Arranged marriage : Married to an unknown man

Xavier Knight

“What?!” My blood boiled after hearing what happened with Ariana in that dark alley.

How dare that bastard lay his filthy hands on my wife? Doing that, he himself dug his own grave. I spared him once but not now.

“Xavier, please calm down.”

“Calm down? You’re really asking me to do that? How can I calm down when that fucking bastard is roaming freely after laying his hands on what’s mine. How can I calm down when the one who put you on the hospital bed is still unharmed.” I chided.

“Xavier, please don’t..” She took hold of my hand.

“I’m sorry for cursing Ari, but right now all I’m thinking is the ways to kill him. He can’t get away that easily after disrespecting you.” I gritted my teeth.

“Xavier please don’t indulge in a fight.. please.” She insisted but my eyes were seeing red, anger was boiling inside me like lava in a volcano, it was rising to erupt.

“I will. For you, I will. I can fight the world for my loved ones and he’s just a scumbag who needs to know his right place. He’ll regret coming near you.” I declared.

Her eyes watered, I wiped her tears with my thumbs and kissed her lips lightly.

“Shh, don’t cry. I’ll make him pay for doing this to you. And Ari, today, I’m making a promise to you that you’ll get the respect you deserve. The whole world will respect you, I’ll make sure of it. People will think twice before saying anything to you.” I said truthfully.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you in my life.” She smiled weakly through tears.

“I’m the lucky one here. You’re the best thing that happened to me without any planning.” My statement made her chuckle.

I stayed with her until she fell asleep. I asked Finn to guard her and I went out of the hospital building to teach someone a lesson.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“To what I owe you this pleasure, Mr. Knight?” Chris smirked. He was sitting on his chair when I entered his office.

“Don’t act like you don’t know.” I glared at him while gritting my teeth.

“Oh! So that bitch of yours complained to you.” He laughed. I charged towards him and pulled him up by his collars.

“Don’t you fucking dare disrespect her.” I raised my voice.

“Why so much anger just for an employee? Why you can’t listen to anything against that bitch?”

I punched him straight in his face. ” What did I fucking tell you? Not to say anything against her.” I punched him again in the face. He cursed and touched his lips which got a cut that was bleeding.

“How dare you?” He yelled. “I did nothing wrong, I was just looking for a good time. If you can have a taste of that woman so why can’t I?” And again he earned a punch from me, this time in his stomach, he groaned and tried to attack back but I blocked him by holding his wrist.

“You did everything wrong. You touched the woman I love. She’s my wife you bastard.” I shouted in his face.

“Y.. your w.. wife? When did you get married?” He asked in surprise.

“That’s not your fucking business. Last time I spared you for stealing my work but this time you crossed your limit. You laid your filthy hands on my wife. You’ll have to pay for this because No one touches what’s mine.” I kicked him in legs which made him fall on the floor.

I squatted in front of him and harshly gripped his collars. “Touching any woman against her will is the vilest behavior. And let me be clear to you, you’ll shed tears of pain after what I’ll do to you.”

“I’ll not put you in prison or beat you to death. No! I have another plan for you that will kill you like slow poison. You love your empire, right?” I spat angrily. He tried to stand up but I didn’t let him.

“Your business. That’s what I’ll take away from you. Not in one go but slowly. Every single day you’ll see yourself losing your shares. And one day, it’ll be out of your hands, you’ll not be able to do anything.” I chuckled menacingly, looking at his scared expressions.

“You can’t do that.” He said, gritting his teeth.

“Watch me,” I said and stood up making him stand too. He looked putty in my hands. I wanted to laugh at him but I was blinded with rage.

“This is what you get when you mess with Xavier Knight.” I pushed him and turned to walk away but I stopped and turned back. I punched him on his jaw.

“This will remind you not to talk trash about my wife.” Saying that I walked out of his office.

Enough is enough, I had had enough of hiding Ariana from the world. I can’t take any more of people thinking low of her. Now I’ll introduce her to the world as my wife. She’ll get respect what she deserves.

I just have to find a way to introduce her to the world which will force everyone to respect her, not just as my wife but as a woman. I want her to give her own identity, I don’t want her to be called just my wife, I want people to know by her work too. She has got talent, she needs to show that to the world.

She’ll not easily accept whatever I’ll plan for her but I have to convince her for her betterment and I’ll support her at every step.

It had been two days since she came back from the hospital. Everything was alright but Ariana was not like she used to be. She smiles but her smiles are forced. She laughs sometimes but not her heart out. I didn’t leave her side since the day she came back from the hospital.

