Fury's Flames

I hated him! everything about him, his guts, his entire way of living, the way he seemed to please everybody, the same way he charmed my father. I despised his presence with such force that it made no sense.

My arranged marriage to James Ward was something unexpected enough.

Father had given me out to James Ward, the billionaire playboy, the face of every magazine cover to ever grace our little county, Orange County.

When father broke the news, an initial reaction of both shock and anger filled and took over my entire being. I had imagined choosing my own partner, dying next to him, being so in love. I had imagined choosing a partner that understood my heart as much as I would try to understand his.

Father had taken out a loan for school, as we were not exceptionally rich, he had placed the house as collateral, it was a family heirloom, each generation lived here.

On one of those not so hot afternoons, the bank had come by the house to get their promised collateral, and for some reason, their CEO was there with them, to inspect. The inspector was James Ward.

I heard a knock and as I opened the door, I was greeted by the faces of four, maybe five men.

"How may I help you sirs?" I had asked.

"we are looking for a certain Mr. Russ." a man from behind answered. "Is he home please?"

"He stepped out, but may I drop a message?" I answered him, with the same kind of formality he used.

"Tell him James came asking for him, we'll call him on our way out too, Thank you."

Although I did not know of my father's promises, I did know James Ward, I struggled to not falter and blush in his presence like some school child affected by an unwanted crush.

A few weeks had passed. I let my father know about his visitors, he did not want to know their intentions which I found rather odd. He had come in one evening looking rather pale. I tried to ask the problem, but he would not let me know what was bothering him so much.

"Rose?" father had called for me that evening.

"You'll be getting married in a month my darling girl" he said, without looking at my face or missing a word.

I had cried myself to sleep that night, I was not sure of what else to do. I left my fate in the arms of a man I thought I could trust and he had broken every piece of my future dreams.

In a week I had managed to get my emotions in check enough to ask who my future master was going to be. Father had spoken a lot about him. He called him a good man. I asked to meet with the person I was soon going to poison, of course that was a joke.

He had walked in that evening with a certain smug look, he was the boss. He was not bad-looking, he was infact, very handsome.

He was nice to me in the presence of my father, we had talked for hours on end, he was a lot more interesting than I had expected him to be. I liked this person sitting across the table from me. Maybe being his bride would not be the worst thing in the world. Or so I thought.

He asked to take me on a proper date afterwards, I readily agreed.

It was a cold Saturday evening, I had gotten dressed in my black dinner gown without a jacket. I half expected that he would give me his. I had this idea of what a gentleman should be. I saw his luxury car parked outside, waiting for me.

I opened the car door and went in. I smiled at him, he didn't return it. It was dark, he probably did not see my smile, right?

He said not a word to me till we got to the fancy restaurant he picked.

"you're going out to dinner dressed like that?" he had asked, making me wonder what was wrong with my dress.

I had tried to answer but he was already walking into the dining area. I had walked, no almost ran to him, just to stick with him.

He was on his phone the whole time and only looked up when it was time to order.

I had tried my hardest to speak to him but was greeted with grunts and a look of disapproval till I could not help but try to understand what it was I did wrong.

We were done with dinner, not the date, just dinner.

I walked myself to the car shivering. It was cold outside.

He waltzed right past me with his phone in his ear, laughing and talking. I quickly got into the car and he drove me home, back to my father. As he pulled into our driveway, he was the man I met the first time. As I got out, he hugged me, and caressed my cheek, obviously putting on a dashing showcase for father.

I was shocked, he acted like I did not exist a few minutes ago, now he was caressing every part of me in front of my father?

I walked up to the house with one resolve in mind, I was never going to see him again. I had to tell my father.

I think James knew that because as I soon as I pulled out my phone ready to block and delete his number, a message came in.

I saw a video. A CCTV footage. He had sent it to me as he waited in my driveway for me to get in, with a text that was insisting I opened the video before I went in.

I saw my father on his knees, begging for something. With audio, you could hear him agree and disagree asking for more time. That was not till James Ward proposed a plan to get him out of his kneeling problem. To marry me, and all of father's debts would be gone.

At that point the footage was over, I was so close to tears, but he would not see me cry. I sent him a thumbs up emoji, understanding that I had no escape from him. I walked in.

Father had asked about the date, I faked a smile and said the word,

"fine"

Nothing was fine, but I would not disappoint my own father.

The preparations for the wedding was swift. My wedding dress was all I had control over.

In a few weeks I walked down the aisle with father by my side with nothing but tears in my eyes and hate in my heart. My fake happiness could be sensed by every person in the venue.

As the vows escaped our lips, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the fate my father had for me. A lifetime of

misery held to a man I had zero feelings for.

"Rose, do you take James to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

The reverend had asked, the reply just left my chest out to his ears.