CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7I glance at the clothes and look at the clock, it was almost nine in the evening. I was ready to go for
dinner even though I was terrified. After dressing up and applying a thick coat of red lipstick, I head
downstairs when I notice Carrington already on the dining, alongside the strange girl, Laurel.
Carrington gets up and takes out my chair for me. I don't say anything but I give him the could shoulder
and glare at him. I was petrified. He frowns slightly.
"Laurel, please, could you excuse us? Just a minute."
"Yes, sure." She says, and I could swear she gave me a dirty look.
"Thank you, for wearing the dress I sent. I must say, it suites you."
I chuckle softly, annoyed by his guts. "I told you to stop acting friendly with me. Stop pretending to be a
good person, because we both know you're not."
He sighs, "Look, Natalie, I really don't hate you nor do I have anything against you. Yes, I'm enraged by
the fact that you tried to cheat me and disgusted by the fact that you agreed to marry me because you
didn't want your reputation soiled and people finding out about your family's condition but the real truth
here is that my grudge is against your parents, not you."
"Do you have amnesia of some sort? You forced me into marrying you! You gave me no choice, and
cheat you? You must be delusional." I respond.
"Believe me, if you had declined once, I wouldn't have pushed further. I acted on your will. You didn't
say no. You agreed, at once." He says and I gasp, shocked. Was he telling the truth?
"If you didn't have any grudge against me, you wouldn't have given the condition that I marry you. You
ruined my life and I will hate you for it till the day I die." I say, but his words confuse me so I have to
ask, "Grudge? What did my parents ever do to you? We don't even know you and I did not agree to bemarried to you, I was forced to do so, so don't you ever say that I agreed. My mother signed that
document. I didn't." I say, as I get up to leave. I couldn't bear eating on the same table as he.
"Sit down." Carrington says, but I walk off. "Natalie!" He shouts, but I'm already on the staircase.
"Natalie!" He calls again and as I hear his voice, I remember the incident that happened earlier, so I
quickly run up, into my room. I lock the door immediately I get in. He arrives and begins to hit the door
violently. I had gotten married to a mad man.
"Natalie, let me in!" He shouts, "Open the door!"
"Go away! I hate you and I will always, always love Rocky!" Then suddenly, he breaks the lock from the
outside and pushes his way in. I look at him with terror in my eyes. He rushes and grabs my arm.
"What did you say?"
I sob, "Let go! Leave me alone, I'm warning you."
"No." He says, dragging me close to his body. We are dangerously close, his face touching mine. He
continues, "You're my wife and you will be until the you die, there's no freedom from me or this
marriage, get that?"
"You wish. I told you, only in name. You will never be half the man Rocky is!" I yell, trying to push him
off.
His eyes become red, "Then I'll prove it to you." He says as he grabs my waist.
My eyes widen, "What are you doing?" I ask, alarmed.
He turns to lock the door and pushes me on the bed, "No, no, no, no, no! Please." I beg, but he ignores
me and pushes me on the bed. He takes off his shirt, and then he rapes me.The sunlight wakes me, and as my eyes flutter open, I see Luke standing by the door, dressed in black
sweat pants and a black hoodie.
"You want to rape me again?" I ask him.
He looks sick, "Natalie— I get up from the bed, ensuring I use the sheets to hide my body even though
the bastard had seen it all already. "Don't you dare call my name. You are a monster. At least, now you
know that I was telling the truth. You got your confirmation and now you know, Rocky is my first and my
only love." I say, looking at him straight in the eyes. He frowns then leaves a second later, and I sink to
the ground crying as I recall last nights events.
***
Dressed in my floral print wrap dress, I finally head out of the room. If I stayed in that room for one
more minute, I would lose it.
"Natalie," I hear someone calling, and it is none other than Luke. I ignore and continue walking.
"Natalie!" He calls again. He takes my hands, "I'd like to introduce you to the workers here at the
manor." He takes me into the room across, the piano room, I'm guessing, and a group of people
immediately turn to look at me. I drag my hand out of Luke's grasp and we both share an eye lock.
"This is Natalie, my wife." He tells them and most of them look pleased, the rest surprised and Laurel,
well, annoyed.
"Good morning, Mrs. Carrington." They all chorus.
"Good morning." I say, not interested the slightest.
"You will attend to her whenever she needs, you will listen to her, as you would me because, she is
now the lady of the house as from today." Luke says.I scoff, "No." I say to them and turn to Luke, "I'm not interested in being the woman of the house
because I'm not your woman. I'm nothing but a guest here." I say to Luke. I could tell he was mad
already because his eyes had gotten red.
