After the announcement of my shotgun marriage in place of Emily. Dinner ended almost immediately, with everyone dispersing to their respective wings.

That was how things had always been in this cold house, there was no warmth. There was no laughter at dinner tables, no conversations about how the day went. Nothing. I especially didn't speak much at all. There wasn't anyone who cared much for what I had to say.

I was left to clear and clean the table and tidy up the kitchen. We had help and maids but these were things I'd learnt to do without being told.

'It was part of my due diligence,' I'd constantly told myself.

After all was done, I retreated to my room down at the basement floor. Dropping flat on my bed as I stared at the little neon star stickers at the ceiling of my room. It was the only source of light I had in my poorly lit room that didn't even have a decent window.

I let out a deep breath and I ponder on my nearing future, my current crisis.

I'd hoped that Emily would by some miracle, return home. She'd come back and take her place.

With the way it looked back at dinner, I keep thinking maybe I was the only one who was left in the dark about Emily fleeing the country to escape her marriage. Maybe this was their plan after-all.

I didn't want to get married, I was only 23. I wasn't the favourite child of the family but I was comfortable enough. I wasn't treated too poorly, I'd long learnt my place and stood firmly on it.

Being adopted at 10 years old was not in my go card at all. I'd long believed and settled my mind that I won't be getting picked or adopted. I was older than half the kids at the orphanage and most couples preferred younger kids, from month zero to ages three was the perfect choice.

I'd long accepted my fate, I remained quiet even when my world was falling apart.

My only hope was turning 18 and getting out of the system. Finding my own way through life and fulfilling my dream of owning a small coffee shop and bookshop to spend my days. Marriage was never part of my plan. Not then, and definitely not now.

But with the look of things, I didn't have much of a choice. I had to take my sister's place. That was the only duty I'd ever been asked out rightly for and thus my final duty to the Stewart family.

They didn't need to say it outright but it showed, in the way they treated me that they believed I owed them for taking me in.

And so, I'll suck up my resistance and my aversion for this arrangement and get married like they want.

This was my final duty and my gratitude for the choice they made in picking me from the plenty in that orphanage 13 years ago.

Once I'd taken time to relax and sort out my thought, I got started on packing the little clothes and items I owned. It wasn't much, I didn't own much. I was never greedy; I didn't ask or reach for things beyond what I needed or what was mine to have.

"I guess this is it. The last bag," I let out a quiet sigh as I zip up the final bag of things I'd be taking along. Essentially, it was my whole life packed in the box.

By tomorrow, I'd be on my way to Adrian's home, the wedding would be happening there. I wondered what it would be like over there.

Would there be cages that housed criminals, or dens that trapped innocent people that crossed him? Would I even be treated right? If I lived in anyway similar to my life here, it would suffice. I would make do and fill my days.

The thought of what I would find there sent shivers down my spine. I didn't hope for much, I just hoped to live in peace.

I already kept to myself well, I didn't speak except being spoken to and I wasn't keen on starting conversations. I could only hope that Adrian left me alone to my devices.

Heading to my vanity, I pack up the rest of my stuff into the small pouch that laid there. The lip balm, mascara that I rarely used and my small pocket blade.

Maybe it could come in handy when I arrived at the Maserati estate.

I had no idea what I was walking into. But I had no other choice.

The following day, a car arrived at the Stewart mansion. A white Escalade as I peeped from the attic windows of my room.

I didn't get a wink of sleep the whole night. My eyelids burned at the lack of moisture but I didn't even care.

"They're here for me." I whisper to myself. Okay, this was really happening.

Emily was not here, this was really happening. I was getting married to him still.

Maybe I should have slept actually, maybe then, I could wake and this would all be a bad dream. I'd have asked one of my siblings to pinch me awake but we weren't that close.

Not a minute after, a knock came, incessantly and loud. "Brianna, it's time to go." That was Ezra. "Dad said to bring you downstairs. Are your bags packed?"

That was my cue, it wasn't a dream, it never was. It was my reality and it was time to face it.

I didn't respond, there was no need to. I was really leaving now.

I moved forward towards my small door frame and yanked it open. "I'm still set, I just need a little help..." He left.

Ezra had always been weird, he was about twenty six now and still lived here with us. Not like he had much of a choice, the whole family lived here. This house didn't live much independence for its habitants.

He was the exact replica of father, same cold grey eyes, thinly sliced lips and dismissive stare. If anything were to happen to father, he would be fit as a replacement. He already worked closely with him as COO at the company.

Letting out a soft sigh, I began dragging my suitcase out, one after the other. I didn't have much, but I suppose if I was moving my whole life, I needed at least three suitcases.

Well, I had four boxes and a duffel bag. They carried my entire life and existence.

After dragging the final bag out of the door, I stopped to take a final look of the place I'd called my home, it wasn't grand or perfect but it was mine. I'd come to love my little basement room.

Closing doors as I closed the final chapter of my life here at the Stewart house, I make my way down the stairs.

