Sophia's POV

"You will do your duty to this family and get married to Jerry Baxter! My word is final!" Father thundered.

For a moment my vision blurred and I couldn't breathe.

I swallowed hard trying my best to push down my incoming panic attack. If I didn't speak up now, I would never get another chance.

"Father, I don't even know him." I pleaded but that was a lie.

I knew Jerry Baxter well enough to know he was the last person I wanted to marry. He was a spoiled privileged brat and a manwhore.

"I don't care!" Father slammed his hand hard against my dresser, the loud slam making me back away involuntarily. "You are going to put on that dress and walk down the aisle with Jerry Baxter."

Father moved away from the dresser and towards me, anger evident in his dark brown eyes and I knew in that moment that I was doomed.

Father closed the distance between us before gripping my arm painfully hard and pulling me close enough to him that I could smell his alcohol-sour breath.

His voice was harsh and unyielding when he spoke.

"You will not just marry Jerry Baxter but you will be the most dutiful wife to him and repay our debts. Do you understand?"

Father was going to sell me off to repay his gambling debts. Yes, I understood that very well.

I also understood our script well by now. If I continued to resist, he would hit me. Then he would hit Mom for 'not training me properly'.

Father's grip on my arm tightened. "I said do you understand?"

I ducked my head submitting to my inevitable fate as I fought back tears.

"Yes, sir."

Father shoved me and I fell to the ground landing on my hip.

"Get her ready. The Baxters are waiting." Father grunted and I knew without looking up that Mom just entered the room.

She didn't say anything in response and a few seconds later I heard the heavy padding of feet as Father left the room.

Mom helped me up from the floor, out of my dressing robe into my wedding dress all without saying a word.

This was how we coped. As if by not talking about what happened, we were denying it ever happened.

The wedding dress was stunning and easily the most expensive thing I had ever worn in my eighteen years alive.

It was a pristine white corseted tulle dress with a long train that sparkled with every step I took. Father probably rented it from Aunt Rayne's boutique.

Mom took my hand immediately we were alone in the car. Dad had gone ahead to 'placate the Baxters for our lateness'.

"He is young, handsome and financially stable. Both of you will make a good match." Mom said softly, but she sounded like she was trying to convince herself not me and she didn't meet my gaze.

I looked at Mom and even with the makeup she had on, I could see her black eye. I fought the urge to scream frustrated by my own powerlessness.

Father hit her again. He didn't even care that Mom was sick!

I held on tightly to her hands drawing her attention.

"Mom, look at me, I don't want to leave you all alone in that house."

Mom shook her head, her pale blue eyes full of resignation.

"You can always visit, Sophie. Don't throw away your life for me."

Even now, Mom was thinking of me. Yet I couldn't do anything for her.

"Mom." The word left my lips as a sob, tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Don't ruin your makeup," Mom chided me softly even as she pulled me into a warm embrace. "This kind of opportunity only comes once in a lifetime."

More than anyone, I was aware of that. Men like Jerry Baxter didn't marry poor girls like me.

He could have any woman he wanted. He was handsome as sin and the heir of one of the richest families in Los Angeles.

This was why when his proposal had come to my parents a week ago, it had seemed like a dream.

Now though, I knew it for what it was. It wasn't a dream but a nightmare that would span the rest of my life.

The car came to a stop and I knew we were at the church.

My heart raced as Mom held on to me tightly, her voice in my ear a sorrowful whisper.

"Be strong, Sophie."

Those words echoed in my head as I stepped out of the car parked in front of the church.

Be strong, Sophie because a woman's fate was to suffer. And maybe just maybe with this marriage, I would get enough money to change my mother's fate while sealing mine.

Mom had done so much for me. I could do this for her.

I just had to marry a stranger. People did it all the time, right?