"Please, give us a moment." He requests, and they leave.
"What did you just do, Natalie?" He asks, his left hand on his head.
"Why don't you just let me go if you're fed up of me, Luke?"
"Never. I will never, let you out of this house. The earlier you get used to this fact, the better."
"We'll see." I say, as I take my leave.
***
I pace around the room, thinking of ways, possible solutions on how I could escape, get in touch with
Rocky and move far away from here, from Luke. I didn't have any phone to call Rocky and I had heard
Luke giving strict orders to the staff to not let me out of the mansion for any reason. With every passing
second, my hatred for him was growing stronger and stronger.
novelbinThere's a knock on the door, and before I can answer, the door opens. I'm already frightened that it's
Luke, but surprisingly it's not.
"Lauren, right?" I ask.
She scoffs, giving me her usual dirty look. "Laurel." She says, raising her brow, "You don't love him,
right?"
"Lucas?" I ask."Yes, you would know that Luke's name was actually Lucas. Luke for short. The fact that you don't
know this makes it clearer that there's nothing between the both of you."
"Look, I'm in no mood to exchange words with you or anyone, especially when the topic of discussion is
Luke, so please, I'd love to be alone."
"I can help you leave. You want to, don't you?"
I look at her, unsure. What if it was a plan? What if Luke had sent her to try to see if I would try to run
away?
As if she'd read my mind, she responds, "Luke didn't send me."
I move closer to her, "How?"
"Luke always goes for a run outside the manor everyday by 8pm. Pack whatever you need and make
sure you're in the hallway by 8:05pm exactly, you can take the door there and leave. No one would see
you, not even Luke. They probably won't notice you're gone till morning."
I'm amazed and filled with happiness at the same time, but I can't help but wonder, "What's in it for
you?" I ask.
"That's none of your business." She says as she turns around to leave.
I think I knew that already, I had a feeling from the beginning. The help was in love with my so-called
husband. If only she knew what a sick person he was, would she still love him? I could care less. All I
wanted was to get out of here as soon as I could.
It was time, exactly 8:05pm. I had a bag packed with my most expensive shoes and clothes. I could sell
them for cash and get a place to stay for the night. I was dressed in a purple floral print dress, my hairflowing and my signature red lips. If I was going to escape like a criminal, I would at-least look good
doing it.
I walk down the stairs and I'm grateful because the lights are turned off. It would make my escape
easier. I hurriedly walk on the stairs, trying my best to be as silent as I can. I reach the hallway and my
palms are sweaty, my hands shaking. I open the door and rush out as fast as I can. I breath a sigh of
relief and begin to run as fast as my legs can take me, until I see a familiar figure in front of me. I take
steps back, my heart beating fast and my lips parted in shock.
"What are you doing?" Luke asks.
I begin to cry, "Please, I'm begging you, let me go." I move closer to him, "If only you know how much I
hate you. No, I despise you so much! Please, just let me leave, allow me to go away from here,
please." I hold his hands, "Please, I will die if I keep staying here, please, I need peace, please, let me
go!"
His eyes are red, but I could care less about that. He squeezes both my wrists, "No." He responds and
I scream.
"You're a beast." I say in between sobs as I run back into the house. Lucas was a monster, and at that
moment, I knew there was no escaping this scam of a marriage for me. I was trapped.
Somehow, I end up in Luke's study, crying my eyes out. "Oh God, Rocky must be looking for me."
Luke enters, "Stop crying." I hear. He sits on the grey couch opposite me. "Natalie, please forgive me, I
don't know how to look at myself in the mirror after doing what I did to you yesterday. I'm not a rapist,
and I would never force a woman to bed intentionally especially when that woman is my wife." He gets
on his knees, a gesture that shocks me. My crying pauses as I concentrate on him. "I agree that our
marriage is just an agreement but still, there's no excuse for what I did yesterday. I don't know, youalways get me so annoyed and you bring out this wild side in me that I don't know how to control." He
says, trying to hold my hands.
I feel disgusted, "Don't you dare! Don't touch me, don't! I've told you, I hate you, I despise you and the
fact that we breathe the same air makes me sick. Get out!" His eyes aren't red this time around,
instead, they are blue. His actual eye color. He looks sad and dejected, something that made me happy
knowing he was just as sad as I was.