I just go to important meetings otherwise I give all my time to Ariana. I know what she was thinking and I told her not to stress herself. I wanted to know about her past but not at the cost of her health. I told her that she could tell me when she’s ready, I was not forcing her but she was thinking too much which is visible on her face.

I assured her that I would have Chris pay for what he did to her.

When I came back from the meeting at 7 pm, I found her standing in the rooftop garden near the edge looking at the skyscrapers, completely lost in her thoughts.

I approached her and embraced her from behind. I rested my chin on her shoulder and whispered “You’re overthinking again. I told you not to do so.”

“It feels good, No?” She whispered.

“Ari?” I looked at her and found her still looking down at the building. I turned her towards me and cupped her face.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. Removing my hands from her face she again turned and walked towards the edge to look at the buildings.

“Standing here. Feels good, No? It feels like you’re on top of the world.” She said.

“You know, I have always dreamt of this.” She closed her eyes and inhaled the air. “Freedom. This air around me feels so different.” She said, pure satisfaction was evident in her voice but I heard a hint of pain.

“Come here.” She said to me. I walked near her. Intertwining her fingers with mine she pointed the finger of another hand at ground level.

“I used to live there, on the ground level. I used to live in the Mansion but that was just for others to see. For me, it was a prison, I wasn’t allowed to roam freely, breathe freely. Those big walls of the mansion never amazed me, they just suffocated me, those big walls never allowed me to see the sky. But see how life takes unexpected turns, I am now standing on the top, almost near the sky like I could touch it if I lift my hand.” She looked at the sky admiringly.

“Don’t force yourself,” I whispered. She was hurting, she was in pain, her expressions, her eyes, her cracked voice proved that.

“Let me, Xavier. It was hard to find the courage to tell you but now that I have found it, don’t stop me. I finally have someone with me who’ll listen to me. This will be the first time I’m going to share my past with anyone and I’m glad it’s you.” Her eyes moistened. Pulling her in a hug, I kissed her hair.

“I’ll be always here to listen to you,” I assured her.

“Let’s go inside first,” I said.

“No. I want to talk here, in the open. This will give me the courage to tell you everything.” She mumbled in a drained voice.

We sat on an outdoor bed placed at the side of the garden. I pulled her closer by snaking my arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on my shoulder. She stayed quiet for a few minutes, I also didn’t force her to talk. If she wanted to change the decision of telling me everything, I’ll respect her decision.

“My father loved me so much.” She voiced out. I squeezed her shoulder to give her support. She continued.” I too loved him, still do. My world was so tiny including just my mom, dad, and me. I thought we were a happy family until my father….” Her voice cracked. I kissed her hair and rested my cheek on her head.

“Everything changed the day my father left this world. My mom wasn’t the same, she started ignoring me. I didn’t say anything because I thought she was hurting because of her husband’s demise. Then she married Andrew Smith, I accepted her decision without hesitation because it’s her life, she can live it the way she wants. Mr. Smith already had Scarlet when my mother married him. She’s of my age. Andrew became my stepfather. I prepared myself to adjust to a new environment and I also accepted my new family but I guess they didn’t because one day out of nowhere Mr. Smith stopped me from going to a family gathering saying that it’s for family only. I looked at my mother but she refused to look at me, to give me any kind of explanation. That day I cried remembering my father and no one was there to console me. That day I became…alone.” Her voice was full of pain. She wiped her face, she must be crying.

“Anyway, I accepted that too, I accepted that I was not welcomed in that family. Mr. Smith used to curse me while paying for my school fee because for him it was like wasting his money. I became a burden for Mr. Smith, so, to reduce their burden I started working part-time. When I entered high school I was on my own, I worked in a cafe shop, automobile shop, and wherever I got a chance of working to pay for my expenses. I always used public transport to travel. I never sat in any of his cars because I wasn’t allowed to.” I clenched my jaw, I was angry at myself for misjudging her. I made her use public transport because I was a fool and thought she was a brat.

“I don’t know why but Scarlet hated me. She started blaming me for the things I never did and as a punishment, Mr. Smith used to cut my food. He started slapping me if he heard complaints about me and my mother… she said he’s my father and fathers do punish their children if they do something wrong. But I never did anything wrong, she never understood, she never listened. I wasn’t allowed to be seen with them, not allowed to go to any party, not even allowed to tell anyone that I belong to Smith’s family.”

“I thought going out of there was the only way to find freedom, so I studied hard and earned the scholarship in a college in Chicago. I was so happy, I thought my time had come and I’d be free and live the way I wanted but to my dismay, Mr. Smith didn’t allow me to live in a dorm or campus hostel, he sent me to live with his brother Baron Smith and his family in Chicago and that’s when I lost all my hopes, I never knew going there will give me the worst scars of my life.” She couldn’t control herself and cried harder hiding her face in my shoulder.

