The house felt unusually quiet that morning, but the silence was heavy—laden with a secret that had already been decided without you. Your father had finally agreed to Sage Blackwood's audacious demand. After endless hours of arguments, calculations, and the silent threat of financial ruin, he had caved. The company, the family legacy, the future—everything was at stake, and your father had made a choice he hoped would save it all.
Your mother, usually composed and gentle, hovered nervously by the phone. Her hands shook slightly as she dialed your number. "Isabella… it's about your father," she said softly, her voice carefully steady but betraying a hint of fear. "You need to speak with him… right now."
Upstairs, you were just beginning to shake off sleep, your mind hazy and slow to wake. When your father's face appeared on the screen, your heart skipped. Something in his eyes—an unfamiliar weight, a tense gravity—made you pause.
"Isabella… I… we…" His words faltered, heavy and strained. "There's… something you need to agree to. For the company… for everything."
Confusion clouded your mind. "Agree to… what?" Your voice trembled slightly, the unease creeping in before you could even understand why.
He hesitated, then finally said it, words that struck like ice through your chest. "Sage Blackwood… he… he wants to marry you. I… I agreed."
The world seemed to tilt around you. The words echoed in your mind as if someone had thrown a shadow across your room. Marry… Sage Blackwood? The thought was absurd. Impossible. You had never even met him. And yet, your father's eyes—pleading, desperate—made it terrifyingly real.
"No… this can't be happening," you whispered, but your words felt small and powerless. Your mother's anxious look made it clear: this wasn't a negotiation. The decision had been made, and there was no escaping it.
"I… I don't want this!" Your voice grew louder, panic and disbelief mingling. "I don't even know him! I can't—"
But your father shook his head. "Isabella… it's done. Sage will save the company, but only if you agree. I'm asking you… please, for the family, for the business… you have to accept."
The reality of it pressed down on you like a vice. You were being forced into a life with a man you didn't know, a dangerous, cold, and powerful stranger. And yet… despite the fear, a small, unbidden curiosity stirred in your chest. Who was Sage Blackwood? How could a man be so feared by everyone, and yet—your father said he was also gentle?
The phone call ended, leaving you alone with the rising panic and the impossible choice. You sat on your bed, hands gripping the sheets, your mind racing. There was no way out. The company, your family's future—it all rested on a decision that was no longer yours to make.
And somewhere in the shadows of your thoughts, a dark, undeniable thread of fate whispered: this was only the beginning.