The Stolen Heiress: Claimed by her Father's Ruthless Enemy. novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6: New home.

The drive back was no better than the one before. Every nerve in my body was on edge. We might be a couple now, but it wasn’t compulsory that we had to live together since it was a fake wedding. I thought of asking him to drop me at a motel, but something about his calm, cold demeanor made the words stick in my throat.

The car came to a stop, and I got out without waiting for Alexander.

Looking up, my jaw dropped at the sight before me. If I thought my father’s estate was splendid, then this was on another level. The mansion was grand, like a modern castle, and had about five floors or so. It was impossible to tell. Even the beautiful garden was as large as a small park... Not to mention the fountain in the middle. This was the kind of place you only see in magazines... so perfect.

As we stepped inside the grand entrance, I was surprised to see staff lined up on either side, bowing their heads as we neared.

"Welcome, sir," said an older man at the front of the line respectfully. "And to you, Mrs. Vaughn," he added, turning to me with a polite smile.

Mrs. Vaughn. The name sounded odd in my head.

I nodded awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

Alexander didn’t acknowledge the staff as he led me up the staircase to the second floor.

We stopped in front of a large set of double doors. Alexander pushed them open, revealing a bedroom that was as grand as the rest of the house.

"This is the master bedroom," he said flatly.

Why was he showing me the master bedroom instead of my room? A gasp almost escaped my lips as it hit me. Wait... what? I turned to face him, panic creeping its way into my chest.

"You mean... we will be... sleeping here? Together?"

"Yes," he simply said.

"But we don’t have to..." I protested. "It’s a fake—"

He cut me off with a sharp glare.

"You’re my wife now. Fake or not."

"Only on paper," I muttered, not enough for him to hear, as I looked away.

Ignoring me, he walked further into the room and gestured towards a door in the corner. "That’s the dressing room. Everything you need is inside."

I moved forward to see, but stopped when he turned around to face me, his expression hardening.

"Listen," he began, stepping closer, his shadow swallowing the space between us. "We might be married, but don’t mistake this for power. You will stay out of my way. And if you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone..." His face was inches from mine now, "I’ll make sure you regret it in ways you can’t even imagine."

The threat sent a chill down my spine. The way he said it, the look on his face told me he wasn’t joking.

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

"Good," he said, turning toward the door. Then he left, shutting the door behind him.

I stood there, staring at the empty space, then told myself it was alright. As long as I stayed away from him, everything would be perfect.

****

Later that night, Alexander was spending time with his cousin and friend in the VIP room of an exclusive club in the city. His eyes narrowed, staring down at the drink. He didn’t know why he was angry. There was something he just couldn’t get out of his head, and that was the white-haired thing in his home. Each time he thought of her, it felt as if his blood was boiling.

His jaw clenched and unclenched before gulping down the full glass of hard liquor. "Your assistant is here, Alex," his cousin Nathan said as he was about to pour himself another glass.

"Boss," Ethan called, standing in front of his table with an unusual, professional smile. "Mr. Ben withdrew his shares out of Steele’s Corps. The company is a step away from being bankrupt."

"He did?" Alexander asked, surprised. Mr. Ben had the biggest share in George’s major company, and the latter was a close business acquaintance of George. Coaxing him into withdrawing his shares was hell. He had to promise the old man that he could be the next board executive in his firm if he agreed to it.

Perfect.

"We can move to the next step now," Ethan said.

"I don’t think I need it, and never would I." He had gotten everything he needed in life, built everything from scratch. But a lot of sacrifices were made.

The one thing that he kept in mind all these years was that he would make George Steele fall at his feet and beg for mercy. But then, mercy would be long gone because the bastard didn’t think about mercy when he killed his mother in the most horrible way and made him suffer. Those memories made him tremble; they made him seethe with anger whenever he was reminded of them, and the only thing he could think of was how he would unleash his wrath on them all, starting from the white-haired one under his roof. His daughter. He would make her atone for every single sin of her father and feel the pain her father caused him.

His phone on the table buzzed, snapping him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen, and his expression darkened when he saw who it was.

"What happened?"

"Sir," Mr. Harrison, the butler’s voice came through, "there is an incident in the house. Mrs. Vaughn... she broke the sculpture in your room."

"Which one?"

"The rare one."

Alexander’s fingers tightened around the phone. "I will deal with it," he said as calmly as possible, then ended the call.

"Is something wrong?" Lucas asked, looking up at him with a frown as he grabbed his jacket from the lounge.

"Nothing. It’s just... my wife. I will tell you about her next time," he hurriedly said, irritation clear in his tone at the mention of "wife."

Nathan choked on his wine and spilled it out. "Your what?"

Lucas’s eyes widened in shock. "You have a wife? When? How?"

But Alexander was already at the door. He strode out without even sparing them a backward glance.

Disappointed, Lucas turned to Nathan, whose face had turned pale from the news. "Did you know about this?"

Nathan shrugged. "I’m just as shocked as you, dude."