“They traumatized me, they broke me, they broke my hopes.” She cried. I embraced in a tight hug to console her.

“What happened there, Ari? What they did?” I asked. My heartbeat started picking up the pace. I was scared of listening further but I had to. She pulled away and looked at her lap, still crying. She stopped crying and inhaled sharply, she opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

“Goodness, this is so tough. I never thought that talking about myself will be so tough.” She groaned and wiped her tears furiously.

“Hey hey, take your time. No one is forcing you.” I said, brushing back the strands of hair masking her face.

“This is so painful. Please give me strength so that I can tell you.” Her tears fell again. I pulled her on my lap. I kissed her hand.

“I’m here, always will be; to give you support, strength, and courage you need.” I cooed to soothe her pain. She rested her head on my shoulder again and I tightened my hold around her waist.

“Baron, Mr. Smith’s brother lived with his wife Chloe and their son Nicolas who was a year older than me. When I went there, then only I got to know that they needed a free maid that’s why I was sent there. And they all were drug addicts. Baron was losing his business because of his gambling habit. They used to fight all the time, they used to shout and curse at each other. I was forced to cook for them, wash their clothes, and do the cleaning. I accepted my fate and did all the work I was asked to otherwise they would curse me. I managed my time to study and to do the house chores. One day, aunt Chloe ran away from the house and never came back. I was left alone with those two.” She paused and after a few seconds, she continued.

“They became aggressive, they sta.. started hitting me if the food was served on time. They used everything that came in their hand to hit me. Most of the time Baron used the belt to hit me. I used to cry but my cries were unheard. Nicolas was in the same college as mine, he never allowed me talk to anyone, never let me make friends because he was afraid that I’ll tell everything about them to someone. One day, I came back late from college because I had to complete an assignment. That day Baron said vile words to me, s.. slut-shamed me and he hit me until I was unconscious and Nicolas laughed looking at the scene.”

“What?! I’ll kill that fucking bastard.” I cursed. How dare they do that to her! Her tears were never stopped. I was seeing red and one thing was still bugging me.. if she was…

“Did they to.. touch you inappropriately?” I stuttered. Her hand fell on the side like she lost all her strength. Fear crept inside me. They fucking did something with her.

“Ari, please tell me.” I pleaded.

“Baron used to say that Mr. Smith forbid him from doing anything in…inappropriate with me but it didn’t stop him from… touching me. Nicolas too touched me whenever he got a chance.” She cried even harder. I clenched my hands in a fist.

“My dignity was saved but I was tormented, was left to live in agony. I c.. called my mom but she never listened… never… never…never. What did I do to deserve all this? Why I was left alone? Why no one heard my cries, my pain? Why no one ever listened to me? Why everyone gave me pain! Why did they give me scars? Why? Why I was treated like trash?” Her cries became louder. She cried, burying her face in the crook of my neck.

I couldn’t hold more and my tears fell too. My Ari had always been alone. She had gone through a lot. No one deserves this, no one deserves to be treated like trash.

“Xavier please stop my tears. I can’t control them. Please do something.” She hiccuped. I pressed her head in my neck and stroked her hair.

“Today I won’t stop you, Ari. Cry your heart out, let it all out because this will be the last time you’ll be crying out of pain, this is the last time you’ll be remembering your past.” I mumbled and she cried her heart out, clutching my shirt collars.

That’s why she’s so conserved, so diffident. That’s why she hates being in the crowd because she’s scared that someone could.. touch her. Fear has made it’s home in her heart. She lost herself because of them but now it’s enough. She had endured enough, now they will pay for doing this to her. I’ll make sure of it.

And I’ll give her everything she was deprived of. I’ll bring her confidence back, I’ll make her so much capable that people will think twice before trash talking about her.

“My mother never loved me. I never received the love of a mother, she gave all of it to Scarlet. They gave me emotional and physical pain. It hurt so much, still hurts. They gave me scars that are hard to be healed.” She mumbled in a defeated voice.

I made her look at me by cupping her face.

“I’ll heal your every scar and I promise you that I’ll give you everything, I’ll give so much love that you’ll never remember your past again. I promise you.” I kissed her eyelids and forehead.

“Thank you for listening to me. I kept it all in my heart, it was killing me from inside. Now I feel relieved. Thank you for being with me. I love you so much, Xavier.” She said looking into my eyes.

“I love you too.”

“Ari…can I see the scars?” I asked. I only saw a glimpse of them in the hospital but I wanted to see them now, all of them. I wanted her to trust me on this too. I wanted to take her pain away from her. I wanted to show her how much I love her.

I hope this time she’ll let me.