THE WIFE OF A DISGUISED BILLIONAIRE

BLAIR'S POV

As I opened my eyes on yet another gloomy morning, I opened the drawer by my bed and pulled out the only thing that brought smiles to my face every day, a picture of my two month old self in my father's arms.

Everyday was a gloomy morning out here, but that wiped the tears that were dried in my eyes, from every night I cried myself to sleep. His smile warmed my heart everyday and gave me hope to pull through the challenges of each day.

I longed for the day I would see him smile like that at me again. I lived everyday with the hope that one day, I would make him happy with me again.

"You do not get to lay uselessly in bed all day, Blair!" came father's thick, hoarse voice, as he forcefully pushed the door open.

"Get out of bed, now!" Mother added. "The chores are not going to do themselves," she pulled me by the hand out of bed. "Especially not today that we have guests coming,"

Off I went, without the time to brush my teeth, take a bath or even change my night wear.

"Not a spec!" Mother said, "I need this house to sparkle by noon," she added, handing me a toothbrush and pointing at the floor. It was my toothbrush, the fifth one this week.

I had to clean the floors with it and proceed to use them on my teeth in my mother's presence.

It was a big house, having six bedrooms and two sitting rooms. The dining room was also as large as the kitchen and all tiled in white.

Although we were rich and had lots of domestic staff, it was my duty to keep everywhere spotless. Mother says, "I wouldn't get lazy under her watch,"

The maids lived a more luxurious life than I did, since they only got to make meals and got busier when my parents had their monthly dinners with their business associates.

"Hurry that up, your father wants to talk to you," Mother returned to announce, two hours into cleaning.

I was sweating profusely, but my face was more soaked in my tears than it was in my sweat. This was now a routine for me, but I couldn't get used to the pain, even though I had been doing this for the last ten years now.

On my eighth birthday, my mother woke me up with my toothbrush, but not to shower or get ready for school, but to clean my room and ever since then, my life changed.

I barely made it through high school and my grades never slacked because father would never condone it, and even though I had to scrub the floors all night before school the next day, I was still an A student, hoping to make my parents proud, but that was never enough. Nothing was.

Four hours later, I hurriedly went to my father's room, where he demanded my presence.

"I'm here father, you sent for me," I said, bowing my head,

"Yes, four hours ago," he responded angrily. Father was constantly angry and you'd think after all these years I would have gotten used to it, but the only thing I had on my mind whenever I saw him was that man smiling down at me and holding me in his arms.

I knew there was still love in his heart somewhere for me, there had to be some love left in their hearts for me. I wasn't sure what I did wrong, but I was willing to obey all my parents' rules until I gained their love back.

"I'm...sorry, father," I stammered.

"A few months ago you turned nineteen, which is one year above your legal age to live here," father said, walking from the window, where he stood and to the couch, at the other end of his large, luxurious room.

"Your mother and I think it's about time you left this house," he said.

At first thought, my heart beamed with joy.

'Were they finally letting me go to college?'

I tried to hide the smile that was already pulling my lips.

"We shouldn't have to take care of you anymore," mother said,

"So we've decided, you are getting married," Father said.

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened in shock.

'I mustn't have heard that right,'

It wasn't bad enough that I lived like a maid in my father's house for the last ten years, and now they were not willing to live with my presence? All I ever did was obey them, hoping if I did long enough, they would learn to love me, as their child that I was.

'If they were sending me off, how was I supposed to make them love me?'

"You have three days to get ready for your marriage to Brycee," Father continued.

'Brycee,' the name struck a chord.

Brycee was one of my father's domestic staff, and mother didn't like him very much. Although he was a domestic staff and had a small body structure, almost as small as me, Brian was very bold and most of the other staff feared him. He had an intimidating aura to him and I guess that really pissed mother off.

"If you want to, get to know him, if you don't want to, lock yourself in your room and mourn for the next three days," mother said, "either way, the wedding is in three days.

"You don't particularly have one, but, try to look your best," she added, laughing hysterically.

I stood there, with my whole body trembling, from the tip of my hair to those of my feet. All my insides were screaming and in tears, as I literally felt my heart disintegrate into tiny fractions.

'How could they do this to me?' 'What did I ever do to deserve this much hate from them?' They were my parents, but I had no memory of them ever caring for me as parents, and now this?

"I will not do it," I said, sounding very audacious. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I guess that announcement broke the camel's back and pushed me to stand up for myself. I had had enough.

"Excuse you?" Mother drew closer to me, raising one of her eyebrows and looking intensely into my eyes. Father just stared firmly at us.

The weight of their looks immediately ran my confidence into hiding and I knew it was disastrous to oppose my parents. They never listened to anyone.

