Natalie’s POV
The clock on the dashboard of Tobias’s car told me that the time was 2:00 AM. We had been driving through the rain for what felt like hours, neither of us saying a single word.
The silence inside the luxury vehicle was thick enough to choke on.
When the car finally stopped, I looked out the window and saw a tiny, ancient stone chapel tucked away on a dark, forgotten corner of Manhattan.
It looked completely abandoned, surrounded by overgrown weeds and dark shadows.
"Get out," Tobias ordered, his voice cold and sharp as he killed the engine.
I didn't argue.
I grabbed my faded duffel bag from the floorboard, pushed the heavy door open, and stepped out into the freezing downpour.
The rain instantly soaked through my thin jacket, but I didn't let myself shiver. I wasn't going to show him any vulnerability.
Tobias marched ahead of me, his heavy boots splashing through dark puddles, not even bothering to see if I was keeping up.
He grabbed the iron handles of the chapel doors and flung them open, forcing us inside.
The interior of the chapel was completely dead. There were no bright lights, no beautiful arrangements of white roses, no nervous, smiling guests waiting in the pews.
It was just a hollow, freezing room smelling of damp wood and old wax. A single, dim yellow lightbulb hung from the high ceiling, casting long, eerie shadows across the altar.
An elderly man in a wrinkled black robe stood by the altar, looking incredibly uncomfortable. He had a stack of legal papers in his hands and kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
It was obvious Tobias had paid him a massive amount of money to be here at this ridiculous hour.
"Are we ready to begin, Mr. Calloway?" the officiant asked, his voice trembling slightly in the cavernous room.
"Just read the lines," Tobias snapped, walking up the short steps to the altar. He didn't even take off his wet coat. He just stood there, looking like an angry god waiting to execute a sentence.
I walked up the steps right after him, placing my duffel bag at my feet. I smoothed down the front of my damp shirt and looked straight ahead.
"We are gathered here tonight to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony," the old man began, his voice echoing awkwardly off the bare stone walls. He didn't look either of us in the eye.
The silence between the words was suffocating.
I could hear every single drop of rain slamming against the stained-glass windows behind us.
Every beat of my heart felt like a countdown.
I kept my internal monologue focused on my master plan.
‘This was just a business transaction,’ I told myself. ‘It was a contract signed in blood, but it was still just a contract. I could handle a few years of theater if it meant keeping my mother off the streets and securing enough resources to build my own empire later.’
"Do you, Tobias Calloway, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the officiant asked, stumbling over the words.
"I do," Tobias said, his voice laced with dark intent.
"And do you, Natalie Kale, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
I looked at the old man, then turned my head slightly to look at Tobias. His jaw was locked, his dark eyes staring down at me with pure venom.
"I do," I said clearly, my voice ringing out without a single hint of fear.
The old man cleared his throat nervously, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a simple, cold silver band. He handed it to Tobias. "Place the ring on her finger and repeat your vows."
Tobias grabbed the silver ring. He snatched my left hand, his grip like a vice around my fingers. He didn't slide the ring on gently.
He forced it down past my knuckle, his touch rough enough to leave a mark. Instead of speaking the traditional words written on the officiant's paper, he leaned down until his lips were practically brushing against my ear.
"This is your curse, Natalie," Tobias whispered, his voice a low, terrifying growl that made the hair on my arms stand up. "Listen to me very carefully. You are wearing my name now, but you will never be my wife. I will never touch you. I will never look at you with anything but disgust. I am going to make sure you live like a ghost trapped inside my house. Every single breath you take under my roof will be a reminder of the legs you stole from Tamara. You are going to pay for what you did until I decide you've bled enough."
He pulled back, his face inches from mine, searching for any sign of cracking.
I met his furious, bloodshot gaze with absolute stillness. I didn't pull my hand away from his harsh grip. I didn't let a single tear well up in my eyes. I kept my face as smooth and cold as a sheet of ice.
"Are you done?" I asked softly, my voice completely flat.
