The billionaire's fated wife

"No, no, no, I said shouting at the top of my lungs. I will not marry him.

I refuse to, I will not marry Alexandria Cartwright, he has a bad reputation", I said, shouting and pleading with my eyes with tears rolling down my eyes.

"Kiana Elizabeth James", called my mother 'Lana James'.

"Please baby just do as your father says", she pleaded.

"You can't just marry me off like that. I'm not some cattle or property to be sold to the highest bidder". You are not a cattle neither are you property. My mother said.

"I don't think you guys love me at all, cause if you do you would at least consider my feelings and not force me to marry that evil bastard", I said tearfully.

"Please my love, you are not just doing this for us, you are also doing this for the family, your baby brother".

"Kiana" called my father, "please calm down, lets go to my study room to talk more on this".

"No, I'm not going anywhere with you" I busted out.

"I know you guys are doing this for you own selfish reasons and are not thinking about me".

No, my baby, no, that's not the reason at all, please my dear, just calm down, lets talk like mature adults that we are.

"If not so, why do you want to marry off your barely twenty-four year old daughter to a man you don't know well other than the fact he's dad's 'work friend', I said, using my fingers to make air quotes.

"I refuse to be a pawn in one of your stupid little games".

"Kiana", my father shouted in a very loud tone and I recoiled a bit, shocked.

"Lets discuss more on this matter in my study room".

This was one of the very few times my father ever raised his voice at me.

I looked at his face and saw anger in my father's face, not wanting to hear anymore I ran towards the door, opening it and shutting it with a loud bang.

"Whats wrong dear", Mr Beagle called from the driveway, leaning on my fathers black car.

Mr Beagle was my father's personal driver, who had been with us since I was seven.

He was basically like my second father since my father was not at home all the time. "Why are you crying dear"?

"Come, come, sit here", he said while tapping at the hood of the car.

"What happened?". I sat down on the hood of the car, and with tears rolling down my chin, I began explaining my predicament to him.

By the time I was done explaining, he was mortified. "I don't understand how your father can basically sell his daughter out just to save his business".

"I understand that the business is very bad right now and sympathize with him, hell, even I know that I will soon be fired from my job".

"But I cant just see the meaning behind his thought process or his reasoning".

"I am really disappointed, all the respect I have for him, in relation to his family is gone, like puff, and here I was thinking that he loved you guys so much and this is how he treats you guys when he reaches one of his lowest point in life".

"I don't know what to say. Do you think you can do it?. I am just asking because I don't know if you are crying out of frustration or out of disappointment". He said.

I looked at him with disdain, like he had suddenly grown two heads.

He saw the look on my face and panicked rushing to correct himself. "No, I mean, are you going to accept the proposal, because I know you, you're obedient to a fault or are you going to disobey and not marry him?"

"I will say choose the latter choice but its still your life at the end of the day, so whatever you choose I will support you".

"I don't know yet" I said sniffing. "On one hand I want to rebel but on the other had I know what will happen if I don't agree to this marriage".

"The banks will probably foreclose our home, my father will probably arrested and sent to jail because I know he did some shady dealings, while my mum and my brother will basically have no place to go to".

"As you know my mum literally has no one, and my fathers side of the family wants nothing to do with us and has promised to not help us in any way they can".

I just don't want to be the reason this family falls apart.

"Hey!, hey!, hey!, listen to me", Mr Beagle said, shaking me by my shoulders as if to snap me back to my senses.

"You are not the cause of this predicament, your father is, and so, for that reason alone, should your family fall apart, its all his fault".

"He was selfish by acting without thinking about the consequences and he failed to protect you guys in the process".

"So don't you ever ever feel guilty for something that wasn't caused by you". He said in a stern voice.

"Do you understand", he said while making eye contact with me as if he was daring me to think otherwise.

"To make matters worse, I don't even know who I'm getting married to". I said smiling through the pain.

Mr Beagle looked at me with pitiful eyes and shook his head. "So, I can see you've already made your choice".

"If so, then could you ask your father for his name, so that I can ask my daughter who is a computer guru for help".

"We can tell her to help us find out who he is, what he looks like, what he does, the family he comes from, and other things", He said smiling, She does that kind of stuff for fun.

I smiled and smiled, "thanks for making me feel better". And truthfully, I felt at ease after having a chat with Mr Beagle.

