Episode 1

Chapter 1: Irina

When I was almost three years old, I watched my mother die in front of me. She hid me under the bed when some men broke into our house in Russia and told me that no matter what happened, I shouldn't speak or make a sound. I think I took it too seriously, because from that day on I stopped talking. I never uttered another word. So when I turned eighteen, my father arranged a marriage with Steve Ivanov, a boy who had grown up alongside me. To seal a multimillion-dollar contract, he forced me to marry him.

I thought marrying Steve wouldn't be so bad. We had grown up together and had always been friends; he tried to understand me, unlike everyone else. However, on our wedding day, I noticed something different about him. Since the engagement had been announced, he hadn't come to my house, so the first time I saw him was at the civil ceremony — the only one we held — surrounded by our families and closest friends.

On our wedding night, I discovered why he was so angry: his parents had forced him into it, just as my father had forced me.

"Do you really think I want to spend my life with a mute like you? If my family's company weren't at risk, I never would have married you," he shouted at me the moment we were alone in our new house. I tried to communicate in sign language, something he had always tried to understand, but this time he didn't care.

"I don't want to see your stupid signs. If you weren't mute, your father would have lent my family that money without hesitation. But to marry off his mute daughter, he made that a condition. Not even your own father wants you — that's why he married off his younger daughter and not his firstborn," Steve spat.

Tears streamed down my face. And he was right: my father only loved Ines, his eldest daughter, who was actually the daughter of his mistress. Yes, my father had been cheating on my mother long before he married her. I believe he only married her for my grandfather's money. But a few years after the wedding, my grandfather lost nearly his entire fortune, so my father had to work for everything he had now. When my mother died, he brought his mistress and her daughter into our home, and I became the mute bastard no one wanted to see.

"Don't think I'm going to sleep in the same room as you," Steve finished, and he left, leaving me alone in what was supposed to be our bedroom on our wedding night.

I cried all night until I fell asleep. I was alone in the house all the time, so I studied for two degrees online: Business Administration and Graphic Design. Since getting married, my only companion had been my computer, and all I did was study. In addition to the two degrees, I learned several languages. Even though I can't speak, I dream of doing so one day.

Steve came home some weekends, drunk, and insulted me. On a couple of occasions, he slapped me. So every time I heard him come in, I locked myself in the bedroom until I heard him leave the next morning. Two years passed that way. One day, I went out to pick up my university diplomas, feeling happy despite the loneliness.

I went to the cemetery and brought flowers to my mother's grave. Since it was Friday, almost everyone got off work early, so as I walked home, I saw many children running in the park with their parents. I wondered if I would ever be a mother. At this rate, I doubted it. When I arrived at the house, I saw Steve's car. I took a deep breath, hoping he wasn't drinking and wouldn't insult or hit me. There were also two men at the door, which seemed strange, but Steve's family had become very powerful over those two years, and sometimes when he came home drunk, his bodyguards brought him. I didn't worry about it, nodded in greeting, and went inside. I heard noises upstairs, so I went up and froze when I saw Steve having sex with Ines — my sister — in my own bedroom.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. A few tears rolled down my cheeks until Ines noticed me.

"Little sister, you're back," she said shamelessly as she covered herself with my sheets.

"Since you're here, take this." Steve wrapped himself in a robe and threw some documents at me.

I took them with trembling hands and read. It was a divorce agreement. Steve handed me a pen to sign immediately.

"Ines is carrying my child, and I won't let my heir be a bastard because I'm married to you. So sign — I have to plan a big wedding," Steve said.

"Oh! And get your things out of here. You and I are done. You can go back to your father. This house now belongs to Ines and my child," he continued, while my so-called sister smiled with satisfaction.

I signed with a lump in my throat. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth. I opened the closet, pulled out my clothes, stuffed them into a small suitcase, and left that place, more broken than when I had left my father's house.

I took a taxi and used my phone to tell the driver where to go. I had no money or bank account of my own — when I lived with my father, he handled my expenses, and after marrying Steve, his personal assistant paid for everything. Now I had only one place to go: my father's house. When I arrived, I paid the taxi and went inside. My father, Igor, and my stepmother were waiting for me, both with angry expressions. There were two other men.

"Finally. Sit down and sign," my father forced me into a chair in front of some papers. I read what they said and immediately shook my head no. It was a new marriage certificate. But I had just signed the divorce papers!

"Don't resist. Just sign. This is your fault. Your sister had to sacrifice herself to save the family because you're so useless you couldn't give Steve a child in two years. Now sign, because I'm not going to support you again, and this way I'll recover the money I lost because of you." My father yanked me by the hair, and my tears fell without stopping.

If I hadn't had children, it wasn't because I didn't want to — it was because Steve never slept in the same room as me. What did they expect? That I would force him, or beg and offer myself to him whenever he came home? Seeing that I couldn't resist, I gripped the pen tightly and signed, heading off to my new prison. Because if this new husband is anything like Steve, wherever I go will be a cage.

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***