My intestines were tying into knots and I was filled with fear, but instead I stared right back at my mother, who was now standing barely a breath away from me and said,

"I will not do it,"

What chaos broke out!

BLAIR'S POV

Here I was walking down the aisle, with my father. The very first time we'd be seen side by side with each other, except there were no guests to see this. Only mother and the chief staff member, Mr. Johnson, were present as witnesses to the union.

It was a very quick ceremony and before I could take it all in, we were pronounced 'man and wife' by the clergy. I was now Blair Brycee.

'What kind of name was that?'

Brycee was a good looking man with thick, brown hair. He had slightly dark skinned, coffee brown eyes and was 5 '5 tall, but he was also thirty years old, which made me wonder why my parents did not hesitate to give me away to him.

'Did they really have to get rid of me that badly?'

Immediately after the ceremony, my parents and the other staff drove off, leaving Brycee and I at the church. We walked a distance away from the church and then took a cab.

I was so embarrassed to be alighting the vehicle in a slum, in my wedding dress. Everyone stared at us, and I folded in diffidence.

"Come in," the first words that Brycee said to me, since we got married, or probably all my life.

I looked around and couldn't believe that such a slum could exist, not very far from the estate where my parents lived. It was a small apartment that could fit into my father's room.

"It's nothing like your father's, but you barely have a definition of luxury, so..." Brycee said, leaving me in the three square meter sitting room to the bedroom.

I took a deep breath, taking in my new reality.

'This might not be so bad,' I thought. If anything, Brycee was right, I have never lived a luxurious life and I might just be able to make this work, at least I didn't have to clean a thousand square white tiles with my toothbrush.

'Nothing could beat the ill treatment my parents had given me over the last couple of years,' or so I thought.

I was still standing in thoughts, when Brycee came out of the room, casually dressed and headed out.

"Where are you going?" I asked, as he almost pushed me onto the only sofa in the sitting room. There was barely enough space for two people.

"Work," he replied sternly, "out here, bills are paid, Cinderella," he said, walking out and shutting the door a little too hard, behind him.

'Did he just call me Cinderella?' I rolled my eyes, 'why was Brycee being so mean to me?' I was as much a victim as he was in this situation, maybe I was more a victim than he was. He could have rejected my parents' offer but I couldn't.

The little rebellion I tried to put up, earned me a slap from my mother that took the three days I had to rest, in healing.

I went to shower and since I had nothing here to wear, I flung on one of Brycee's shirts. It took a while to navigate the little house, but I was able to make pasta for dinner.

I put my heart into making the meal, hoping to get Brycee's attention, or at least get on his good side.

'If we were going to be married, we had to get along, right?'

I hoped to recreate a marriage like that of my parents, they were always in sync and agreed on every single thing. They collectively agreed to be mean to their own child. I wasn't planning to be mean to my child, but I was hoping to reach that height of sync that existed between my parents.

I stayed up waiting for Brycee's return, which took a long while.

'Rude!' I rolled my eyes. 'It was our wedding day, how dare he disappear like this?' 'Didn't father have the decency to give him the day off work?'

I was getting really upset, when he pushed the door open.

"You're home late," I said, with a shaky voice. I could always rant in my head, but never confident enough to voice my thoughts.

"Out here, we pay bills," he replied.

"Cinderella," I added, under my breath.

He chuckled and his smile gladdened my heart.

"I made pasta," I said, pointing at the table.

He headed to the table, without a word and dug into his meal.

'This was going great,' I thought.

He went to shower after dinner and I quickly cleaned up to join him in bed.

******************************************

"We don't get the luxury of sleep here, Cinderella," his high-pitched voice woke me up, as he poured a cup of water on my face.

I jumped out of bed, breathing heavily.

"I'd expect breakfast and lunch to go by this time, every morning," he said, "I'm not going to starve with a wife," he added, going to the sitting room.

This was just like being at home, nothing had changed.

'What did I do wrong?' I thought.

I'd assume after dinner last night, we ended on a good note and would begin a new day on that note.

I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

"You're going to prepare me a meal without having a bath?" Brycee scolded.

I paused and stared at him. Back at home, mother would never let me shower before doing anything for her.

"Weren't you taught hygiene in your mansion, Cinderella?" He queried.

I went back apologetically to take a shower.

I couldn't seem to do anything right by Brian, and he came down very judgemental and bossy.

After a series of scolding, I finally got his breakfast and lunch ready.

"I won't be home early, don't wait up," he said, leaving and slamming the door very hard after him.

I took a deep breath, feeling exasperated.

'What have I gotten myself into?'

