It was dinner night at the Redmond's household. It was one especially set up for a particular event.
In the morning of that day, Noah Redmond, the head of the Redmond household and his wife, Stella Redmond, had seen some strikingly unbelievable photos of something they had never thought would become real till the day they got into the grave. But the pictures looked real, and became even more real when their daughter, Kelly had posted it herself.
That night at the dining table while they waited for her to come home with the man she was getting married to, Stella the mother said, “So your elder sister is getting married. And we don't seem to know who the man is. Does any one of you know? I'm very concerned about this."
Brie, Kelly's younger sister, sat across from her mother with her own fiancé. A man that went by the name Drew Declan, a successful businessman from a family recognised as one of the leading political dynasties in the country.
"Of course, I wouldn't know. Who in the hell expected that your eldest daughter would find a man to marry her anyway? Not with that bossy attitude of hers." Brie was clear in her tone that she did not quite like exactly what was going on.
"Mind your tone and language, young lady," Noah, her father, compelled. "She is still your older sister. Please respect that."
Brie went silent and looked down at the food on the table.
"Haha," her fiancé laughed out loud. "I apologize, future father in law. You of all people should know that she could be so much of a handful sometimes."
The father shook his head. "Well, she is my daughter after all. I know that about her. It's just not enough reason for her to talk down on her sister like that."
"I understand, sir," Drew said and whispered to Brie, "You know you do not have to make your dad angry, right?"
Brie did not give him a reply. She was angry at the event. To her she was supposed to be the one getting married first to take the inherentance. She did not like this at all.
While they waited, Kelly and Ethan were outside about to come in the mansion.
"Remember what I told you," Kelly said. "Act confidently. Don't talk more than you are expected to say. I believe already that you will be able to do that. You don't talk too much after all. And one more thing, avoid eye contact. Especially with my sister. She might make taunts directed at you but please do not react."
"Okay," he said once again. His now favorite word to say.
"Now let us go in," she said, driving her car inside the courtyard of the mansion. The guards saluted them as they got down and got into the house.
"I'm home, Mom and Dad," she said as she got in, holding on to Ethan's hand to further cement the trick. They headed to the dining area where they expected for everyone to be sitting down.
Her mother was the first to see her and rose up from her seat in eagerness. "Kelly," she let out in a tone that showed just how curious she was.
They both stepped down to the dining hall and the entire family, except for Brie and Drew, looked on in excitement and glee at the couple.
"Welcome, daughter," the father said, smiling from ear to ear.
"Family, this is Ethan, your future son-in-law," Kelly announced. "Ethan, this is my family. Noah Redmond, my father, and my mother, Stella Redmond. Over there on the table is my lovely sister, Brie Redmond and her fiancé, Drew Decklan."
"Nice to meet you," everyone said out loud. "What a fine man he is." This was especially coming from her mother.
"I see, no wonder you picked him," Brie said. "He is a handsome catch." She cast Ethan a glare. He did not look away but he also did not look at her. His eyes were on her forehead instead.
From the little he was able to get from her behavior, in that much of a short time notice, he had already guessed her to be a troublemaker. One he really had to be wary of.
Ethan was now seated on the dining table. And just as he had expected. There were a barrage of questions that he needed to answer. The family did not disappoint in their questioning. They kept on with it, he was not even able to catch a moment's breath without a question flying his way."So, Ethan," the father began after sipping from a porcelain cup. "You do have a full name right? Tell us."Kelly remembered then, which was a little bit too late that she did not create a a fake name for him. She tried signalling to him but before he could detect that he had already spilled."Ethan McKenna. My surname is McKenna." "Ethan McKenna huh? I have never heard of such a name. Who is your father?"That was the question. The one that could have a grown man cry because his father is actually nobody. Kelly was dying inside of her at this point."His father died when he was rather young," Kelly rushed in to answer. She had already fucked up for not thinking or asking about the details of his past
The jewelry shone brightly as Ethan beheld it against the light flooding through the window. "This is a pretty one," he said. "It should look just right on Sandy's pretty neck." He sighed as soon as he uttered those words. He was a mere janitor who couldn't afford such luxury for his beautiful wife. A feeling of sadness perched right on his shoulders weighing him down. For some reason, mentioning his wife brought more gloom than joy to him."I wish I could get this for her," he mused, and sighed once more. As though his words had summoned her in, the door opened immediately and revealed his wife, Sandy coming. There was a brief flash of happiness on his face, but his eyes peered closely at her. There was a man behind her and he was holding her hand from behind.She had a devilish grin on her olive colored face, framed by wavy hair at both sides. But she did not look at him. Rather she walked past as though he was as invisible as air."Sandy," he called out. She ignored his words lik
