Marian
I was grabbing to Drayton’s arm before I could stop myself. My legs gave out and had he not caught me, I would have fallen to the chaise, rather than been lowered.
“Turn it off.”
Drayton’s deep tone had the tape stopping.
“I’m sorry,” I rushed out. “You had earbuds in on the plane, and you didn’t have the volume playing in the SUV.
I never knew what she said—I didn’t know—” A sob had my hand flying to my mouth to cut it off, but there was no stopping the pain that split my heart in two at my mother’s cold words. “She wanted me to die?”
“Marian, I’m sorry.”
I quickly tried to compose myself, wiping away the tears. “No. I’m sorry. I was caught by surprise. I just—” My hand stayed close to my mouth as I tried to force the tears away. This was not the time. “Please, let’s just continue with business.”
“Marian.”
At Drayton’s mother’s worried tone, my head shook. “I’m okay. Let’s just… We need to continue.”
Drayton lowered, crouching to face me.
“Do you remember what you told me when we were pulling up? That woman on that tape is dead to us, and she failed at keeping us apart. I have you back, and you’re a Pennington now.”
“Yes.”
“You are my wife.”
I sniffled, trying my best to keep up my hard exterior. “Yes.”
“It’s me and you now.”
“Always.”
“Always?” Drayton’s mouth tugged back into a half smile, and he cupped my face.
“I’m The Devil. It’ll be longer than that.
An eternity. You’ll never get rid of me.
” He kissed my forehead, standing and turning to face his family.
“As you can see, I never hurt Marian. We loved each other, and what happened was out of our control, which is why I’ve been given back my title.
Melissa is dead. Ronald and Jett are dead.
The LaRoe line ends in the circle, but Marian is now one of us.
She’s a Pennington and my wife, and if anyone wants to speak against that, here we are. Say it now.”
Drayton’s mother was still wiping away tears, and his father’s head was in a constant loop of shaking back and forth as he processed. It was his brother, Jaxson, who’s glare increased as he looked between us.
“You work in Hollywood. For all we know that isn’t real.”
Drayton took a step forward. “Are you saying I created fake evidence and submitted it to the circle just to get my title back?”
He shrugged. “With all the other videos coming out, it would be the perfect opportunity. You said you took Marian before you even knew she was innocent. How convenient that you happened to have her when this tape was released. You never stopped this crusade to get her back. It’s what got you kicked out of the family to begin with.
You’re out of control, Drayton. You’re not equipped to be heir. ”
His father looked back at the screen, lifting his gaze to Drayton.
“I didn’t stop because I never raped her.
I never hurt her. I love Marian. And yeah, I took her.
And yes, I made her pay for what she did to us.
But the Elders gave her to me. They took her because they debated killing her.
I could have let them or married her to use as I saw fit. The choice was mine, and I made it.”
“Drayton.” Horror drew in his mother’s face. “What are you saying? Use her, how?”
“For her bloodline, Mother. For my heirs.” Drayton stood taller.
“I was going to. I was told I could kill her after I got what I wanted. The choice was up to me but…” Drayton glanced my way, his face changing through the emotions.
“I love her. I love her more than I think I ever did. She never backed down from her truth. She tried to tell me. Maybe I held hope and believed her. I didn’t want to.
After seeing the evidence—I don’t regret what I did, and truthfully, what Marian and I have isn’t settled yet.
We’re close, but we’re not quite to where we need to be.
We’re going into this in a traditional standpoint.
We’re going to isolate and figure this out ourselves. ”
Drayton’s mother’s hand went to her chest, only for her to grab to the desk. She clearly wasn’t in support of that path.
“You say traditional as if that’s okay. There’s…torture involved. Pain. If she paid, why must she continue to? She hinted at possibly already carrying your heir. Is it not a risk to keep hurting her?”
“You’re seriously trying to defend the woman who ruined our family?” Jaxson’s outburst had me easing to stand, but he continued. “I say it’s still not good enough. She’s walking. She’s talking. She’s clearly getting affection,” he snapped, glaring over to Drayton.
“Marian is your brother’s wife, Jax. What do you expect him to do? Beat her black and blue? Did you not watch what her mother did?” Evelyn reached for Drayton’s father. “This is too much. This—Drayton, what have you done to her?”
Silence went through the room as all eyes came to my husband.
“You don’t want to ask me that, Mother.”
Green eyes, the same color as Drayton’s flickered to me, only to go back to her son.
“I have no choice. None of our families are allowed secrets. You know how this works. We’re an open book. We have to know.”
Drayton paused for a long moment, turning to me.
I could see that the tenderness that had been in him when we walked into this room was gone.
He was searching my gaze. Looking for what was different within himself.
Or maybe he was looking for a love bomb in my eyes to reassure him of what we shared?
God, was that what he was constantly doing?