Cause, he always does.

I saw my father sitting on our long couch, his head hanging low with his face in his palms. While my mother sat on the smaller couch on his opposite him.

The sun illuminated a soft glow on her face, and I was reminded of how beautiful she was, even when she looked so sad.

"Okay, I am ready to talk". "I'am calm now, so let's have a truthful and civil conversation, no bullshitting, I said, sitting on the other couch laying in between my parents seats".

"Don't miss out any details, cause this is my life we're talking about here", I said calmly.

"Okay", my dad said, "but, firstly, let's go to my study".

"I looked at his pleading face, restraining myself from saying anything else.

"OK," I said weakly, my mother smiling weakly, holding my brother who was looking at me while blabbing and drooling.

We walked to his study, silence filling the air around us, as he opened the door to the study, flipping the light switch, and light entirely lit filled the room.

"Sit down" he said, patting the long couch gently as he sat on the opposite side of the couch.

I sat, looking around the room, taking a mental note of my surroundings as no one but my parents were allowed to enter the room.

"Kiana", my father said calmly while holding my gaze, "we are in a very bad situation, and we are so - so flat out broke, we have been given an evacuation notice by the bank concerning the house",and in about two weeks time.

"The company has gone under due to some bad major investments".

"On a normal day, I wouldn't dream of marrying you out this way, but my love, we are completely helpless".

"I have gone everywhere to look for help, but for some useless reasons or the other, I have been rejected or turned down".

"Fortunately, Mr Tate Brown agreed to help with the company but with a condition that you will marry him." He said, looking at me in desperation.

I looked at him, watching his face closely, wanting to see a slight change in his expression, praying in my mind that this was a prank or at least a dream.

But alas, it was none. He continued, staring at me as he paused as if to let the words sink in.

"All our relatives on my side of the family has turned us down, courtesy of your grandmother and you know your mum is an only child and for Gods sake, she is just an orphan", he continued staring at me.

For God'sake, I have always been an obedient and dutiful daughter, always living by my parents rule cause I thought it was what was best for me, but this, this was so sudden and sprung up on me And I knew I had no choice.

I looked at my father with tears pooling in my eyes and said "okay, I agree I, – I agree".

He looked at me and exhaled a sigh of relief. Just as I stood up to leave the room, my father just suddenly hugged me.

"Thank you, thank you, my daughter, I promise i will make it up to you", he said.

I left for my room, ignoring my mother and brother, who were both watching me with pitiful gazes.

Laying down on my bed, I began to think, what would I tell Calvin, my boyfriend whom I've been dating for two years now.

How do I tell him without breaking his fragile heart. He was a very sensitive person emotionally, and I knew this was surely going to break his heart.

How do I tell my best friend and my close friends. This question kept

These thoughts begin to fill up my mind and suddenly tears fill up my eyes and I begin to sob, choking up quietly, rocking myself to sleep, wishing this was all a dream and I would wake up from this horrible dream.

To most people, marrying into a wealthy family is the ultimate jackpot in life for them, but to me, it was a burden I didn't want.

I had heard about wealthy people and their marriages, especially women who are not in the same social class as they are.

My father himself comes from a very wealthy family. In fact, they are one of the first families to invest in the oil industry in America during the mid 60's.

They also invested in the train industry in the early 20th century, so you can say his family is what we call old money.

My mother came from an average lower middle-class home turned orphan.

They met in college during their rush week, and my father was a business major while my mother was a psychology major.

They were college sweethearts. They dated for three years before my dad introduced her to his family.

According to my mom, his mother never liked her, not one bit.

His father was not against her dating his son but once the idea of marriage.

So when it was brought up by my dad, his father called her to his office and offered to pay her to break up with him, telling her that he was meant to marry one of his friends daughter.

They taunted and threatened my mother using various means. Meanwhile, my mother kept it a secret from my dad.

Once my father became aware and he saw that his family were against them together, he secretly got married to my mom in a courthouse with a few of their friends as witnesses.

When my grandparents learned of this, they disowned my father, which was fine to my parents.

My father had a stable small business capable of taking care of him and mum.

Growing up, I watched my mother quit her job as a professor to take care of me since nobody was around to watch me as my dad's business took most of his time in a day.

She had told me stories of the abuse she suffered from the hands of her in-laws during the marriage.

