Bound by silence

Ana sat in stunned silence, her father's words still echoing in her mind. The air in the drawing room felt thick and suffocating, every breath a reminder of the decision that had just been made—without her consent, without her voice.

Her father's cold gaze never wavered as he held the letter, his hand firm and unyielding. The engagement was set. No discussion, no consideration for her feelings, just an unspoken command. His decision had been final, his authority absolute. Ana had no choice but to accept it, trapped within the walls of silence that her father had built around her.

"I don't see why you're so upset, Ana," Lila, her younger sister, teased from across the room, a sly grin playing at her lips. "It's not like you had any say in the matter anyway." The teasing tone in Lila's voice only deepened Ana's frustration.

Ana's gaze shifted to her mother, whose quiet demeanor only seemed to add to the suffocating tension. Like Ana, her mother had always been respectful and reserved, but Ana could see the silence in her eyes too. Her mother, like always, would remain quiet in the face of her husband's decisions, no matter how heavy the burden on their family.

She turned her gaze back to her father, but the pain of his dismissal gnawed at her. She wanted to scream, to demand to be heard, but the words stuck in her throat. Her voice had been silenced, and she was forced to remain still, to accept the path laid out for her with no room for objection.

"Don't worry, Ana," her brother muttered under his breath, his face darkening. He had remained largely quiet up until now, but even he couldn't escape the weight of the situation. "You're not the only one who's affected by this."

Her brother's words barely registered as her mind swirled with confusion and disbelief. Caden Aurelius Voltaire-Falkner—a name she had never heard until now. A stranger who was now bound to her by the decisions of her father. The thought of marrying him, of sharing her life with someone she had never met, felt like a heavy chain around her heart.

Her chest tightened, the thought of being trapped in this life overwhelming. Could she ever escape this fate? Could she ever find the strength to stand up to her father, to reject the life he had chosen for her?

But as the silence stretched on, Ana knew that she had no choice. Her father's word was final, and she had no voice in this. She was bound by the silence, by the expectations and the weight of her father's power.

Ana's heart sank as she realized: this was her life now. Bound by silence. Trapped in a world where her own desires didn't matter.