Chapter 4
The butler was gone for ages.
I waited so long I was about to fall asleep.
Ryan kept holding me, looking a little tired. He lowered his head, gently touched his forehead to my nose, then straightened up, his cheeks turning red.
"Serena, you smell so good," he murmured.
Suddenly, slow, sarcastic clapping broke the silence in the hall.
The crisp click of leather shoes echoed across the room.
I looked up. Alexander was leaning against the doorframe in a sharp suit, watching us with a lazy smirk, then let out a derisive laugh.
"So, to get yourself married off, you picked someone so shabby?" Alexander sneered.
I kept my eyes closed, refusing to look at him. "Mr. Ford, let it go. You're never short of admirers. Please, I'm begging you, let me go."
Alexander said, "Honestly, I'd love to let it go, but the Ford Family has its rules. Break the deal, and you get thirty lashes. Ring any bells?"
Alexander watched me, his smile full of mockery.
Alexander said, "Rules are rules. I can't ignore them. If you can handle thirty lashes, I won't stand in your way."
For a second, my mind went blank. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I knew the Ford Family was all about keeping their word. Those rules about vows were no joke.
But Alexander's the one calling the shots now!
Everyone in the Ford Family relies on him for everything. If he doesn't say anything, who'd dare speak up?
He's deliberately making things hard for me!
As soon as he said "thirty lashes," a suffocating silence fell over the room. It was like death itself had settled in.
The butler glanced between me and Alexander, his face full of disapproval, then let out a helpless sigh.
The butler said, "Miss Serena, why not be a little more agreeable with Mr. Ford? He's already planning your wedding."
"Shut up!" Alexander snapped, his voice icy cold.
Alexander interrupted him sharply, his tone icy.
His narrow, fox-like eyes locked onto me, icy and unfeeling.
Since I showed no sign of giving in, he turned to the butler.
Alexander said, "Open the family chapel."
The Ford Family's chapel was huge and shrouded in gloom. After years of renovations, the place was packed wall-to-wall with memorial plaques, so dense they seemed to crowd the air, each one quietly marking the passage of generations.
I was wearing borrowed servant clothes, kneeling on the freezing marble floor. My knees hurt like hell.
Whenever the Ford Family rules were enforced, every single member had to show up and witness the punishment.
There were faces I recognized, some I didn't, and a whole bunch of people who never liked me, now watching and laughing at my misery.
"I knew it. Alexander never cared about her. So what if she had two kids? She's trash who dug her own grave!"
"Poor thing. Once the mother gets punished by the family, those kids can kiss any chance at the inheritance goodbye."
"Thirty lashes! Is she even gonna survive that?"
The chatter around me was like a swarm of gnats, relentless and irritating.
Their malice was raw and unapologetic, landing on my shoulders and back like a physical weight.
I remembered when I was little, watching a punishment in the Ford Family's hall, grabbing onto Alexander's sleeve in fear and asking him, "Will I ever have to kneel here and get punished too?"
He smiled and gently ruffled my hair.
Alexander said, "Dummy, you're under my protection. Who'd dare mess with you?
"I've got your back, so don't worry."