FLASHBACK
AFTER TWO YEARS OF MARRIAGE
The morning had been like any other. A silent breakfast at one end of a table, and Asher leaving without any talk. That had been my routine for two years now.
As soon as I was done with my breakfast, and he left, my tablet resting on the living room table rang with a notification sound. I walked towards the table, and opened it. It was a news alert.
LIN EMPIRE CRUMBLES: BILLIONAIRE RICHARD LIN ACCUSED OF MASSIVE FRAUD, FAMILY MISSING.
My world stopped. The words blurred on the screen.
My father. Massive fraud. Family missing.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.
For two years, this penthouse had been my golden cage. It was a cage but it provided safety to me and my family. My marriage was the transaction my father made to save his crumbling business, and I had been the price.
And now, the business wasn't just crumbling; it was dead, thus making the deal void.
My heart was beating fast. I sat perfectly still, my fingers frozen on the screen, and I waited. I waited for the phone to ring, for the door to slam open, for the furious voice of my husband to finally acknowledge my existence in the most devastating way possible.
Then, a sound came. I heard the sound of the penthouse door opening. My entire body went rigid. It was Asher.
He didn't call out my name. He didn't head to his study. He came directly toward the living room.
He stood in front of me. His face was unreadable. There was no anger, no panic. He looked at the tablet in my hands, and I'm sure he knew what I was reading on it. But he was calm. He was standing a few steps away from me, his hands casually in his pockets.
I stared at him, trying to find the anger but there was nothing.
Without saying anything, he turned and walked towards the sofa. He was carrying a black bag that I hadn't noticed before. He tossed it onto the cushions beside me.
"The gown." He said. He then placed a small, black velvet box on top of the bag. "The diamonds are in the box. Your hair and makeup team will be here in fifteen minutes. We leave for the gala in forty five."
I could only stare, my brain refusing to process the words.
A gala? He was talking about a gala?
My world had just imploded, my family was in disgrace and missing, and he was giving commands about gowns and diamonds.
"Asher..." I finally spoke. I gestured toward the tablet. "The news... my father... you can't expect me to…."
"The Lins and their problems are no longer your concern." He cut me off, leaving no room for argument.
He took a step closer, his gaze pinning me to the spot.
"You are a Wang now. Your only duty tonight is to stand beside me and represent this family. Is that understood?"
It wasn't a question. It was a command. And I realized my cage hadn't broken open. The bars had simply been reforged into a different shape. I was no longer a asset tied to a profitable merger but a liability he now had to manage.
"Why?" I asked him as soon as he turned to leave. "Why are you doing this? Why not just let me go? The contract is void! You have no obligation to me now!"
He stopped. Slowly, he turned back, and looked at me.
"Let you go?" He repeated. "So you can be immediately devoured by the press, the prosecutors, and your father's creditors? So you can be dragged through the mud and become a permanent stain on the Wang name for the world to pity?"
He took a single step toward me.
"Sentiment is a luxury I cannot afford. Perception, however, is a weapon. If you are seen hiding, if you are seen broken, then we are weak. If you stand beside me, head high and draped in Wang diamonds, we are untouchable. We are above the scandal."
This wasn't protection. It wasn't a husband shielding his wife. This was a CEO performing damage control.
"Tonight, we control the narrative. You will play your part."
He didn't wait for a response. He turned and walked away. I was left standing there, the gown feeling like a shroud, the diamonds in the box like weights that would chain me to him in this new chapter of our arrangement.
My legs felt weak. I sank onto the sofa. He hadn't offered comfort. He hadn't expressed anger. He had presented a strategy, and my role in it was non negotiable.
Then the doorbell rang, and I could see the stylists coming ready to doll me up for the gala.
The game had begun. And I was the pawn being moved into position on the board by a master player who saw me as a variable to be controlled.