Tobias’s eyes widened slightly in pure frustration. He let go of my hand so forcefully it dropped against my side. He turned to the officiant, his breathing heavy. "Sign the papers."
The old man didn't waste a second. He scribbled his name on the marriage certificate, stamped it with the official seal, and pushed the documents toward us.
I took the pen and signed my name next to Tobias’s bold, angry signature.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife," the officiant whispered, looking immensely relieved that the nightmare was over. "You may now kiss... well, you are legally married."
"Let's go," Tobias said, not even looking back at me as he snatched one of the copies and marched down the aisle.
I picked up my duffel bag, gave the trembling old officiant a polite nod, and followed my new husband out into the dark.
The drive to the Calloway estate was just as silent as the first one.
When the car finally pulled through a massive set of iron gates, I looked up at the Calloway mansion. It was an absolute titan of a house, built from dark stone and looming over the manicured lawns like a fortress.
There wasn't a single light on in any of the windows. It looked completely dead, freezing, and entirely unwelcoming.
Tobias parked the car in the massive driveway, got out, and slammed his door. I followed him up the grand stone steps. He unlocked the massive front doors and strode into the grand foyer. The inside was beautiful, covered in marble and expensive art, but it felt like a mausoleum. It was entirely devoid of any warmth.
"Follow me," Tobias commanded, his voice echoing off the high marble walls.
He didn't take me up the grand central staircase where the master bedrooms presumably were. Instead, he turned sharply to the left, leading me down a maze of long, dark hallways that seemed to stretch on forever.
The air grew colder the further we walked. We passed through a set of heavy double doors, entering what looked like an entirely separate wing of the house. The floors here were bare wood, and the dust was thick in the air.
"The west wing," Tobias said, stopping in front of a heavy wooden door at the very end of the corridor. "Nobody comes down here. The servants don't clean this section, and my father avoids it completely. This is where you belong, Natalie. Out of sight."
He grabbed the brass handle and flung the door open, shoving me roughly inside.
The room was completely desolate. There were no curtains on the windows, leaving the dark, rain-streaked glass exposed to the night.
The only furniture in the entire space was a bare, twin-sized mattress sitting on a rusty metal frame in the corner.
There were no blankets, no pillows, no dressers.
"This is your room," Tobias said, leaning against the doorframe with a cruel, mocking smile on his face. "Don't bother coming to the main house unless I tell you to. You eat when I say you can eat. You move when I say you can move. Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Calloway."
"It's very spacious," I said, tossing my duffel bag onto the bare mattress. I turned around and looked at him, keeping my arms crossed over my chest. "Thank you for the upgrade."
Tobias’s smile completely vanished, replaced by that familiar, dangerous glare. He hated that he couldn't hurt me. He hated that his grand punishments were bouncing right off my skin.
"Enjoy the cold," he spat out bitterly.
He grabbed the edge of the heavy wooden door, pulled it shut with a violent slam, and I heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy iron key turning in the lock from the outside.
I was completely trapped in the dark.
The room was pitch black, the only illumination coming from the occasional flash of lightning outside the window.
I looked down at my left hand, running the thumb of my right hand over the smooth, cold silver wedding band Tobias had forced onto my finger. My mind was completely clear.
He thinks he’s a monster, I thought to myself, staring into the shadows of the empty room. He thinks locking me in this freezing room is going to make me beg for his forgiveness. He thinks his hatred is the strongest thing in this house. But he doesn't know what I've already survived. He doesn't remember the fire. He doesn't know that I'm the one who pulled him out of hell once before.
I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on my arms, listening to the relentless storm howling outside the glass.
The air was freezing, and my breath turned into tiny white clouds in front of my face, but inside, my heart was completely steady.
"I will survive this," I whispered into the empty, pitch-black room, my voice firm and unwavering. "I will save my money, I will watch your empire crumble from the inside, and when I am ready, I will walk out of here with everything you own. Just wait, Tobias. You haven't broken me yet.”