Forever Tied to you

4

Mason

It's been a long time since mom has been this pissed at me and yet here we are, her giving me the cold shoulder after I told her how my meeting with the Lannings had gone.

"You can't be serious mason? Forcing Sophie to marry you to help them? I thought I raised you better." Mom shook her head, her tone seething in disappointment.

"You did and that's why I made the deal. This way they won't keep falling into a circle of debt. It's mutually beneficial, she gets her fathers debts paid, I get a wife for the estate clause in the will. In six months or a year or whenever it's all signed, we get a divorce and go on our happy way." I rolled my eyes.

"Mason you know that's not fair to her. She didn't know her parents were taking out loans."

"Mom, I'm not going to beat her or treat her like a slave. It's just the decision I made. Who knows, maybe we might come out of the whole thing as friends or something." I sighed.

My mother was obviously angry and I understood that. I didn't have another option though. The Lannings would always continue in their path of self destruction unless they finally lost something valuable to them. Of course I wasn't going to hurt their daughter, I would never lay my hands on a woman in that way, but I would expect my wife to be just that, a wife.

Obviously that is a discussion I will have with her once she gets back to my home, or our home I should say, later this evening.

"Just promise me that you won't hurt that girl mason. There's a reason her parents risked so much for her. They really do want her to have everything she wants."

"I hear ya mom, anyway I need to get going if I'm going to pick her up on time. The guest room is already made up for her." I reassured her, although for what reason I wasn't sure.

I climbed into my BMW X5 and started on the journey to the lannings home, a mere hour drive. I mindlessly followed the GPS towards the suburbs as I considered exactly what it was that I would be expecting of Sophie Lanning.

The truth was. I didn't know anything about her, other than she was a girl who had just graduated college, which meant she was in her twenties at least. Aside from that I didn't have the slightest clue about her.

My only hope was that she wasn't crazy. The last girl I had halfway dated ended up being crazy. After two months of stalking I finally took out a restraining order, after which she finally took the hint. Last I heard she was married to some hotshot lawyer with a kid and a dog now.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out of my car. I wasn't entirely sure how this exchange was going to go, but I wasn't holding out any kind of hope that it would go well. I mean no one likes being told what to do, especially women.

Mrs Lanning was the one to open the door, her eyes red and bloodshot and I didn't need to guess to know she had been crying. Silently she held the door open as I walked inside and stood at the bottom on the stairwell.

"She will be down in just a second." She informed me as I politely nodded in response.

I heard her before I saw her. The rolling of her suitcase followed by her slowly stepping down the stairwell. She looked normal, Average. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail as her lips seemed to pout more with each declining step.

She kept her eyes pinned on the ground, never once looking towards me, or her parents and I could tell from the puffiness of her cheeks that she had also been crying like her mother.

I placed my hand on her shoulder when she reached the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the unease I felt as she jerked in response to my touch. Instead, I ran my hand down her arm to her hand and took her suitcase from her.

"I'll put this in the car, say goodbye to your parents. I'll be back." I stated, turning to take her luggage to the car.

I didn't hang back to eavesdrop, deciding that allowing them some privacy was best. Instead I returned to find them all standing exactly where I had left them, Sophie still staring at the ground as if she couldn't stand to look at her parents.

I placed my hand into hers, noticing when she didn't hold mine in return and explained the details to her parents.

"As you know, next week I will get married to your daughter. I have already spoken to all the other individuals and no harm will come to you unless I tell them the deal is off. Once we are married," I stole a glance at Sophie, who was now quietly crying, "once we are married I will pay off your debts. However any future debts are not included and understand that once Sophie is married she is no longer your collateral damage either. You will be on your own." I stated bluntly as Sophie's shoulders shook beside me. "I will be in touch next week." I added before I pulled Sophie's hand.

I don't know if she was off guard or off balance but her fingers wrapped around mine, a jolt of something electric passing through my hand as I pulled her out of her family home and towards my car.

I opened the passenger door, releasing her hand once she was seated, and closed the door before walking to the drivers side to escort us home.

I was going to need to tread carefully if I was going to win her over in anyway. Yet, even as I considered how to warm her up to me I decided that honesty was the best way to go.

I only hoped that she would see that everything I was about to unleash on her was completely necessary and required as a part of the deal her parents made.

She was mine. Until the point where I deemed otherwise.