The Billionaire's Forced Alliance

Chapter Five

The wedding was planned to be on this Sunday, Sarah mused, neatly folding her clothes into a suitcase. She was preparing to leave. It was only Wednesday, she had three days to pack, yet, she had started it as soon as her would-be forced husband had left.

That sounded pathetic! There was a weird excitement that had begun to jolt around in her blood at the prospect of leaving this house. Generally, women feel sad when they leave their father's abode, but in her case, it was the stark opposite. This house was like a trap, each breath she took here pained her lungs in an infectious hurt. And her father? He was a puppeteer who controlled her every move, directed her every action, and whenever she refused to budge, she was either beaten up or given various forms of punishment, as sleeping on the cold floor, making her go hungry the whole day.

Her father was a criminal, and she would never accept that. And for this stubbornness, she was now getting punished. This time, with an unwanted, forced alliance with a stranger.

His name was Benedict, Benedict Williams. The name seemed familiar, and his voice, too. After he had left, she had realised that he was the man who had saved her that day. Obviously, her father had testified to that after getting some information from the hospital. It was indeed him who had saved her,  brought her to the hospital and paid her bills.

She was grateful to him. Even now, as she thought, she remembered his eyes; they were a strange sort of brown, not too deep, not too light, it seemed like the perfect colour. A shade of absolute, medium brown. He had come closer to her, and her breath had stopped. There was an uneasiness to him, just like her father, but he seemed different, his eyes looked pure and glass-like.

She zipped the suitcase shut, cursing her fate. Maybe, it was her fault to be born here, in this family. God forbid, she loved her parents, but as she grew up, the image she had thought they were, they weren't. Sanjeev had loved her and it was only until the day she had started to rebel against him. Since that day, he had become the worst possible nightmare she had.

Her mother was innocent, though. She was a mute spectator of all the torture and harassment. She was helpless, her father wasn't an ideal husband, either. She had grown up, seeing her mother getting oppressed, and her feelings getting supresssed. Shalini wasn't given the right to speak, she had no freedom.

Sarah felt bad for her mom. Both of them deserved a lot better than him. She wanted to study, and no matter what, she would, she was sure of it. Her father had demanded her to marry a stranger and had given her a task. Her skin crawled when she remembered her father's words before Ben had arrived.

He had said that she would have to do something, get some damn papers for him. What papers, she didn't know. He had also said that if she failed to provide him with the papers within two months of the marriage, he would drag her back to this house and give her off to Abraham. Thinking about that mafia leader, she patted her raging heart with words of courage. She had never seen that man, yet all the disgusting details her father had given her about him was enough to make her disgusted and utterly scared.

This marriage wasn't going to be forever, anyways. Her father had told her that if she succeeded in bringing him the papers within two months, he would help her in getting a divorce and then she would be free. She would be free to go anywhere, live anywhere and do anything she liked. She craved all these things. She wanted to lead life like a normal human being.

Was it too much to ask for?

She sat on the bed, her eyes tearing up at the prospect of her fate. Oh, it was just a mission, an unrighteous thing she needed to do. It wasn't for money. It was for something even more valuable than that.

Freedom.

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The evening faded into dusk and Ben found himself in his car, pacing towards his condo. He was tired and exhausted. It was a hell of a day. After returning from Sanjeev's house, he had spent the entire day in meetings. Normally, he wasn't an over-thinker, and yet today his mind was running in hundred kilometers per hour, it seemed. He had no grip on his incessant thoughts.