Chapter Two
Natalia wanted to follow them to the office, but her mother prevented her, telling her that if her father had wanted her to be with them, he would have told her so.
Natalia said: "Mom, I want to go there, I want to hear what they are saying, perhaps they are discussing a new deal. I have the right to participate, listen, and learn." Her voice was tight with frustration.
She wasn't just being nosy; she felt a profound, almost desperate need to be present, to prove her competence, to ensure her future was handled correctly.
Marilyn retorted, shaking her head: "Natalia, I told you this morning you would become obsessed, but you have been obsessed for ages. This is not a business meeting for you." Natalia shrugged, disagreeing, and said: "I am not. I just want to be the smartest."
Then she looked intently at Marilyn and asked: "Why didn't you tell me that idiot was also coming home with my uncle? His presence is unnecessary."
Natalia's dislike for Cedric wasn't just trivial annoyance; it was rooted in the dismissive way he always spoke about "family responsibilities" in relation to her, implying her youth or gender disqualified her.
Marilyn was surprised by her daughter's words and why she saw Cedric as an idiot and disliked his presence, asking: "Idiot? You mean Cedric?" Natalia said: "Yes, who else? That idiot! Didn't you see how he looks down on everyone, barely listening to a word I said, and thinks he is royalty?"
Natalia felt her mother was wilfully blind. Marilyn was shocked by what she was hearing, knowing her daughter never judged people this way, especially her cousin, who was unfailingly polite, if reserved.
She told her: "Since when do you judge people like this, Natalia? I never raised you that way, and he is your cousin! How can you talk about him so rudely?" Natalia appeared unaffected by her mother's words and replied: "I am not rude, I am just stating the truth as I see it." Natalia felt a surge of cold determination.
She knew her only way in was to create a diversion. Then she got up from the table and said: "I will go make coffee as an excuse to enter the office."
She left Marilyn with an ambiguous expression, a strange mix of fear and resignation, thinking to herself: "I don't know how she will react when she finds out about her father's decision."
Natalia hurried to the kitchen and found the maid, Maria, who hurried to her and said: "Yes, Miss, what do you need?" Natalia reprimanded her: "How many times have I told you not to call me 'Miss'? Just call me Natalia."
Maria smiled gently and said: "I'm sorry, but you know Mrs. Marilyn doesn't like that." Natalia said, pressing the buttons on the coffee machine: "I don't care what my mother likes. I don't want you calling me Miss." Her need for personal control extended even to her title.
Then she said in a low voice: "I wonder how that arrogant one likes his coffee? I hope it's strong enough to keep his ego awake." Maria asked: "Excuse me, Natalia, I didn't hear what you said."
Natalia replied: "I didn't say anything, Maria. Could you prepare three cups for me? I'll ask my mother something and be right back."
She left the kitchen and went to find her mother, who was sitting calmly on the sofa, and asked her: "Mom, do you know how he likes his coffee?" Natalia felt a strange, cold thrill, knowing she was manipulating the situation, using her mother's knowledge against her.
Raised eyebrows, Marilyn asked: "Who?" Natalia replied curtly: "Mom, I mean Cedric. How does he drink his coffee?" Marilyn answered: "Black coffee with a little sugar." Natalia rushed back to the kitchen and found Maria had lined up three cups on a round black tray.
Natalia began pouring the coffee, carefully ensuring her father's and uncle's cups were perfect, while giving Cedric's cup a slightly larger pour, making it dangerously full.
She then picked up the heavy tray and left.
She found her mother blocking the entrance to the hall. "Natalia, you will disturb your father with this behavior.
Take the coffee back to the kitchen right now!" Natalia continued on her way, ignoring her mother's plea, feeling that familiar spark of rebellion ignite.
When she reached her father's office, she knocked on the door and heard Jonathan say: "You may enter."
She walked in carrying the tray and said: "I think you need coffee to continue this important discussion you are having in complete secrecy here."
Stuart smiled, a knowing glint in his eye, understanding that his niece wanted to satisfy her deadly curiosity, and Jonathan also knew the real reason behind this coffee delivery.
Natalia presented the coffee to her father, then to her uncle, her hands steady despite the adrenaline. Then she moved toward Cedric.
As she reached him, the room seemed to tilt slightly. The cup suddenly felt heavy and hot. It slipped from her hand an actual, genuine accident born from nervousness and the weight of the moment and the hot black coffee erupted from the porcelain, soaking the front of Cedric's crisp white shirt.
He jumped up instantly, his face contorted not just in pain from the scalding liquid, but in raw, cold fury. The air filled with the sharp smell of hot coffee and burned fabric.
