Episode 5

“And all in favor of not?” He added, expecting to see only a few hands. But he was surprised when he saw that more hands were raised than before. He saw that Lilian, Missy, Mrs Johnson, Jerry, and some of their sympathetic relatives were among them.

Jordan counted the hands and whispered something in his ear.

“Alright then,” he said, swallowing hard. He hated to admit it, but he had lost the vote. “We will not imprison Mr Johnson,” he said with frustration laced in his voice.

“So what then do we do to salvage this family?” He asked, trying to sound calm and rational. He knew that they still had a problem to solve. The family business was in ruins, and they needed to find a way to restore it.

Mr Johnson shifted a little in his seat, then stood up to speak. He looked nervous.

“I have something to propose,” he said and everyone listened to him attentively.

“We need to find a bride for the Clandestine family,” he dropped a bomb and everyone gasped.

“A bride? For that family?” Someone said from the hall, incredulous and shocked.

“Yes! Is there no other family? I hear the only son is a complete monster,” another voice spoke up, fearful and disgusted.

“Silence!” Mr Bridgerton said and the hall fell silent.

He looked at his brother with curiosity and suspicion. He wondered what he was up to.

“I think it is a reasonable decision. That family is very well-to-do and they have so much money to spare! Their son is in need of a bride and I hear he has a likeness for the ladies in this family,” Mr Johnson said, looking around.

He saw that most of the maidens in the family were not interested in him at all. They looked horrified and disgusted by the idea.

“So the question is who will be the new bride!” Mr. Bridgeton announced, his voice booming across the spacious hall.

The maidens who were gathered there looked at each other nervously. None of them raised their hands. They all knew what it meant to be the bride of the beast.

“This is not going to work!” Martha, one of the maidens, whispered to her friend.

“Yeah! We are all betrothed to someone, married or engaged!” Cheryl agreed, clutching her pearl necklace.

“What about Missy? She can marry that beast!” Martha suggested, pointing at Missy.

Missy gasped, feeling shocked and hurt that her name was even mentioned. She took it personally.

“Why me? Or are you blind? I’m married for goodness sake!” Missy protested, glaring at Martha.

“Yes, but you’re married to a nobody. This is your chance to leave him for a better man,” Martha sneered, looking at Missy’s husband with disdain.

The hall erupted into murmurs and whispers. Everyone was curious about Missy’s fate.

“Mother. You promised to help me. Please don’t fail me now!” Missy pleaded out loud with her mother, who was sitting next to her.

Her mother felt helpless. She had tried to protect her daughter from this cruel tradition, but she was outnumbered by her relatives. It was a very big family and usually it was the majority who carried the vote.

“My daughter is not getting married while she is still married,” Mrs. Johnson spoke up, trying to defend her child.

“You call this a marriage? I call it child’s play! It’s easy for her to divorce and salvage this family. After all, it was you people who put us into this mess,” Bridget, Mrs. Johnson’s eldest sister, retorted.

“What?” Missy mouthed, feeling hopeless. She scanned the hall, looking for someone who would support her. She didn’t expect anyone to defend her. They all hated her for being beautiful and kind.

So her gaze shifted to her husband’s spot and caught him almost asleep.

“Jerry!” She exploded in anger and Jerry jolted awake immediately. He saw everyone staring at him and felt confused.

“What’s going on?” He asked, rubbing his eyes.

“They are about to marry your wife off to another man and you are here, asleep!” She yelled, her voice cracking with emotion.

The hall fell silent for a moment, then everyone burst into laughter. They found it hilarious that Jerry was so clueless and careless about his wife’s situation.

“And you expect that pauper to defend you?” Martha mocked her and everyone laughed again.

Missy felt tears sting her eyes. She wished she could leave the hall, but she knew she couldn’t. She could not let those people decide her fate.

“He was even asleep. In a very important meeting like this. You see why he shouldn’t even be considered an option?” Martha continued to taunt her and the laughter grew louder.

