isabella was too sorry to apologize. Angela pushed her into the bathroom and left her there, waiting for her inside the bedroom.

Few minutes later, Isabella emerged from the bathroom with a bathrobe wrapped around her. She was surprised when she saw that Angela was still in the room.

"What are you doing, Angel? Go get ready too, I can help myself!" she exclaimed, watching as her friend walked out of the room.

As soon as the door closed after Angela, Isabella wheeled herself to her luggage which was placed in one corner of the room. Selecting a cloth which would be suitable for working, she combed her wavy blonde hair and tied it up in a messy ponytail.

She looked in the mirror and smiled, satisfied with her average dressing which would not draw much attention to her.

"You can do this, Isabella," she encouraged herself. Inhaling deeply, she wheeled herself out of the room and down the hallway, looking for a maid to ask where the butler was.

Ten minutes later, Isabella had wheeled herself around the south wing of the mansion where she was located, before she realized that the maids seemed to be avoiding her. At first, she had thought they were simply scarce in that part of the mansion but after she had seen two or three of them and each one had scurried away as soon as they saw her, her intelligent self was quick to guess what had happened.

'But why are they all avoiding me? I know I have always been isolated by people, but it wasn't because I was repulsive, right?' she wondered inwardly, when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"Isabella?"

Isabella jolted, recognizing the voice as that of Nicholas. She hurriedly wheeled herself around so as not to annoy him with her clumsiness.

"Yes?"

She saw the disappointment in his eyes as they travelled from her head downwards, and she felt her heart sink a little.

"Did you see Marcus?" Nicholas asked. Seeing the confusion in Isabella's eyes, he added, "I am talking about the butler."

"I didn't see him. I was just searching for him," Isabella replied.

Nicholas didn't say anything else and simply took out his phone from his pocket.

"David, come over to my study and bring the script over."

He hung up on the call as soon as he was done talking, and stepped closer to Isabella only to notice her flinch and wheel herself backwards.

Even though the movement was slight, Nicholas noticed it and stopped dead in his tracks, anger brewing in his chest. Simultaneously, he turned away from her and walked away from there. Just as he left, another man came running in her direction and stopped when he got to her.

"Mrs Hunt," he greeted simply before closing the distance between himself and Isabella. He went behind her and pushed her to the place where she had met Nicholas yesterday.

When they entered, Isabella immediately spotted him sitting in the chair behind the large desk. She wondered why he didn't ask her to follow him when he was coming to this same place, but soon reprimanded herself when she remembered how bothersome it would be. How would the almighty Nicholas Hunt want her to walk with him? As if she could even walk.

She watched as the man who had brought her here placed a sheet of paper in front of her, and another in front of Nicholas who removed an ear pod from his ear and placed it on his desk. Looking up in confusion to ask what to do with the paper in front of her, she was shocked when she heard Nicholas' next words.

"Read it," he ordered.

Isabella was silent for a while, wondering if she had heard well.

"I asked you to read out the speech on that paper," Nicholas repeated, his expression hardening. His hands balled into fists where they were lying on the table, and that action did not miss Isabella's face. Was he about to beat her?

"I...I don't. I can't read it," she stuttered, squirming uncomfortably in her seat.

"What do you mean you can't read it, Miss Yates? I do know you are your family's adored princess but now, you are married into the Yates family and you should at least cooperate and do whatever I ask you to. That is just the speech you will give to the press at our wedding banquet tomorrow, so you have to read it!"

Isabella shivered at the angry tone of his voice. She could tell he was mocking her from his words, 'adored princess', as it was not possible that he did not know how irrelevant she was in her father's house.

"I really can't read it," she whispered again, trying to convince them.

This time around, Nicholas stood up from behind his desk and walked around the table to her.

"Excuse us, David," he said to the man who had brought Isabella with him.

Closing in on her, he set his jaw firmly as he frowned down on her.

"Isabella," he grunted. "I can be really fierce to people who want to identify as my enemies. I beg you,"

'Even though I know I am unworthy of pleading with you,' he added inwardly.

He continued, "You have no choice but to read that speech tomorrow evening. If there's anything that makes you uncomfortable in there, inform David about it."

He took a step away from her and stopped.

"Your parents will be at the banquet so I request that you keep your apathy away from the public, and not dress like a maid just like today," he said, casting one last glance at her fear filled eyes, before walking out of the room.

Subconsciously, as she calmed herself down, Isabella realized that this was the second time he was abandoning her in this room. She looked around the room, taking in the monotone aesthetics when she remembered what she came here to do in the first place.

She took out her phone and dialled Angela's number, biting her lower lip nervously.

"Angela, can you come over to the room? The one I slept in yesterday." She still could not call the room hers, as she was very sure that a room of that extravagance and beauty could not be assigned to a lady like Isabella Yates.

"On my way," Angela replied.

Isabella wheeled herself out of the study and with an apprehensive mind, went back to her room. On getting there, she didn't have to wait long before Angela entered with an equally apprehensive face.

Isabella noticed immediately and asked,"Did anything happen? Were you punished?"

"No, I just heard the whispers of the maids I was working with. They said Sir Nicholas stormed out of the mansion and that whenever he does that, someone has to bear the brunt on his return. He's so terrifying, Bella," she stared pitifully at her friend. Since a very young age, whenever Angela was present when Isabella was being punished, she always consoled herself for her cowardice by saying that when Isabella got married, everything would be different. Who knew those evil parents would get her married to an equally menacing man?

"I angered him, Angel. I almost disobeyed him..." Isabella trailed off as Nicholas' expression when she had refused him popped up in her mind eye.

"What?! Why did you do that?" Angela almost screamed.

"He said there's a wedding banquet tomorrow, and I have to read a speech there," she whispered, extending the paper to Angela so she could read it.

Angela's eyes widened in surprise.

"I hope you did not tell him you can't read!" She asked, only to see Isabella's guilty eyes.

"You told him?! He's only going to think you are more useless and if possible, he could decide to send us back home. I know this place isn't better than home but at least, we have not been punished since we came here. Doesn't your back still hurt? Our stay here can give the wounds a chance to heal," she continued, pacing around the room as she sought a solution to their predicament.

"I did tell him, but he said I must read it and if not, I will be his enemy. Is there something we can do? Maybe I can learn the alphabets now," Isabella suggested.

Angela sighed,"I know you are smart enough to actually learn how to read within a few months but...you have to give the speech tomorrow. How about you memorize it?"

Isabella nodded in agreement. She was ready to do anything as long as it would help her escape Nicholas' wrath for some time.

"How do I memorize it?" she asked Angela.

"Yh, that is the problem now. I can't record it on your phone since it would be too loud and would attract attention to you. We have to get ear pods."

"How do we do that? We can't ask for the butler's help, right?" Isabella asked.

"We can't. He's bound to ask what we need it for. Don't worry, I will try to get out today and buy one for you. That way, you can use it till it's time for you to give the speech," Angela reassured, walking out of the room confidently.

It came as a surprise to Isabella when the same lady who walked out a few minutes ago confidently, came back in like one who just had her ball of confidence deflated.

"What happened?"

"I was caught by one of the guards, and he gave me a very strict warning. Guests are arriving at the other wings of the mansion so he asked us to stay away from there. What do we do?!"

"I think I have an idea!" Isabella's eyes sparkled in excitement, as an idea occured to her.