Your Worth!

Her face lost its colors slowly, like a fish taken out of water, it did not die at once, but kept struggling till the end only to know that it did not have a chance of being saved.

Her feet gave up.. After running all night only to know that she was running towards her doom. As she fell on the chair with a sharp noise, Many turned back to look at her with a frown on their rough and tired face when Adam stood in front of her, protecting her from their scowls.

But it was only a greedy act in his eyes. Like a butcher, take care of the cattle to make sure it will be sold at good prices later. She would not mistake it to take it as a care or pity.

A desire in her heart to ask for help, to tell them how she was being forced and plead them to arrange a meeting with his majesty. He was the well wisher of her family, her father looked up to that man.

But she knew it was futile, her uncle and the man standing in front of her had better access to the palace. Their words carry much more weightage than the words of a woman.

"Since you have your own will to decide, i will better leave you here, my lady." he stood up with his deep eyes giving her a last glance that had no emotions.

"Wait!" she bit her lips. He was a cruel monster, but he was her last choice. She couldn't marry her cousin, absolutely not!

The thought appalled her to no end. Her fist tightening under her dress.

"You are considering the offer of proving me crazy for a share in my wealth right?" she knew it, she had heard it from her own ears, "if you marry me on papers only to divorce me a month later, i will give you forty percent of my income." The offer was more than she could ever accept.

His eyes flickered, he gazed at her from head to toe. The burning look in his eyes humiliated her. She felt molested and ruined as if he was disrobing her. Her legs clenched closer unconscious and her head bowed low. She only realized her action when she heard him scoffing.

"It is more than you can ever imagine, more than my uncle will ever offer you!" she reckoned, hoping that money would sway him.

It should be a man like him. He did not have morals and she was not asking him to kill someone.

Just marry her on name! It was the best for both of them.

But her dreams were broken when he mocked again.

His face turned in a sardonic look looking at her desperation.

"I can not marry you. I will not marry for money." The reply stunned her as she raised her head and stared at the man.

It could not be that he wanted a love marriage. Or he already had a lover, he proposed to marry to.

"It will not be a real marriage!" she repeated when he asked!

"How desperate you are to ask a stranger to marry you with such a disheveled look. Are you not afraid that I will take you into a room and take your innocence in reality?" his hands reached her chin, held it tightly and forced her to raise her head and look at him,

The grip was not gentle at all. But full of menace and mockery. She had never been this humiliated before that her face burned.

Her hands stirred to slap him and tell him she was not a cheap whore he had visited often.

But his gaze was too strong, domineering, it did not ask for obedience but expected it and took it from the wildest of beings.

"I will not marry you!" he said in a solemn voice as if he was taking a vow when he let her go. "But I can help you in stalling time. To prepare your escape in a better way this time."

Like a drop in the mouth of a dying man, she felt a hope to live as she rubbed her chin. But there was no way that the man could be kind to her. His actions had told her so many times.

"I can not offer you money until I marry someone." she said in a low voice when he chuckled.

His eyes glowing with an evil look that she took a step away.

"There are many things that could be offered instead of money. You just need to think more." he said as he started taking off his coat when her eyes shook.

He was worse that she had thought. Her eyes filled with hatred, "ha! I would rather…"

"You are overestimating your value." came the cold and harsh words breaking her thought process. "I mean you have sharp ears and eyes that could be used in my favor."

"..."

She hesitated. After today's event, they would be too suspicious of her.

"If you reach the palace before they know you have left, there is a chance that i can prove the maid is spewing lies to gain money. When it comes to your uncle, he trusts no one. And he would rather believe that you are a fool than to be wary of you." he shrugged his shoulders.

"You just need to keep your eyes and ears open and bring me some information I need. That is the cost of going back safely from here."