BRoken Destiny

A glass of crystal exploded against the wall, projecting a rain of sparkling bursts on the carpet. Jade stood frozen, shortly breath, while words still echoed in her mind like an echo impossible to silence.

- You are sold.

The voice of his father, dry, without emotion, wore an irrevocable sentence. The air failed in his lungs. Her gaze set himself on the man seated in front of her, the one who had just seal his destiny with a simple financial agreement. Liam Blackwood. Far from being a stranger, he embodied everything she had learned to fear.

His name was traveling in a low voice, always accompanied by a thrill. You did not survive by crossing your journey, even less by engaging in it. And yet, his own father had given him to this man without the slightest hesitation.

She struggled against the panic that went up in her throat.

- I am not a commodity, she whispered, with a tight jaw.

Liam detailed it with an indecipherable look. His dark, impassive eyes seemed to dig to the soul. He had not yet spoken, contenting himself with observing his agitation with patience that only exacerbated the tension.

His father sighed, as if this discussion had no interest.

- You are a debt, Jade. I have no other choice.

Jade's fingers crisp on the edge of the table. A debt. He reduced it to a simple currency, a transaction without going back possible.

- I have a choice, she replied, with a hot look.

Liam straightened up slowly, crossing his arms with a casualness which gave him a contained threat aura.

- No, he replied in a calm voice. You don't have it.

The silence that followed was more freezing than any threat.

Jade felt her heart violently pruning against her rib cage. Each instinct in her howled to flee, to break this absurd and nightmarish situation.

- You are free to refuse, of course, added Liam by slightly tilting your head. But then we will have to adjust this debt differently.

His gaze slid towards his father. He did not specify anything, but the involvement was clear. He didn't only want her for herself. He wanted what she represented, and if she refused, he would not hesitate to recover her bet in another way.

The worst part was that he didn't even need to raise his voice to impose his will.

Jade turned to his father, looking for a trace of remorse. There was none. Just a bitterness of bitterness.

- You lost everything, she whispered, more for herself than for him.

Liam took a step towards her. Its shadow spread over the ground, an undeniable, overwhelming presence.

- We leave now.

- NOW ?!

She was almost laughing. His world had just collapsed and he expected that she follows him without resistance?

- Did you want time? he asked, arming an eyebrow. To say goodbye to a man who sold you?

A thrill ran through it. He was right. His father did not deserve a single second more from his loyalty. But that did not mean that she would accept this exchange without fighting.

She planted herself in front of Liam, defying him.

- If you think I'm going to be obediently folding, you are heavy heavily.

A fleeting smile shained the lips of man. He was neither amused nor mocker. It was something else.

- I would be disappointed if it was.

She then understood that he did not expect an immediate submission. He knew she would fight. And he was counting on that.

The doors of her freedom had just closed, and she was trapped with a man who never abandoned what he had.

She understood one thing with absolute certainty: Liam Blackwood had not bought it to own it.

He had bought it to tame it.

The file flew through the room before violently hitting the ground. Jade, a trembling of rage, refused to give a single look to the man who had just gone the last humiliation.

- You can burn these papers, I will not sign anything.

Liam Blackwood did not move. He was sitting, perfectly motionless, as if his patience was inexhaustible. He stared at it, his insumeable black look absorbing all traces of rebellion to dissect it in silence.

- You are stubborn, he finally conceded, her strangely relaxed tone.

- And you, a tyrant, she spat.

She did not know what irritated her most: her arrogance or her absolute certainty that she would end up folding.

Liam got up slowly, each movement calculated. He didn't need to raise his voice or threaten. He represented an unshakable force, a wall against which she could strike again and again without ever shaking it.

- This contract is already sealed, Jade.

She went back, tight fists.

- This marriage will not be done.

- Yes, it will be done.

Insurance in his voice was breathtaking.

- You can't force me there.

- No. But the alternative would leave you with nothing.

She froze.

- What do you mean?

Liam sighed, as if he needed an effort to explain the evidence.

- Your father is ruined. He no longer has anything. Neither do you. You have no way to defend yourself, no escape. I am the only thing that stands between you and a world that would devour you without hesitation.

- I would still prefer this world to you, she scolded.

- No, you wouldn't prefer.

Her relentless conviction made her shudder.