BLAIR'S POV CONTINUES

Brycee's 'don't wait up,' took three days and I was terrified. I had gone to my parents' house several times in the last three days to look for him, but I wasn't allowed through the gate.

The guards there kept saying they had strict instructions to not let me in, in case I ever came back.

They also said they hadn't seen Brycee in the last two days, as father had given him a week off after our wedding.

I had the last option of reporting to the police, which I planned to do first thing the next morning.

I heard someone struggling with the door at almost midnight that day and hurried to the door.

I was filled with fear and only listened in until I heard Brycee's voice, groaning as he banged the door.

Immediately I opened the door, he fell dead drunk on me. I barely managed to catch him and take him inside.

I wanted to scold, but a larger part of me was just glad he was back.

I helped clean him up and changed his clothings. I noticed the stench of a pretty expensive drink on his clothes, which I recognized from father's collection. It was father's favorite drink and I wondered how Brycee could even afford that, we barely had enough to eat here.

As I took off his shirt, with Brycee half way on the bed and his feet on the ground, he pulled my hands and I struggled to support myself, but our faces were barely a breath away from each other and we were staring into each other's eyes.

In a short while, our faces began to close in and we locked lips.

Brycee flipped me over and took my dress off, adjusting me properly in bed.

It was a night of bliss, as we consummated our union.

************************************************

"Rise and shine, Cinderella," I felt another cup of water on my face, startling me out of bed.

"My breakfast and lunch would not make itself," Brycee said, throwing the cup to the floor.

'You have to be kidding,' I thought.

"Good morning," I gathered myself together and said, as he buttoned his shirt,

"It isn't a good morning for a hungry man, Blair," he responded.

I got off the bed and dragged the bedspread with me, hiding the blood stains on the sheets. I had just given Brycee my body, being the first time any man ever beheld my nudity, but Brycee didn't seem to care about that.

I hurried to the bathroom, soaking the sheets and quickly running a bath, to meet up with preparing his breakfast and lunch.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, I fell into the chair in tears. I felt stupid and violated. It was obvious my marriage wasn't working, Brycee treated me no differently from my parents, maybe this was worse adding the sexual and emotional abuse to it.

After hours of crying, I decided I wasn't going to do this sham of a marriage, and took to flight.

I roamed the city for hours, having not left the mansion my whole life, except for school and I could barely navigate the city.

I was surprised what a huge town it was out here that I knew nothing of.

"Young lady, are you lost?" A tall man asked me kindly.

"Uhm..." I stuttered, not wanting to admit my plans to run away from it all.

"I noticed you've been moving in circles for the last three hours," he said.

'Three hours! No wonder my feet hurt,'

"Come on in," he said, ushering me into his car.

I wasn't one to relate with strangers, but I guess anything was better than aimlessly roaming the streets.

To my surprise, the kind man drove right back to my father's mansion.

I was going to run from the car, when the gates immediately opened and we drove in.

"Williams," the man called father, who was seated in the garden outside the house,

"Jones," father exclaimed happily, before Mr Jones opened the car door for me, and father's mood instantly changed. His face showed fury, upon the sight of me, but not as much as my mother's.

"I found your daughter, is she perhaps lost?" Mr. Jones questioned as we walked towards my parents.

"Oh, silly girl," mother said with a smile, "she hasn't been to the town before," she said, "we let her out for a stroll and she can't find her way back home,"

Mr. Jones laughed, "I thought so," he said.

I was taken aback, utterly confused, as my parents shared laughs with Mr. Jones, who left in a hurry.

Mr. Jones was one of the guests who attended my parents' monthly dinner and he recognized me, although I couldn't recognize him. I was barely allowed to go out during their monthly dinners, and was only luxuriously dressed to wave at the guests as my father's daughter.

Immediately he drove out, my parents tore me to pieces with their words, you could tell they were eagerly waiting for his exit.

"The next time you dare to embarrass me like this," Father warned, "I would make sure you never pay enough for it,"

"Leave, now," mother yelled.

"It's rude to yell at someone else's wife that way," Brycee's voice came from behind me.

I loved the shock on my parents' face when he spoke. I had never seen them that surprised, especially since he was the first that dared stand up to them.

More than that, my heart melted towards him, he was the first person to stand up for me, something even I couldn't do for myself.

"Tell your wife to stop roaming the streets and bringing disgrace to the family," mother responded.

"She's an adult, she can do as she pleases and be wherever she wants to be," Brycee replied.

My heart was proud as he moved closer and held my hand,

"Let's go honey," he said.

We walked away and I hadn't known this happiness in a long time. I just wanted to throw my arms around him in a hug.

We didn't turn around to see my parents' angry faces, but we could feel the weight of their gaze on us as we walked out of the mansion hand-in-hand.