Arranged

"Emila!! Get down here, right now," my step-father shouted, anger lacing his voice.

I dashed down the stairs, not wanting to upset him by making him wait for me. Bad things happened when he got upset.

"Yes, father?" I asked, breathless from the sudden running.

"What the bloody hell took you so long, I've been calling your name for the last ten minutes," he shouted.

"I'm sorry, father, I'll try my best not to make you wait again," I murmured softly, lowering my gaze.

"You better not," he glowered before continuing, "Anyways, go change into something presentable, I have guests coming over in half an hour, and make sure to make tea and snacks, and there is no room for mistakes," he ordered before dismissing me by turning his head back to the TV.

I nodded silently and went in the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks for my father's guests. Then hurried over to my room to change into some presentable clothes. I sprinted back down to the kitchen to begin setting up the trays for the guests. I wanted everything to be perfect for the guests, as I didn't want my step-father to punish me.

The door bell rang. I was about to go and open the door but my father beat me to it and invited the guests inside, directing them in the living room.

I went back to the kitchen to make sure everything was ready for the guests. Placing everything on the trays, I walked to living room just as my step-father called my name.

Before placing the trays on the table I swept my gaze over to the guests that had just arrived.

There were five people in total, four men and one woman. The woman looked to be in her late forties with shiny, golden hair and soft blue eyes. Her skin was fair and her nose straight, her lips curved in a beautiful smile.

The men on the other hand exuded power and authority. The man sitting next to the woman looked to be in his early fifties. He had black hair with streaks of gray in it. His face was chiseled with hard green eyes, a proud nose and thin lips.

I glanced to my left to see the other three men sitting on the couch. All three of them had an air of danger surrounding them. The man sitting on the extreme left looked to be in his late twenties with sharp blue eyes and thick black hair. He had a proud nose and plump lips. The man sitting next to him had blue eyes and golden hair with the same proud nose and full lips as the man next to him. The last of the three men had green eyes and dark hair; his nose was a little crooked but he shared the same full lips as the other two. All three of them were the definition of handsome and sexy.

"Emila, sit down and meet the guests,"my father told me. I did as he said and sat on a love seat.

"Hello," I muttered softly.

"This is Arthur Smith," my father gestured to the older man, "and that's his wife, Marie," he gestured to the woman, "and these are their three sons, Jacob, Joshua and Jeremy." he gestured to each guy individually as he introduced them. I was highly intimidated by every single person and didn't want to talk to them.

"Your father and I have been business partners for nearly six years," Mr. Smith spoke, his voice deep, "And I can say that I'm glad that I decided to do business with him." he smiled.

"Yes and now I'm glad that we would finally become more than just business partners and friends." my eyebrows furrowed at hearing my step-father say that they would be becoming more than friends. How would they do that?

"I think Emila doesn't understand what you mean, Steve; why don't you tell her," Mr. Smith said to my father who nodded with a smile on his face.

"I'll be glad to; Emila, Arthur and I have agreed to marry you and Jacob within a week," my step-father informed me.

My heart stopped at hearing what my father just told me. How could he do this? How could my step-father arrange my marriage without asking me? Without telling me? Did I mean nothing to him?

Of course you mean nothing to him, Emila; you never did.

Despite not wanting to, I forced a smile, not letting anyone know that I was upset over the news.

"Well Arthur, you're going to have dinner with us, Emila is a very good cook." this was the first time my father had complimented me. His words should've make me happy, but all they did was have tears prick my eyes. I knew my step-father only complimented me to protect his own reputation and image.

"Of course we'll have dinner," Mr. Smith said with a smile.

The tears refused to stay confined in my eyes. Before a single tear could fall, I stood up.

"I better go make dinner," I murmured softly, wasting no time in scurrying out of the living room and into the kitchen, finally letting the tears fall.

What had my step-father gotten me into?

I sat in my room, contemplating about the sudden turn my life had taken. It was difficult for me to believe that my step-father had arranged for me to marry Jacob Smith, but not as difficult as it was for me to picture myself as the wife of Jacob Smith.

