The Accidental Wife (Emily and Julian)

"Emily? No, you can't be serious!" Maggie said in disbelief.

Any woman like Maggie would want a man like Julian for her daughter. He was only twenty-five years old, and he was already a millionaire. He was set to become a billionaire soon, as he was the heir to his father's empire. He had a sister who was also set to become a billionaire along with him, but she was married and had her own business since she wasn't into the family's business. Julian was eventually going to be the CEO of the biggest trade company since he would own more shares and his sister didn't want anything to do with administration. How did I know all of that? Fiona and Maggie never stopped bragging about Fiona's future. Perhaps they had jinxed it with too much babbling.

After what happened, I was certain that the distance between my family and me would only grow more. I didn't care about losing them. It wouldn't even be a loss because in order to lose something, you had to have it first, and I never had them as a family. Somebody was picking me over Fiona, which surely was unacceptable to my father and Maggie. The thing was, I didn't want to be picked over Fiona in that situation. I didn't want to get married to Julian. I just wanted to talk to Chester and explain to him the mess of a situation I found myself in.

The thing was, Julian had to get married in order to become a CEO. That was his father's condition to step down and let his son take over. My father and Julian's father had been close for a while and when my father learned that Steven was looking for a suitable bride for his son, he suggested that Julian could marry Fiona. To strengthen the deal, our fathers decided to form partnerships concerning a number of projects together, but they cost a lot, so they depended on marriage.

"But the deal concerned Fiona and Julian." My father didn't miss the chance to choose Fiona over me. I was his biological daughter. I had never done anything in my life to embarrass him. Why did he always pick her over me? I always got good grades and not once had I embarrassed him in public. What was wrong with me to make him treat me like that?

"Let me refresh your memory. The deal concerned one of your daughters and my son," Steven said. Now that was surprising. I remembered my father telling us a year ago that Steven asked for Fiona's hand in marriage for his son. So, he chose Fiona over me from the very start and provided her with a good husband from a good family. This man couldn't stoop any lower. "If you're so against the idea, we can cancel the whole arrangement, but if we do that, our deal will cease to exist."

By the look on my father's face, I knew that he would never want the deal to be over. The deal meant the world to him since it meant the growth of his empire.

"Fine. Emily can marry Julian." My father's voice was full of defeat. Something I was quite fond of.

"I don't want to marry Emily!" "I don't want to marry Julian!" Julian and I said at the same time.

"You don't have a say in this!" My father shouted at me.

"You're in a tough position, son. You need to get married to become a CEO," Steven calmly told his son.

"No, I do have a say in this!" I snapped. "Why would I marry Julian? I don't love him, and I can assure you that he can't even stand me."

He got up from his place and yanked me towards the backyard. "Either marry him or you'll pay the consequences," he threatened me.

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"I will disown you and you won't take anything with you but the clothes on you." My eyes widened when he said that. Would he really do that? "Even the remaining five installments of your car won't be paid."

"Why are you doing this?" My eyes brimmed with tears. Why did he have to ruin my life? Why couldn't I just have a normal life? I wasn't asking for much. I just wanted to be in control of my life. I didn't want to feel like a puppet.

"You caused this. You handle the consequences," he casually said. The test meant nothing to him. He didn't care whether I was drugged or not. I was the perpetrator in his eyes, and nothing was going to change his mind. I was in a tough situation, and I didn't have a choice. I looked at my phone, hoping to find any message or call from Chester, but he sent nothing.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can get a divorce after two years," he said. I had to waste two years of my life to pay for a mistake I didn't make.

"Fine," I gave in. I didn't have a choice. Satisfaction took over his features as the two of us walked back inside.

"Emily will marry Julian," my father-no, Jeffrey Harolds-announced with so much pride in his voice.

"I would also like if Emily could stay with us until the wedding day." I was surprised by Rose's request. Why would she demand that? "Why?" my father asked.

"To alleviate the tension in the family," Steven supported his wife's request. "Don't worry, she will be staying in our guest house."

My father stayed silent for a while, then nodded and said, "She can stay, and we will send her belongings."

"No," I blurted, causing everyone to look at me, including Julian who had made a fantastic effort to ignore me. "I don't want anybody to touch my things. I want to collect them myself."

"Shut up," my father interrupted me, "You don't have the choice." I noticed the pity Steven had in his eyes as he looked at me.

Soon, Jeffrey and his wife left. Julian and his parents also headed towards one of the rooms; it seemed that he had something to say to them. I was glad that they had given me some sort of privacy. I needed it to think about my future, my dark future that made me wish for death. I knew my life was about to completely change, and I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect from that marriage. All I knew was that I had to stay married to Julian for two years and after that, we could get a divorce.

I tried to consider that marriage as my way out of that toxic family. I had lost so much in my life and I was threatened with being thrown into the streets if I didn't comply. I was just a twenty-two-year-old who had just finished college. Two years of my life as a payment for my freedom were nothing. I was going to make the most out of the situation no matter what.

There were many things I wanted to do. First, I needed to get a job. Jeffrey Harolds made it clear from day one that I wasn't even allowed to ask him for a job upon my graduation because he didn't hire fresh graduates. Working for him wasn't my dream anyway since I wanted to be a fashion designer. Well, I did major in fashion design and business, which meant that I could work in his company, but I didn't want to.

I needed to look for a job. I needed to start my own life. I didn't know if I would be allowed to work or not during my two years of marriage to Julian, but I was hoping for the best.

Just when I was lost in my thoughts, Julian appeared in my view and said, "Good thing you're here." It wasn't like I had anywhere else to go. "We have a lot of talking to do."