Struggling with one box and duffel bag, I trudge my way down. Below the stairs I find an unfamiliar face, a man clad in an all black fitted suit. He looked like he came straight out of a spy movie scene.

"Miss, do you have more luggage to haul down the stairs?, the man asked.

I stared confused, not sure who he was speaking to.

"Me? Are you talking to me?"

He let out a small smile that seemed to make his already small eyes smaller. "Yes, miss. Of course. Now do you have any more luggage?"

"Oh, uhm. Yes.. I do," I stuttered, heat crawling up my neck at the sudden niceties. "There are a couple boxes more up there." I gestured up the stairs.

He nodded and got to it, carrying the boxes in twos, he brought down the rest of my luggage. All I could do was watch awkwardly.

He hauled them all to the vehicle and I was left in the living room of the place I called home.

No one was home to bid me farewell. Not father, not mother. Not any of my other siblings. I knew they didn't care much but this was glaringly obvious.

I let out a deep breath, my nostrils filling with the home smell I'd grown accustomed to. It didn't smell wake or homey, it smelled like a clean, artic igloo. An unmemorable scent.

As I move to head out of the house or the last time, thinking if I'd ever have the chance to return, father walked in.

"Be on your best possible behavior, child." His voice thundered as he stood at the top of the stairs. "You will not soil our good name. Okay?"

My heart thudded, he came. It wasn't for a teary farewell but he came. I guess that was good enough.

"Yes father."

With one last cold glance, he walked away. And I bid my farewell to the only home I'd ever known.

After about an hour, we arrived at the Maserati estate. It was magnificent and expansive. We drove through the automated gateway that led to the most beautiful home I'd ever seen.

I started to blink as I watched through the windows, maybe this really was a dream. It was nowhere near what I expected.

I expected a dungeon like stonewall building that resembled the ones that mother gothel lived. Not this.

When we got to the entrance of the main building and I couldn't keep my mouth closed. Up close, the house was even better. The building sat in the middle of an expansive stretch of land. Easily about five hectares.

I was welcomed at the entrance like royalty immediately I got down. My boxes and bag already being hauled inside.

"Welcome Young miss."

I stare dumbfounded around me. Unable to process what was happening. It was almost like I'd been expected.

My heart lurched in my chest. I wasn't used to this kind of greeting. I didn't even know what to say back.

"Just call me Brianna," I managed to say.

They stare at me in disbelief, yet said nothing.

O..Kay. That went well.

The man from earlier-the one who helped with my boxes and drove me here, whom I now know as Barrett-stepped in to rescue me.

"You may head inside now, miss," he said, gesturing for me to go in.

The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. It strangely felt warm.

So warm that it took me off guard. The lighting was soft, the décor tasteful-nothing overwhelming, nothing trying too hard.

It looked like something I would have chosen myself, if I ever had a place of my own. I was beyond amazed. It all felt so surreal.

I couldn't help but think, This was what Emily ran away from, what I now have and where my reality was now fixed.

And still, as I looked around, there was no sign of Adrian-the man I was supposed to be marrying.

I walked quietly into the living area, my eyes wide as I took in every detail of the strangely contradictory house.

"Mr. Maserati will be here soon," Barrett informed me.

He looked older than I was. Handsome too, I had noticed earlier. He wasn't the glaring type of handsome though, not the one that knocked your heart off or swept you off your feet.

He was the quiet type, the type that slowly caught up to you in a moment of sudden realization. And you wondered how you never saw it, how you never noticed sooner.

I must have been staring at him for long, because he suddenly cleared his throat.

"Ahem."

Oh my God.

I must have looked like a creep.

"Oh. Yes... yes," I finally replied. "I'll be waiting here for his return."

"Good, I shall now take my leave."

I nod as he turned to leave. And now I was left alone in the house, Adrian's house and I'm left to wonder who my soon to be husband is.

All I could hope for was that he won't be a terror. If he was half as handsome as Barrett was, I'd make do.

I sighed as I adjust to sit more comfortably on the sofa. I was beyond exhausted and if I wasn't careful, I'd probably doze off before he even arrived.

But I can't. That would be bad manners, and I'd die before I did anything to embarrass father or the family.

A yawn escapes me, as a lone tear drop from the corner of my right eye.

My eyes closed for a bit before the sound of heavy footsteps pierced through the air.

I jerked upright instantly, sitting stiff and alert.

I better hope there are no cameras here as there are back at home.

The man that appeared before me was gorgeous, in undeniable, unsubtle way. That was my first thought as I peered up at his frame sauntering towards me.

He was loudly handsome, he was the kind that swept you off your feet. The one that made your heart stutter.

The faint scar at the side of his eye did nothing to lessen the intensity of his appeal. If anything, it made him more striking.

His posture was straight and upright with a muscular but lean build.

There was something about his face-rugged yet soft-that seemed to shift with every emotion that touched it.

His ghostly grey eyes locked onto mine, piercing straight through me, a hint of warmth flickering within them as they creased slightly.

The tilt in his lips spreads wider as he drew closer, flashing his perfectly straight teeth at me, "Oh Mi Amor, you're finally here."