I saw my father sitting on our long couch, his head hanging low with his face in his palms. While my mother sat on the smaller couch on his opposite him.

The sun illuminated a soft glow on her face, and I was reminded of how beautiful she was, even when she looked so sad.

"Okay, I am ready to talk". "I'am calm now, so let's have a truthful and civil conversation, no bullshitting, I said, sitting on the other couch laying in between my parents seats".

"Don't miss out any details, cause this is my life we're talking about here", I said calmly.

"Okay", my dad said, "but, firstly, let's go to my study".

"I looked at his pleading face, restraining myself from saying anything else.

"OK," I said weakly, my mother smiling weakly, holding my brother who was looking at me while blabbing and drooling.

We walked to his study, silence filling the air around us, as he opened the door to the study, flipping the light switch, and light entirely lit filled the room.

"Sit down" he said, patting the long couch gently as he sat on the opposite side of the couch.

I sat, looking around the room, taking a mental note of my surroundings as no one but my parents were allowed to enter the room.

"Kiana", my father said calmly while holding my gaze, "we are in a very bad situation, and we are so - so flat out broke, we have been given an evacuation notice by the bank concerning the house",and in about two weeks time.

"The company has gone under due to some bad major investments".

"On a normal day, I wouldn't dream of marrying you out this way, but my love, we are completely helpless".

"I have gone everywhere to look for help, but for some useless reasons or the other, I have been rejected or turned down".

"Fortunately, Mr Tate Brown agreed to help with the company but with a condition that you will marry him." He said, looking at me in desperation.

I looked at him, watching his face closely, wanting to see a slight change in his expression, praying in my mind that this was a prank or at least a dream.

But alas, it was none. He continued, staring at me as he paused as if to let the words sink in.

"All our relatives on my side of the family has turned us down, courtesy of your grandmother and you know your mum is an only child and for Gods sake, she is just an orphan", he continued staring at me.

For God'sake, I have always been an obedient and dutiful daughter, always living by my parents rule cause I thought it was what was best for me, but this, this was so sudden and sprung up on me And I knew I had no choice.

I looked at my father with tears pooling in my eyes and said "okay, I agree I, – I agree".

He looked at me and exhaled a sigh of relief. Just as I stood up to leave the room, my father just suddenly hugged me.

"Thank you, thank you, my daughter, I promise i will make it up to you", he said.

I left for my room, ignoring my mother and brother, who were both watching me with pitiful gazes.

Laying down on my bed, I began to think, what would I tell Calvin, my boyfriend whom I've been dating for two years now.

How do I tell him without breaking his fragile heart. He was a very sensitive person emotionally, and I knew this was surely going to break his heart.

How do I tell my best friend and my close friends. This question kept

These thoughts begin to fill up my mind and suddenly tears fill up my eyes and I begin to sob, choking up quietly, rocking myself to sleep, wishing this was all a dream and I would wake up from this horrible dream.

To most people, marrying into a wealthy family is the ultimate jackpot in life for them, but to me, it was a burden I didn't want.

I had heard about wealthy people and their marriages, especially women who are not in the same social class as they are.

My father himself comes from a very wealthy family. In fact, they are one of the first families to invest in the oil industry in America during the mid 60's.

They also invested in the train industry in the early 20th century, so you can say his family is what we call old money.

My mother came from an average lower middle-class home turned orphan.

They met in college during their rush week, and my father was a business major while my mother was a psychology major.

They were college sweethearts. They dated for three years before my dad introduced her to his family.

According to my mom, his mother never liked her, not one bit.

His father was not against her dating his son but once the idea of marriage.

So when it was brought up by my dad, his father called her to his office and offered to pay her to break up with him, telling her that he was meant to marry one of his friends daughter.

They taunted and threatened my mother using various means. Meanwhile, my mother kept it a secret from my dad.

Once my father became aware and he saw that his family were against them together, he secretly got married to my mom in a courthouse with a few of their friends as witnesses.

When my grandparents learned of this, they disowned my father, which was fine to my parents.

My father had a stable small business capable of taking care of him and mum.

Growing up, I watched my mother quit her job as a professor to take care of me since nobody was around to watch me as my dad's business took most of his time in a day.

She had told me stories of the abuse she suffered from the hands of her in-laws during the marriage.