“Silence!” Mr. Bridgeton shouted, banging his fist on the table.

He looked at Missy with a cold smile.

“We will make our decision after everyone has cast their votes,” he said.

Missy felt her heart sink. She knew what the outcome would be.

She looked around her and saw the faces of her relatives who were jealous of her and her riches. They didn’t even want the best for her, except her mother.

She glanced over at her father and he seemed indifferent about it. After all, he was the one who proposed the idea in the first place.

He had agreed to marry her off to the Constantine family, a powerful and wealthy clan that owned half of the town. They had a son who was known as a ruthless and arrogant man, who treated women like objects.

Missy had never met him, but she had heard enough stories to fear him.

“All in favor of Missy’s union with the Constantine family?” Mr. Bridgeton asked, raising his hand.

Almost everyone in the room followed his example, raising their hands in the air.

Missy saw that she was never going to win this vote, so she cupped her face in shame, fighting back her tears. She didn’t want to give them even more reason to taunt her.

“And all in favor of not,” Mr. Bridgeton continued, looking around.

Only her mother’s hand and Jerry’s hand were up.

“Pathetic,” her mother muttered under her breath.

“What was that, Mrs. Johnson? You are not happy with the turn of events?” Mr. Bridgeton asked in a mocking tone.

“All of you are pathetic! I’ve always known you disliked this family. This is an abomination, I tell you!” Mrs. Johnson yelled, her eyes darting around the hall, looking at the faces of the people whom she called family but were betraying her.

“It is done and decided. Your daughter will be given off in marriage to the Constantine family in due time and following due process for the betterment of this family and to salvage our economic crisis,” Mr. Bridgeton said with finality in his voice.

The hall erupted into clapping and cheering, as if they had just won a lottery.

“That will not happen!” Jerry spoke up, standing up on his chair.

Everyone shifted their attention to him. He was already standing up on top of the stool they gave him, but he didn’t care.

He loved Missy more than anything in the world and he wasn’t going to let them take her away from him.

“And who asked you to speak, pauper?” Mr. Bridgeton asked, annoyed by his interruption.

“I don’t need permission to speak. You are in my premises,” Jerry retorted with a sly smile on his face.

He had a confidence in him that no one had ever seen before.

“I beg your pardon. Get down from that chair and sit down!” Mr. Bridgeton yelled, already visibly annoyed.

But before Jerry could reply, someone walked in.

The door opened with a loud bang and a man entered the hall.

He was tall and handsome, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore a suit that fit him perfectly and a watch that sparkled on his wrist.

He had an aura of authority and charisma that made everyone stare at him in awe.

“Is that…?” someone in the hall whispered.

“Yes! It’s Tom! Tom Hawkins! First son and financial adviser to Gregory Hawkins,” another voice said.

“Brother! What took you so long?” Jerry asked, running to give his brother a long hug.

“Sorry. Traffic,” Tom said, tapping his brother on the back and then breaking the hug. He scanned the hall with his sharp eyes, taking in the scene.

“All these beautiful maidens. Young, slim, short and fair. And lest I forget, single. But you decided to choose the wife of THE Jerry Hawkins? Are you people not afraid?” He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The whole hall erupted into murmurs.

Everyone knew Tom Hawkins. He was making waves in the business industry. He was a very powerful elite and the son of Gregory Hawkins, the richest man in the country.

They had already doubted Jerry when he said he was the son of Gregory Hawkins because they couldn’t believe that the man could disown a son.

Hell, they didn’t even believe that he had another son besides Tom.

But here he was, standing next to Jerry, looking like his spitting image.

“You are very much welcome to this premises,” Mr. Johnson said, trying to sound polite. He ordered a servant who was in their presence at the time to get a chair for him.

“Yes, thank you. And now that we are complete, we can talk elite to elite because I believe you people made that decision earlier because there was no one who could match the entire hall. Now that I am here, shall we cast the vote again?” Tom said, his tone menacing and confident.