- I could leave, she whispered, tight throat.

Liam approached a step, reducing space between them into a silent threat.

- Try.

His challenge planted between them like a suspended blade.

Jade hated this feeling, this invisible prison that he woven around her.

- Why are you doing this? she whispered.

Liam did not respond immediately. He lowered his head slightly, as if he weighed his words.

- Because I can.

His stomach was tied. He didn't even try to make up the truth. He had power and he intended to exercise it on her.

But she would not let him do it.

- So prepare for a hell, Liam Blackwood, because I will never be a docile wife.

A smile touched his lips.

- I can't wait to see that. The blade chicks his throat, a warning more than a real threat. Jade did not move, her breath suspended pending the slightest movement of the man who held his destiny between her fingers.

-

- "Only one attempt," whispered Liam in an icy tone, and I'll find you.

-

- Her pulse was furiously beaten against pressure from the knife, but she did not give in to panic. He wouldn't kill her. Not yet.

-

- - Do you really think I'm going to be content to accept your period as an obedient prisoner?

-

- Liam dropped slowly, lowering the weapon before placing it on the table between them. He watched it, his look as sharp as the steel he had just widespread.

-

- - This is not a question of choice.

-

- Her calm exacerba the rage that rumbled in her.

-

- -Everything is a question of choice, she replied.

-

- He sketched a smile, cold and calculated.

-

- - GOOD. So let me explain your own.

-

- He moved from the table and advanced towards her, reducing the distance with a deliberate slowness. Jade refused to go back, even if each fiber of his being shouted to do so.

-

- - You can continue to debate yourself, try to run away, brave my period. But know one thing ...

-

- He stopped a few centimeters, close enough to feel the strength of her presence.

-

- - I am not a patient man.

-

- Jade supported his gaze without wounding.

-

- - What if I simply refuse to be yours?

-

- Liam tilted his head, as if his question was amused.

-

- - It's not a story of belonging, Jade. It's a matter of survival.

-

- His tone had no warmth, no attachment. Just a raw and relentless truth.

-

- - Do you want a fight? I offer you a battlefield. But remember ...

-

- He walked away, leaning against the edge of the office.

-

- - Whenever you lose, it will be on my conditions.

-

- She hugged her teeth, feeling her body trembled under the effect of uncontrollable anger.

-

- -So prepare, Liam. Because I don't plan to lose.

-

- A radiance passed in his eyes, almost imperceptible.

-

- - I hope, the words struck Jade as an irrevocable sentence.

-

- - In a week, you will be my wife.

-

- Liam had pronounced these words with an almost insulting neutrality, as if he announced a simple formality. As if everything has already been played.

-

- Jade felt the ground shirk under her. A week. Seven days before his life no longer belongs to him.

-

- -You don't have the right, she said in a breath.

-

- Liam barely shrouded, as if the question did not even deserve to be debated.

-

- - And yet everything is already arranged.

-

- The anger exploded in her. She hit the table against the table, causing a drink that crashed to the ground.

-

- - You can't force me!

-

- He remained impassive in the face of his outlet.

-

- - Do you think it's a negotiation, Jade?

-

- His calm only stated her fury. She wanted him to shout, he gets annoyed, that he loses this freezing control. Instead, he was content to wait for her to get tired.

-

- - You want to get attached to you, right? Do you think a piece of paper will be enough to make me your wife?

-

- Liam sighed slightly, as if this conversation made him waste precious time.

-

- - It's not a piece of paper. It's an alliance. Protection.

-

- "A prison," she corrected with aggressiveness.

-

- He stared at it for a moment, before slightly raising his shoulders.

-

- - It all depends on you.

-

- Jade felt her heart bumps brutally against her chest.

-

- - You can't love me.

-

- It was not a supplication, or even an attempted awakening. It was a truth that she had to hear aloud.

-

- Liam does not react immediately. Then, with a calculated slowness, he approached, reducing the space between them until she can feel the warmth of his body.

-

- - Who talked about love?

-

- An icy chill crossed her.

-

- - So why? she whispered.

-

- - Because I decided it.

-

- His throat will be clenched.

-

- - What if I refuse to introduce myself to this masquerade?

-

- Liam smiles, and it was the most terrifying thing she has ever seen.

-

- - Try.