His Wife By Contract

SOPHIA'S POV

"You did what?"

My voice trembled as I stared at the man I called my father. The walls of his office seemed to close in as he refused to look up at me.

"It was a bad business deal. I had no idea it would lead us here. I didn't know it was a scam, " he said, bending his head.

If I had not known him better, I would have believed he was genuinely remorseful, this had been the drill for the longest time.

"Dad, you gambled away a business the whole family has been depending on. This is not even the first time you're doing this. How could you continue even after we almost lost everything the last time?" I said, trying to control my voice out of respect.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this, it seemed a fair deal, the benefits were mouth-watering –"

"I can't believe you would do this, you even used my shop as collateral, you know how things have been for me, you still want to take everything from me?" I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks.

I had woken up that morning with the intention of resuming work, a little fashion-designing house I had been running since I turned 18, it wasn't doing too well, but it was enough to sort our bills every time my dad gambled and landed us in trouble.

I got to work, and the place was locked; my things were thrown outside, with security officials not letting me go in. I had fought, but my efforts were futile, and they had insisted I go talk to my father.

"Who do we owe this time? How do you come out of this mess?" I asked, my voice crossing the line I had set for it.

"Don't talk to Father like that." My sister Henna shouted from the corner she had been standing the whole time.

I turned to face her, my insides boiling with suppressed anger threatening to burst out, "What did you say?"

"Come on, Sophia, it was just one bad mistake, it's not like those things are not supposed to happen in businesses, it's called risk, and it's unavoidable, don't be a brat." She said and walked off to stand close to my father, who had his head buried between his hands.

I bent my head in frustration, biting my lips to fight back tears "I must be the only sane person in this house, Henna at your age, I was already paying for the family's bills, I was working more than expected to make sure we didn't lack, what have you done with your life so far if not constantly causing trouble?"

She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair.

"I don't know how you guys don't understand that I'm tired, my business is falling, and I haven't taken time to create a good life for myself because I've been sacrificing everything to make this family stable. The only business we have had been gambled away, how did it even get up to that extent, Dad?"

"If it's not gambling, then a police case or some fight over jewelry, can I please catch a break?" I yelled, my chest rising and falling in anger.

"I'm sorry, Sophia, I honestly didn't mean for things to turn out like this. It was a good game, and I was close to winning. I just kept putting everything down, and I unfortunately ended up losing everything." He said and started hitting his chest.

"Just like that?"

"They were going to arrest me till he came, he helped me out and I had to put the business down, he said he'll give me everything back if I can grant him a favour, I had no choice."

"He? Who? And what has that even got to do with my shop being locked up?" I asked, walking closer to his table.