The Castle of lost Souls

My name is Isadora, but you can call me Isa-everyone else does. This is the story of my life, though I wouldn't call it a fairytale. I'm twenty-three years old, married to a man in his late thirties, and before you ask-no, it wasn't for love. I was sold to him.

My father, once a kind and gentle man, became a stranger after my mother died. Within months, he remarried-the devil in silk and pearls, my stepmother-and she brought along her two wicked daughters. Overnight, my home turned into a cage. My father drank himself senseless and gambled until there was nothing left but debts and empty bottles.

When we lost our home, I thought we had already fallen to rock bottom. I was wrong. Desperation drove him to bet what little we had left on a horse race. He trusted a friend who turned out to be a con artist. And the man he owed money to wasn't just anyone-he was Ambrose Blackwell, a name whispered like a curse. An assassin. A monster. A man who killed for pleasure and profit.

When my father realized he couldn't repay his debt, he offered the only thing of value he had left-me. You'd think he would have pawned one of my vain stepsisters, but no. Ambrose refused them. He wanted me, and me alone.

That's when I learned the truth: Ambrose had orchestrated everything. The bet. The loss. The debt. He had set the trap long before I even knew his name. All because, for reasons beyond my understanding, he wanted me in his world-his shadowed, merciless world.

Now I'm bound to a man I should fear, but who watches me as if I'm the only thing that keeps him tethered to life. And though I try to hate him, I can't help but wonder-did the devil truly steal my freedom, or did he save me from a fate far crueler than his touch?