The car door shut behind me with a thud, sealing the world out.
The city looked dull through the tinted glass of my car. There was traffic , and I couldn't even focus on the files on my lap. My mind was elsewhere on the girl I left behind at home. The girl they called my wife.
The driver didn't say a word he knew better.
My PA, Adrian, sat in the front seat, holding a tablet in his hand, pretending to be busy.
"Where are we heading first, sir?" Adrian asked carefully.
"The office," I said flatly, staring out the tinted window. The city slid by, gray and silent. "And stop asking unnecessary questions."
"Yes, sir."
There was silence for a few minutes, but my thoughts weren't quiet.
Her face kept flashing in my head that timid look when she said "thank you." The way her hands trembled when she held the spoon.
I didn't ask for her. I didn't ask for a wife. My grandmother and stepmother forced this marriage on me as if I were some puppet who needed a leash. A marriage to save her uncle's company, they said. To protect our family's name, they insisted.
"Adrian," I said suddenly.
He turned halfway. "Yes, sir?"
"Why would they give me a wife I didn't ask for?"
He blinked. "Sir?"
I looked at him sharply. "You heard me. Of all things to hand me is a wife. What am I supposed to do with her?"
Adrian hesitated. "Mrs. Valtieri, sir, she's… young. Maybe your grandmother thought…"
"Don't finish that sentence," I cut him off, voice cold. "My grandmother thinks too much."
"Yes, sir."
I loosened my tie slightly, annoyed at the tightness around my throat. "She's fragile," I muttered. "Too fragile. Like one touch would break her."
Adrian didn't respond. He knew when silence was safer.
I tapped my fingers on the car door, my jaw tightening. "How were they even treating her before she came here?"
"Her uncle's family?" Adrian asked quietly.
"Yes." My voice dropped lower. "The Carters. How were they treating her?"
"I'm not sure, sir."
I turned my head slowly, my gaze sharp. "Then find out."
Silence filled the car for a few moments. Then I added quietly, "Find out everything about her."
Adrian turned to me, confused. "Everything, sir?"
"Yes. I want to know where she lived, who she spoke to, how they treated her at that uncle's house. I want to know what kind of girl my grandmother just tied me to."
Adrian nodded and began typing fast on his tablet.
I stared out the window again, but her image wouldn't leave my head the way she looked this morning when I came downstairs. She was sitting at the dining table, eating quietly. She had dressed up in one of those cheap dresses she must have brought from her old home.
She looked… decent. But wrong.
"Take this," I had said, throwing my black card on the table. "Get whatever you need. Clothes, shoes, whatever. You don't dress like this as Mrs. Valtieri."
She didn't even look up at me, just stared at the card as if it burned her fingers.
The memory made my chest tighten for some reason.
I leaned back, eyes still on the passing streets. The city blurred into streaks of gray. "She looked terrified this morning," I said after a moment. "Like a stray cat, someone kicked too many times."
Adrian hesitated. "Would you like me to arrange…"
"No." I cut him off again. "Don't arrange anything. Just find the facts. I don't fix broken things."
"Of course."
The car went quiet again, but my mind didn't.
I could still see her in that plain blue dress, sitting alone in that giant dining room. It annoyed me more than it should have.
"Sir?" Adrian called
"What is it?" I asked.
"There's a meeting with the board at eleven. You also have lunch scheduled with Mr. Donovan."
"Cancel it."
"Sir?"
"Cancel everything after ten. I don't feel like entertaining anyone today."
I was already angry thinking about the so-called wife they gave me, everything pissed me off.
"What kind of woman doesn't even argue?" I said suddenly.
Adrian looked confused. "Sir?"
"She just sat there," I said, my voice tight. "Didn't talk back. Didn't even look at me properly. Like she already accepted whatever life handed her."
"Maybe she's afraid, sir."
"Afraid," I repeated slowly, tasting the word. "Then she's in the wrong house. Fear doesn't survive long in mine."
Adrian didn't reply.
I exhaled, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Forget it. I don't care."
"Yes, sir."
But even as I said it, I knew it was a lie.
Because the truth was, something about her bothered me the quiet way she carried her pain, the way she didn't fight back. It wasn't a weakness. It was something else.
I hated not being able to define it.
The car slowed as we neared Valtieri's company. The driver parked smoothly by the private entrance.
Adrian turned. "We've arrived, sir."
I nodded but didn't move. My hand gripped the car handle.
"Adrian," I said quietly.
"Yes, sir?"
"When you find out about her," I said, eyes still on the window, "don't tell anyone else. Not even my grandmother."
"Understood, sir."
"And if you find out they mistreated her…" I paused, my tone dropping colder. "Handle it quietly."
Adrian's eyes flickered, unsure if he'd heard me right. "Handle it, sir?"
"You heard me."
He swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."
I opened the door, stepping out into the sharp morning air.
The world outside didn't care about my thoughts; it just kept moving.
But as I walked toward the tower, one thought wouldn't leave me.
She's not my choice.
But somehow… she was already under my skin.