Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Willow
Desolate despair settles in my bones. I feel like the air has been sucked out of me and there’s no oxygen left in the room for me to breathe. The situation I find myself in is almost comical, or it would be, if it wasn’t so heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.
Sebastian Laurence had turned into a category five hurricane and wreaked havoc on my life. I didn’t know how to deal with what he’d said or done. It was hard to process the last forty-eight hours and not have a mental breakdown.
“You need to get Clark Kent to tell him the truth,” I mumble to myself as I reach for my phone.
As I grab it, I stare at my small green suitcase—the one I’d packed so excitedly days before.
I try to keep my tears in because I’m just not ready to break down.
I call both of the numbers I have for Clark Kent, and neither one of them works.
They just keep ringing, and I don’t even get sent to voicemail.
I know that he’s blocked me. My heart sinks. He’s blocked me, and I have no other way of getting in contact with him.
A part of me wonders if I should demand that Sebastian put us all in a room together and hash it out, but I know that’s never going to happen.
Sebastian loves his brother deeply, and it’s obvious to me that he’s protective over him.
I don’t know what lies his brother told him, but it it’s obvious to me that Sebastian will always look out for him, over me.
I admire his protective nature and his loyalty. They are traits I want in a partner.
In fact, I’d thought that protection was something he’d also offer me, along with a deep love and acceptance of me and all my faults, but I’d been blind to the truth. I’d been an idiot to think this man could love me barely knowing me. There’s no such thing as love at first sight or serendipity.
I want to slap myself for going along with everything so easily and for believing his lies.
I’d so badly wanted my knight in shining armor to come along and rescue me from the abject pitifulness of my life.
I was so desperate for love, oh so desperate—that I’d gone along with this speedy relationship and ignored all the warning signs that everything was too good to be true.
I knew, in my subconscious, that I’d been questioning things, but I didn’t want to listen to that voice.
My eyes feel heavy, and tears threaten to burst the dam and cascade down my face.
I want to cry so badly that it pains me to keep the tears inside.
Screams want to exit my body and ripple through the air in large waves, but I refuse to give Sebastian the satisfaction of seeing me break down.
The man is a sociopath. He’d likely delight in seeing that he’d almost broken me.
It’s pitiful the number of times I told him I loved him. As I gazed at him, all my emotions showing on my face, he must have been laughing inside.
I hate myself for being such an idiot.
How could I marry a man I barely knew? How could I gush about him and proclaim love so many times to a man who had not once said it back?
A flush of shame courses through me, and I close my eyes as coldness seeps through my veins. I feel as though I’ve just walked through an office building naked. Exposed, shamed, broken.
I wonder if there’s any part of Sebastian that will listen to reason. Is there any part of him that will try and understand and believe me? Was any part of what we’d shared actually true? I stupidly thought he actually believed in fate and stars aligning.
“You’re a fucking fool, Willow,” I whisper, steeling myself when I hear the door opening. Despair courses through me. I square my shoulders and lift my head high.
You’re stronger than this.
Sebastian strides in with his confident, self-assured manner. His eyes narrow as he gazes over at me. He’s still as handsome as ever, and my heart flutters for a moment before it realizes that he hates me and that I should hate him.
“Are you ready?” he snaps, and it takes everything in me not to tell him to go to hell.
I want to punch him and scream about how much he’s broken and hurt me, but I won’t allow myself to go that low. I almost wonder if this is part of the game for him. Maybe he wants to break me. Maybe that’s how he wins.
“Can we talk, please?” I hate the whine in my voice as I plead to his good senses. “Sebastian, I’ve never heard of Sergio.”
His face is blank, lacking any emotion, as he stands there with his arms crossed. He’s like a security guard—burly, mean, and no-nonsense.
“Please, Sebastian, listen to me. I’m telling you, I don’t know Sergio, and he certainly never gave me any money.
” Hysteria rises in my chest, clawing at my throat, and making it hard to breathe.
“Please, listen to me. I only have two hundred fifty-nine dollars in my bank account. Look, you can see.”
I scramble to get my phone to show him. I log into the banking app and then push the screen in his face.
“Two hundred fifty-nine dollars, Sebastian,” I reiterate, needing for him to believe me. “Oh, and let’s not forget the thirteen cents.”
He stares at the screen for a few moments, his eyes scanning the information in front of him. I hope that he’s going to believe me. I hope that he’ll apologize and we’ll laugh and move on with our life.
Instead, his brow furrows and he glares at me.
“Do you think I’m stupid, Willow?” he says in a cruel, thin voice.
“What?” I’m confused by his question.
He stares at me for a couple of seconds. “How many offshore accounts do you have?”
“What offshore accounts?” I ask in shock. He can’t be serious, can he?
I grab his hand, but he pulls away from me, and that hurts more than anything. “Sebastian, I’m telling the truth. I’m broker than broke.”
A scowl of disbelief mars his handsome face as he snaps, “Ten million types of broke.”
And, as I think about what he’s accusing me of, and the reality of the situation, I can’t stop myself from laughing hysterically. This is literally a bad joke. A nightmare so cruel and vicious that even Freddy Krueger would feel sorry for me.
Sebastian thinks I’ve hidden ten million dollars when I’ve never even seen or thought about seeing that amount of money in my life.
“You think this is funny?” His voice is cold, and something in his tone pierces my heart. He doesn’t believe me. He will never believe me. He doesn’t love me. Every single moment we’ve shared has been false—just a mirage of what I wanted to see. I understand now. There is no getting through to him.
“I’m ready to go,” I say, defeated and tired. I have nothing left to say. All of my excitement and love have evaporated into the air.
His eyes flash with an unreadable emotion I’m unable to interpret. Then, with a grunt, he goes to grab my suitcase, but I snatch it away from him quickly. I don’t want his help.
“I got it,” I clip out, not making eye contact. I can’t bear to stare at the man I’d given myself to so easily.
We walk out of the room in deafening silence. I don’t look back. As the door closes behind us, we head to the elevator, and all I can think is that I’m the exact opposite of what I was when I first arrived here.
I don’t know where we go from here or what he wants from me. I don’t really understand why he married me. I don’t understand the contract, but I’m sure at some point, he’ll explain more.
I just don’t care anymore. He’s not the man I thought he was. He’s not the man I thought I loved.
As we get into the limo, I look out at the hotel and down the street.
What had been all bright lights and exciting dreams when we’d first arrived were now broken promises and heartache.
As the limo pulls away and I stare at the trash on the streets and see the drunks stumbling and throwing up, I realize that this place was all fake—everything about it.
Vegas, like Sebastian, offered me an illusion of grandeur and fun, but I see now that the glamour and the glitz of it all were built up on a facade of what I’d wanted to see and believe.
Maybe because the reality of my life was just too depressing for me to bear. Maybe because I was so fed up with my real reality, I trusted the illusion. I believed the lies. But now, I can’t allow myself to absorb the deception any longer.
There is no happily ever after for me.
I understand that now. I’m ready to accept my real fate, that life is something cruel and without mercy. To just be grateful that at least I have two best friends I love and can rely on. That is more than a lot of people have.
When I feel eyes burning into me, I glance over at Sebastian who’s staring at me. I take in his handsome face and then look away. I have nothing left to say to him. I just don’t care anymore.