Natalia was instantly horrified. Her strategic maneuver had gone wrong in the most spectacular and painful way. She stammered, apologizing repeatedly, watching him retreat towards the hallway bathroom, hissing a curse under his breath.
She looked at her father and then her uncle, desperate for them to acknowledge the accident. Stuart, ever the peacemaker, said: "Calm down, my daughter, nothing happened, it's just coffee."
Natalia's panic was visible: "It slipped from my hand! I swear, I didn't mean to!" Jonathan, his face stern and unforgiving, simply said: "Fine, Natalia. Go now and get him a shirt of mine. Be quick."
Natalia dashed to her father's room, grabbed a sky-blue shirt, and hurried to the bathroom.
She knocked, her heart pounding against her ribs: "Cedric, can you hear me? Can you open the door?" He yanked the door open. He was stripped to the waist, his torso bearing a red burn patch, his eyes blazing. "Did you enjoy what you did, you she-devil?" he spat. The insult was a physical blow.
It validated every bad judgement she had ever held about him; she was right he was venomous. Yet, she swallowed the bile, managing to say: "I brought you a shirt from my father. I think it will fit you."
He didn't take the shirt; instead, he grabbed her arm above the elbow, his grip tight and painful. "Do you think you can fool me? I know you did this on purpose. You hate me, don't you?"
Natalia was truly shocked. Yes, she thought he was arrogant, but the deliberate act of malice he was accusing her of was unthinkable.
She snatched her arm back, her composure cracking: "It was an accident! I have no reason to hurt you, you idiot! I am not crazy!" Cedric smiled, a slow, condescending smirk that made her blood run cold. "The mad always think they are sane."
Natalia reached her breaking point. All the suppressed resentment and the injustice of the situation boiled over. She screamed: "What do you think you are to talk to me like that?"
The sound was shrill, attracting everyone. They rushed towards the commotion to find Natalia throwing the shirt at his chest, yelling: "Take this, you arrogant, condescending idiot!" Jonathan was appalled. "What is this inappropriate behavior, Natalia?"
Natalia looked at her father, tears of sheer fury stinging her eyes: "Dad, he thinks I did this on purpose and says I'm crazy!" Cedric, wiping the shirt off his face, immediately shifted tone. "Uncle, she misunderstood what I meant. I only told her that I knew she wouldn't do it on purpose because she isn't crazy, but she interpreted my words differently."
Natalia stared, aghast. He was denying everything, twisting the truth, playing the perfect victim! "Are you going to deny your words now and try to make me look like the one who misunderstood?" She looked desperately at her father: "Dad, this fool is trying to trick you, believe me!"
Jonathan snapped. He yelled, his voice a whip of authority: "Enough, Natalia, enough! I saw you throw the shirt in his face and call him the worst names, and you are still insulting him.
This is unacceptable! Apologize to him right now!" Natalia felt a dizzying sense of betrayal. Her father, her role model, was choosing the manipulative liar over his own daughter.
She looked at Stuart, who refused to meet her gaze, confirming his silence. She turned to her mother, rigid and unmoving, a pillar of stone.
Natalia swallowed the lump in her throat and declared: "Dad, I will not apologize."
Jonathan's face darkened, his entire posture changing into the terrifying persona Natalia and Stuart both knew. "Natalia, apologize now. This is my final word, and I will not accept any further objection." Natalia shook her head with stubborn defiance.
She felt the weight of her academic achievements, her years of hard work, dissolving into nothingness because of a spilled cup of coffee and an arrogant cousin. "I won't apologize, Dad. Not for something I didn't intend and not to a liar."
Jonathan's voice dropped, becoming frighteningly quiet, yet cutting through the silence of the hall. "How long are you going to act like an immature, spoiled child, Natalia?! This is not a college dorm. You are eighteen years old, and you are acting recklessly, which is unacceptable for someone bearing my name! This irresponsible behavior is exactly what I was trying to avoid! You are not ready for the responsibility you crave!"
He took a step closer, towering over her. "Stuart and I finalized the matter in the office before you arrived. And since I will never allow a stranger to marry you and take control of the company, and because your behavior proves you lack the maturity needed for full control, you will abide by the old agreement we made to protect the Empire."
He delivered the final blow, his eyes locking onto hers: "You will marry Cedric. This is our final decision, and you will abide by it."
The world seemed to swim around Natalia. The high ceiling, the faces of her family, a cold displeasure mixed with dismay etched onto Cedric's rigid face, as if he too was witnessing his fate sealed publicly all began to fade.
Her father's voice, harsh and conclusive, ringing in her ears: "You will marry Cedric." There was no escape. No university, no CEO position, no future of her own making. There was only the cold, unyielding reality of a prison named Cedric