Her siblings’ school fees?
Covered.
Food sent regularly to her village.
And every time she tried to thank him—
He dismissed it.
“It’s handled,” he would say.
Nothing more.
It didn’t make sense.
This wasn’t a man collecting a wife like a possession.
This wasn’t a transaction the way she had been told.
So what was it?
One evening, she found him standing on the balcony, looking out over the city lights.
For a moment, she almost turned back.
But something pushed her forward.
“Why are you really doing this?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t turn right away.
The silence stretched.
Then—
“Because I made a promise,” he said.
Annette frowned.
“To who?”
Now he turned.
And for the first time, something in his expression shifted.
Not fully.
But enough.
“To someone who trusted me,” he replied.
Her chest tightened.
“What does that have to do with me?”
He held her gaze for a long second.
“Everything.”
The answer sent a chill through her.
Because suddenly—
This wasn’t just about helping her family.
This wasn’t just about money.
This was something deeper.
Something personal.
Something she didn’t understand yet.
And as she stood there, looking at the man she had been forced to marry—
Annette realized something that made her heart beat faster.
She had entered this marriage as a solution.
But she was starting to feel like…
a piece of a story that had already begun long before she arrived.
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