♤DEALS♤

Chapter 19 - A Dealer doesn't want to make a deal

Peyton Griffin's POV

Growing up in the British Empire, there were a lot of things that I had to learn about first-hand.

I learnt how women didn't have a say in their families as far as they were in the empire. I would always have people who wanted to use me to get closer to my Father if I could even call him that.

I learnt that even the people we hold as saints can be the deadliest things lurking in the dark.

My father ruled the Empire with an iron fist, but I always saw little glimpses of where he felt that he was doing the wrong thing. Maybe even rethinking his whole course of doing things the way he did, but when a man does things like that. You should remember, that I was doing it in the interest of my family.

So I once snooped around the house to quench my curiosity; I stumbled upon my mother's journal.

After I made breakfast for everyone, I took a banana and locked myself in my room.

It has been a couple of weeks in. I haven't called Danny or Charlie. I don't know what to do, but I know where to get my answers.

I reach for the book under my pillow and plop down on my bed. The large brown leather book holds my answer. It is the only thing that can connect me to my mom, especially since I never met her.

I've only read a few snippets from different parts of the book, but I am determined to get what I want.

I open the first page, Faith Margret Griffin

I turned to the next page and adjusted my position because this will take a while.

As the only person who could inherit the riches my parents would leave me, I made a vow. I promised myself that the British Empire, will not crumble under my rule. There would be firmness and loyalty among all.

Families would be formed based on love and kindness, but most of all, I promised that nothing would stop me from proving to the world that a woman scorned is not a woman to be mourned but a woman to be feared.

That being said, it came as more of a shock when one day during dinner. My mother called me and told me that no matter what happened, I shouldn't lose myself.

Of course, I didn't understand what she said, but she refused to explain her words, and she kept talking in riddles. It was not until the next day that I understood what she said.

Father's second in command went by the name of Reynold. They were two children who both were the bane of my existence. Father had struck a deal with them; that I marry his son to keep up the facade of the Empire's rulers and to continue the bloodline. The so-called husband-to-be was a womanizer and an alcoholic.

Without my consent, the marriage was set. The terms were that Troy Reynold would change his last name to mine, Griffin. He would only get twenty per cent of the empire, while the rest goes to me.

Obviously, this is not the cliché romcoms that everyone sees. Troy and I passionately hated each other, and our wedding night was not fueled by passion. It was mostly done out of a sense of duty, that's if you could call it that.

As our matrimony became older, the shared nights became more agonizing, especially for me. Since he was now a married man; Troy was seen as a responsible man. No more late nights, no more women, no more drinks, but he got the money that his parents wanted him to have. He got to keep the family heritage while his sister would one day be the second in command for us. Although good things never did last.

It became my worst nightmare, and to top it all off, I got pregnant. The thought of abortion did cross my mind. No child of mine deserves to put up with the monster my parents dumped me on, but it's not like I had a choice in the first place. So I learnt from their mistake, and I gave them a choice.