"If you know that you don't want to get hurt or killed, don't move," one of the masked men said menacingly.Sandy could not hold back her fears, she screamed immediately as she saw them and hid behind Matthew. Kelly was speechless. She did not know what to do. It was her shop and she believed that they were nothing but robbers, and judging from their weapons, they were all dangerous. Each one of them held one. Ranging from bats, to knives, and the one who had spoken, held a gun."Please, the shop is open, you can take anything you want but please don't hurt anyone." Kelly begged with her hands over her red hair, even about to kneel down in the process."Now, that is interesting," said one of the intruders, the one with the gun. "We do not want any of your fancy jewelry. What we want is of far more importance. What we want, is you." Ethan twitched from hearing that information. His body almost moved on his own but he stayed still. These people were still dangerous. A wrong move coul
Ethan was perplexed by the situation that he had landed himself. It felt as though she had said something he had totally misheard. He had to ask for more clarity."Are you talking to me?" He asked, unsure of the red haired woman's intentions "Yes, I am talking to you. There could be no one else I would be talking to here, except you," she said. Ethan was speechless. Sandy watched from a corner, still reeling from the slap she had sustained from Kelly. Even she could not believe her ears and eyes, let alone, Ethan.Ethan looked at her, she flipped her face away in a spiteful manner, although she was filled with jealousy at the time. He sure as hell was tired of the way his wife treated him, but leaving her, was a different story all together. One that he was not ready to write or embark on. He had a good relationship with her father ever since he saved the man years ago and in return, the man arranged for him to marry his only child. But as for Sandy and her mother, they couldn't be
"I can't believe we were thrown out like that," Sandy said in rage as she walked out of the jewelry shop with Matthew. "I am never going to come to this shop anymore. I swear by my name."Matthew did not say anything. Although he was angry as Sandy, he was more embarrassed than he was angry, and so kept his rage sealed within, his hands caressing his nose every now and then."And you," Sandy called out, referring to Matthew. "What was that about? You said you were an expert in martial arts and then beaten like a dog right in front of me who you are supposed to protect. Worse is, you even hid behind me. Meanwhile Ethan... that Ethan... You know what? Forget it." She was still overwhelmed with jealousy, and the fact that her now ex husband was now with a woman richer, and far more prettier than her made her heart almost explode in resentment. "I can't believe all of this is happening to me," she whispered to herself, away from the hearing of Matthew. "Why am I getting jealous over so
"What's all of this supposed to mean?" Ethan asked, clearly dumbfounded and surprised at what he was seeing from the documents. "Is it not clear enough?" Kelly asked in a soft tone that still came off as very intimidating. "Please don't tell me I made a wrong choice in choosing you." Her words sounded like a joke as much as they were serious."I mean it is clear, but why?" He asked, unable to hide the surprise glued to his face. Kelly sighed once more. "What you're seeing there, my dear future husband, is a contract. A marriage contract. And as you have read, you will be paid handsomely for it. About a hundred thousand dollars per month just so you fulfill your roll as husband in my life. Do you understand it now?" Ethan was speechless. What word would he have said to actually explain what he felt. It seemed far better to keep a mouth shut so it doesn't say anything that was not quite able to capture the moment."As expected," she continued speaking. "I knew you'd be speechless. I
What was he supposed to do with that information? He felt as though he had gone to the kind of heaven some men dream of, but instead it was ruled by a she-devil, not angels."I'll see what I can do with that," he forced himself to say, lacking in his mouth anything that wouldn't come out forced or weird. She shook her head and he left soon.On the way out of the office he saw an alert on his phone. He had been sent money by her. Immediately he also received a text from her. "You must have seen the money I sent," the text read. "That is for clothes. I think you don't have any good clothes to wear, and that is such a shame, because I will not let you go dressing around me like a janitor. You need to be presentable because I will be taking you with me to go see my parents."He put the phone in his pockets after reading the text. He pinched himself on the arm, probably to ascertain that the entire day was not a mere dream that he would wake up from soon enough. It was not a dream as he
"Luke?" Ethan mouthed in surprise at the person he had just accidentally bumped shoulders with. A tall man with dark flowing hair."Well, look at who we have here?" The stranger Ethan referred to as Luke said, standing just across to him with a smile. "I thought I'd never find you, man."They both hugged each other, saying as one, "Come here, brother." "So what are you doing here?" Ethan asked. "I did not know that I would find any one from the Ancient Order here at any case. But look at you. What brings you here, my brother?""You," Luke said concisely. "We've been looking all over for you. At a point we even thought that you were dead. What have you been doing here?""Well, you know I've been living here, doing really simple jobs and trying to scrape by for myself a decent living." As Ethan said this, he quickly remembered the job he had now as a contract marriage and then shuddered a bit, wondering if such a job could be called anything decent."Something decent huh?” Luke said,