After I had made dinner for the Smiths, they had left soon after. Mrs. Smith had insisted I go dress shopping with her and talked about hiring a wedding planner and all. To all that, I merely nodded, not trusting myself to say anything as I was afraid I would start crying. However, I had declined the offer of dress shopping as I intended to wear my mother's wedding dress at my wedding. I wanted my mom to be there for me at my wedding; and the dress was the only way I could have her with me.

Feeling my bottom cramping up from sitting on the chair for so long, I stood up from the chair and went over to my bed. I slipped inside the comforter and had just grabbed the novel I was currently reading from the nightstand next to my bed, in order to distract myself when my phone rang. Frowning at the unknown number, I hesitantly answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Emila?" a deep voice said from the other line.

"Yes, who's this?" I enquired, the frown not leaving my face.

"It's Jacob." my breath hitched at hearing his name.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah, you know...I came to your house..."

"Yes, I know who you are, how are you?" I asked him.

"I'm alright," he responded flatly.

"Umm, not to sound rude, but is there any specific reason that you called?" I enquired curiously.

"Actually yes, I wanted to talk to you about something," he answered.

"Yes?" I prodded.

"I wanted to ask whether you were aware of the reason as to why we're actually getting married?" he queried.

My heart picked up its pace at hearing his words. Was there any other reason than dad wanting to strengthen his relationship with the Smiths?

"Umm no," I muttered softly.

"I see, well would you like me to tell you?" he asked.

"Yes please, if it's alright with you," I answered softly.

"Well, we are getting married because your father is indebted to my father, and in order to pay the debt he has decided to give you to us," he informed me flatly, with no hint of emotion in his words whatsoever.

I thought my heart couldn't break any further after what my step-father did, but Jacob's words - this new revelation crushed my already battered heart to smithereens. My step-father was selling me. Using me to pay a debt he owed. Did he not consider me human? Was I worth so little?

"Hello? Emila, are you there?" I didn't realize I was lost in my thoughts until Jacob's voice penetrated the fog of gloom in my mind.

"Uh yes, I'm here, sorry I was thinking about something," I answered softly, trying to keep my voice from breaking. The last thing I wanted to do was let Jacob know I was crying.

"So did you hear what I said?" he questioned softly, causing the tears to spill faster from my eyes.

As another tear spilled from my eye I nodded until I realized that Jacob couldn't see me. "Yes, my father is indebted to yours that's why we're getting married," I repeated what he said earlier.

So you're okay with it?" he enquired.

I wanted to yell and scream. To let not only Jacob know, but the whole world how I was not okay with this. But I knew it wouldn't matter. It was either marrying Jacob or living on the streets, because if I did not marry Jacob then my step-father would kick me out. Even though my step-father didn't say anything to me, I knew he wouldn't hesitate to throw me out of the house. I was a nuisance to him after all.

"Yes, I'm okay with it," I answered reluctantly as the tears continued to spill freely from my eyes.

"Good, it's not like you have a choice. We're getting married regardless of what you want," Jacob stated making me wish my mom was here, she would never allow my step-father to sell me like this.

"I know," I muttered softly, wanting to be anywhere but here.

"Well in that case, I would like to meet with you alone to discuss some things, is tomorrow okay with you? he asked, leaving me little choice in the matter.

"Uh yes, okay, tomorrow would be fine," I replied reluctantly.

"Okay fine, I'll pick you up at 1:00 pm tomorrow," he told me.

"Yes okay, see you tomorrow," I muttered softly.

"Bye." he hung up without waiting for my reply.

I threw the phone on the side and finally gave into the despair and hopelessness. I finally let loose the tears that were already spilling freely from my eyes while I was talking to Jacob.

I never wanted this. Never wanted to be given to someone as an object to pay a debt. But that was exactly what I was. My step-father didn't consider me human. To him I was just another possession he wanted to get rid of. My mom wasn't alive, so I had no one to fight for me.

Grabbing the picture of my mom from the nightstand, I clutched the frame tightly against my chest and cried for everything that was being taken away from me.

