Helen sat down next to me and asked:
—Do you know why your father arranged your marriage so quickly?
I replied that my father believed Ryan could give me a safe life.
Helen smiled bitterly.
Then she took several documents out of her bag. After reading them, I placed my wedding ring on the table and found the courage to do something that left them speechless.
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My father’s signature appeared at the end of one of the documents.
It turned out that my father’s small business had been on the verge of bankruptcy. He owed Ryan’s father a large sum of money. Ryan’s father had promised not to demand repayment of the debt and to offer my father a new business contract, but only if I married Ryan.
The document even stated that the “union” of both families would serve as a guarantee of their business partnership.
I read that sentence several times.
Then I understood that, for them, I had never been a daughter.
It had been a guarantee.
Helen confessed that she had found the documents in her father’s office. She also told me that, years earlier, Margaret had tried to force her to drop out of university and marry the son of a wealthy family.
Helen had escaped the day before the wedding.
That’s why, for years, her family had called her a traitor.
From that day on, I stopped crying.
For two weeks I pretended I had accepted everything. Every morning I cleaned the house as usual, prepared the meals, and listened to Margaret’s insults.
They thought they had finally broken me.
But using Helen’s old phone, I contacted my tutor. She helped me arrange a meeting with a free lawyer and a worker at a women’s support center.
I discovered that I could challenge the marriage because my consent had been obtained through threats and family pressure.
A big dinner party was organized at the house for Margaret’s birthday.