A hardness came over his face as I kept my features lax, and the anger in his expression as he turned back to his family sparked true fear.
“Drayton, what did you do?”
His brows narrowed in, and he turned to face them again.
“You want to know? Fine. Bastian Allard, her fiancé, is dead. I made her cut him apart with my bone saw. She took his hand. His leg. I made her saw off his skull and remove his brain. After I broke his body to pieces, she got to reach into his corpse and give me his heart.” His mother swayed.
“I damn near raped her more than once so that she would know the difference. So that she could pay for saying it at all. I drugged her. A lot. Hurt her. Humiliated her. And like I said before, I love my wife, but I’m not done.
Traditional is what we choose. We, as man and wife, and I don’t care what you think about that. ”
“Dear Lord.” His mother spun to hold to Drayton’s father. “Talk to him. Tell him not to do that to her. She feels guilty. We saw the video. It’s not her fault. Tell him to stop; he’s finished.”
“I am not done, Mother.” Drayton’s deepening glare turned to fixate on his brother. “Well, what do you say, Jaxson? Has Marian suffered enough for you? Is there something else you’d like me to do to her to make her atone? Maybe there’s something she can do for you.”
Drayton’s brother took a step forward but to the side. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to leave or attack his brother. His mask was as good as Drayton’s, and I couldn’t read his emotions.
“No? Father? What else should Marian endure? You let our company go to hell once she made those accusations. You stopped working. You left it for Jaxson to try to run. Jaxson, who wasn’t trained for this.
Who wasn’t ready to handle that sort of pressure.
” Drayton’s loud voice was a suffocating heaviness in the room.
“Wait, I know.” He forced a heartless smile to his face.
“Let’s take Marian’s booming empire. What do you say?
I mean, she did offer it to me freely. Why not take advantage of that, right?
She couldn’t possibly feel guilty enough.
Let’s take all of her hard work and make our failures better.
Done.” Drayton glanced at me. “Done. Thank you, Marian, my love.” He threw up his hands, putting his attention back on his family.
“Money? Oh, yes. Money for everyone. You can’t imagine how much we have now.
Or the assets. Anyone want to take a vacation?
Choose a fucking city. We have new houses.
You see, I marry her, practically rape her, and destroy part of her, but my wife is worth billions.
That should make you all feel better, right?
Is she forgiven? No. Not yet? No.” He said, stepping towards them threateningly. “Not. Quite. Yet.”
“Enough of this.” Drayton’s father stared at him appalled. “Who are you? I don’t even know you anymore.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Drayton pointed, letting his finger cut a line right through all three of them.
“You abandoned me. You turned your backs on me because I couldn’t handle what happened.
All you could think about were yourselves.
I needed you. But no, you worried what everyone would think.
You blamed me. You helped turn me into this.
Now, you get to face what you’ve created. ”
I glanced over at Quinn, who appeared just as unsettled as me. Drayton’s tone wasn’t normal, and his emotional state was getting darker by the minute.
“Jaxson’s right,” his father said, lowering his voice. “You are not fit to be the heir. You’re even worse than before. I do not support you leading this family.
Drayton laughed, his tone pure malice. “You don’t have to.
The Elders do, and that’s why they brought me back in.
I can take care of shit. You can’t. That’s the problem.
You don’t have to like their decision, Father, but you damn well have to pretend to support it, because when you stop, you’re out.
You’re gone. You’re dead. Don’t believe me?
Petition their ruling. See what happens. ”
“No one is petitioning anything.” Evelyn’s hand came out, trying to calm everyone. Trying to show some sign of peace. All I saw was the same fear I felt. “We’re all just heated in the moment. Let’s take deep breaths and work through this. Marian, honey, why don’t you come over here by me.”
My lips parted, and Drayton’s hand latch to my bicep before I could even move.
“So you can try to take her away from me? Marian stays by my side.”
“I… I wasn’t going to take her, Drayton.
I.” Concern and tears filled his mother’s eyes.
“You watched that video. You saw what she went through. And you made her pay. Marian’s paid.
I just want her safe from heated tempers.
Everyone is upset right now, but we’re adjusting.
You’re the heir. We all know that. I’m trying to keep your possible heir safe. That’s all I’m doing.”
“My heir will be safe with me. I’ll protect it with my life. I won’t turn my back on what’s mine. I didn’t with Marian. And she is mine. She may have had to pay for her betrayal, but she was always mine.”
“Marian…”
At his mother’s pleading call, I eased my arm back from Drayton’s hold, instead, moving in to wrap around his bicep.
The action had his shoulders easing down and the tension slightly leaving his stiff frame.
“I’m safe, Mrs. Pennington. I’m staying with Drayton.
He wouldn’t let me get hurt. If anything happens, it won’t be because of him.
” I looked up, meeting his eyes. No persuasion.
No special stare. “I love you. I’m staying at your side, just like I said I would. ”