Hadassah(ON HOLD)

II: Meeting The King

Hadassah didn't see her father for two days and when she saw him, he was furiously arguing with her mother.

"You said he would want Marissa," her mother said.

"He said that before he had seen the rest of them," her father replied.

Hadassah stopped outside the door. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop but there was something extremely weird about the conversation going on on the other side.

"Esmeralda, I haven't even met him and he has deposited a third of the money already."

"A third of it?" Her mother's shock was evident in her voice.

"Yes. It looks promising. This is what we've been looking for."

"But Marissa's the first child. Wouldn't it cause controversy? You promised her."

"I didn't promise her. There was a lot of uncertainty. You fed her false hope. You should be glad that we found a way."

Her father's sharp tone alarmed Hadassah. She drew in a quick breath and opened the door with a smile.

"Daddy, where have you been? I've been looking all over for you," Hadassah said with an innocent expression.

Her father gave her a soft glare. "Busy."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is this 'busy' something I could know about?"

Her father shook his head. "No"-He seemed to rethink his words- "Not yet."

So it concerned her.

She glanced between her mother's torn expression and the determined glint in her father's eyes. She turned her questioning gaze on her mother. Panic flashed through the older woman's eyes.

"I'm not marrying James Oswald," Hadassah said. "I heard a bit of your conversation. As much as I can't figure it out, I would just like to make it clear that I'm not marrying that man."

Her father nodded. "You're not marrying Mr. Oswald."

Hadassah immediately saw the intentional omission by her father. "I'm not marrying any man. Not before I wish to."

"Don't burden yourself with thoughts like that." He patted Hadassah on the head like she was an oblivious child. "Cedric told me you were preparing your final thesis. Go do that."

She gritted her teeth and with a stiff nod, stalked out of the room.

Surely, her father would have contacted airport security telling them not to let her leave the town. That is if she would even be able to leave her house.

Hadassah hated that she was probably the person Mr. Oswald wanted instead of Marissa. A shudder of disgust ran through her as she remembered his eyes taking her in. She could never like that oily kind of person.

In the center of all her emotions rested hurt and predominantly, fury. Hurt that her parents were willing to sell her to cover up for their mistakes and fury that she couldn't do much about it.

She slammed the door of her room loudly. The only door in the house with decorations on the outside.

She climbed her bed haphazardly and assumed a kneeling position.

Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe it was Ariana or Briana.

Hadassah let out a rueful snort.

Who was she kidding?

Ariana and Briana could not attract a man below forty. They are prized town whores with their parents' money kept their names fairly clean and people's lips sealed. That didn't mean everyone didn't know what they did.