I hated my life.

Because my life was not my own.

Jacob arrived exactly on time. Telling my step-father that he was going to take me out, Jacob led me to his car and together we drove off to God knows where.

The car ride was silent. I had no idea what was running through Jacob's mind, and I didn't even care; I was still processing the painful truth that Jacob told me last night. I was actually thankful that Jacob had told me the real reason for our marriage.

After twenty minutes, Jacob parked the car. I looked up to see he had brought us to a restaurant. Turning off the ignition Jacob and I got out of the car. Without a word, Jacob led me inside the restaurant, where we were seated in a corner table.

After taking our orders, the waiter left. For a while neither of us said anything. In my opinion, there was nothing to say. It was clear that once I married Jacob I'd be nothing but a slave. A person who was sold to another was a slave, a property. With no rights or anything. Just like me.

"How are you?" Jacob asked me.

"I'm fine, thank you," I replied, not looking at him, too focused on my mother's ring which was on my right index finger.

"Look, I know this is not what you wanted, but it's not like I wanted this either; my grand father just said that your father needs to pay now or else we must kill him.

"When my father demanded money from your father, he straight out told us he didn't have any money.

"When we told this to my grand father he personally called your father and said that either he pay us back or he will suffer the consequences.

"Your father said he has a daughter which could be used as payment..." Tears welled up in my eyes as I heard Jacob's words. If he was telling the truth, then according to my step-father I wasn't even human, but an object.

"Yo - you're telling the truth?" I did my best to keep my voice from breaking. Jacob should never know that this marriage would most likely break me.

"I swear on everything that is holy, I am telling the truth," Jacob replied. I bit my lip to stop myself from sobbing.

Be strong, Emila. Be strong.

I glanced at him briefly before focusing on the white cloth covering the table. If Jacob didn't want this marriage any more than I did, then that means I was going to be a slave in his family - an object. His family would do whatever they wanted to me and I wouldn't even have the right to say 'no'.

"If - if you don't want to marry me...what are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter if I want to marry you or not, we are going to get married...but, I'm sorry, actually I'm not sorry because your father is a jerk and I wish I could kill him with my own hands for not being able to pay us the money...but, I will never love you like a husband loves his wife. And if love is what you are looking for, then I guess I wouldn't be able to keep you happy either," Jacob responded but there was not a single hint of remorse on his face.

"No, no, it's okay, you don't need to apologize, I completely understand why you would never be able to love me, you can't love someone by force...and don't worry, I'll be happy, you don't have to worry about me," I said.

To be honest, I just didn't want anybody insulting me or treating me worse than an animal.

Even if Jacob's family would ignore me for the rest of my marital life, I'd be okay with that. I just didn't want them to insult me - my step-father was enough.

"Thank you, Emila, you are very understanding, I'm glad that you're not one of those spoilt, whiny girls that demand to be loved, because I don't want to waste my time fretting over what you are thinking," Jacob stated, looking relived.

"It's no problem," I said, hating the fact that despite what he was saying, his words still hurt. "Jacob? Uh...is it okay if I call you Jacob?" I didn't want to over step my boundaries, I was after all a slave.

"You're going to be my wife soon, I think being on the first name basis is okay," he joked, amusement glinting in his eyes.

"Yes, Jacob, I just want you to know that even though you'll never love me and everything, I just want you to know that I'll try my best to be the best wife that I can be; you don't have to love me like a husband loves his wife, but you can share your problems with me and talk to me about anything, as your wife, I'll support you in everything," I told him. It didn't matter that Jacob would never love me, he was kind enough to accept me as his wife and give me a place to live, and for that I would try my best to make sure Jacob would be happy with me.

The waiter arrived with our orders after twenty minutes. The smell of food made my mouth water. As soon as the waiter placed our food in front of us and left, I wasted no time in digging in.

Throughout the meal, Jacob and I made small talk and mainly discussed the wedding that was going to place very soon.

I just hoped I was strong enough to handle this drastic change in my life.