Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
EARL
T here are over a hundred people still left in the room and their collective astonishment and faint murmurs of disapproval — there is still great respect and awe for Charles’s family in this town —fade into white noise. The only thing I can focus on is my bride.
Ah, Raven.
It’s not love. I deny that with every fiber of my being. It’s something else entirely—maybe shock, maybe disbelief—because it has been easier, much easier than I ever dreamed of or expected. She didn’t even put up a token gesture of resistance. And now I’m going to marry the woman I’ve sworn I hate. The reality of my revenge feels surreal. Like I’ve stepped into someone else’s life. Or perhaps just mine. My past life.
Raven’s voice pulls me back to the moment. Her words are quiet, like stones dropped into a well. “Have you changed your mind?”
“No.” My voice is steady. From my pocket, I retrieve the set of gold rings I prepared in advance and turn towards the gaping priest. “You may proceed.”
The priest looks at me like I’ve grown a second head before his gaze shifts to Raven, searching for confirmation. She nods, her expression unreadable. Disbelief ripples like a wave across the room. The priest, after a brief hesitation, clears his throat and begins to take us through our vows.
I say the words I never thought I’d speak, the ones I don’t mean. Each one feels heavy, deliberate, tying me to something I can’t undo and I will never let her undo.
Raven recites hers, her voice soft but unwavering. Her gaze doesn’t falter. It’s almost as if she means it, but obviously, she doesn’t. That’s something that’s not up for debate. She was going to marry Charles until she found out his ass was broke. She’s marrying me for my money. Nothing more.
“You may kiss the bride,” the priest says and my body acts instinctively. It wants to. Damn my traitorous body! I turn away from her as if she is poison, and the ceremony ends in pure chaos. Everyone is shocked. Raven gasps at the deliberate and humiliating public snub. Her pained gasp is music to my ears. It makes my bitter heart dance. This is the beginning, my dear wife. This is the beginning of your punishment and my revenge.
People leave in droves. They don’t know how to react so they file out quickly in hushed confusion. In the end, it’s just me, Raven, and her parents.
Her father, pale and frail in his wheelchair, glares at me with the kind of disapproval that long ago would have made me rush to apologize and heal the relationship. Not anymore. I don’t care if he disapproves. I am nothing to him. He is nothing to me.
“You should annul this marriage immediately,” he says sharply.
I meet his furious gaze calmly. “Why?”
His lips press into a thin line of fury. “You can’t just turn up and do this. You’ve ruined my daughter’s wedding day and made her the laughingstock of the town. Can’t you see what you have done?”
I don’t respond. Partly because I don’t care, and partly because he won’t like my answer.
Her father’s voice rises slightly, his anger bubbling to the surface. “You didn’t even ask for my permission. Everything about this is wrong.”
Before I can answer, Raven steps forward, her voice calm but filled with a quiet intensity. “It’s not wrong, Dad. It’s fine.”
He shakes his head with confusion. “Why are you agreeing to this madness? You don’t have to get married to either of them, sweetheart.”
“Dad,” she replies. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
Her father shakes his head, his expression a mixture of frustration and sorrow. I turn away from his impotent anger and address Raven.
“I won’t be attending the reception. You may go if you wish, but I expect you to move into Thornfield Hall today. The movers are there right now to enforce the change of ownership and a car will be sent to your home in a couple of hours to pick you up.”
She seems shocked, most likely because she realizes that none of this happened on a whim, but she hasn’t deciphered yet why it is happening. I don’t care to sate her curiosity so I turn around and step out of the church into the cool, quiet air. The world feels different now. I look down at the gold band on my finger and a smile grows on my face. I just fucking married Raven Moore. Then, still smiling, I stroll down the steps, letting the distance grow between me and the chaos I just caused.
My dove-gray Aston Martin sits like an absurd symbol of wealth in a town that feels like it’s stuck in the wrong decade. It gleams under the ray of light breaking through the rain-heavy clouds, daring anyone to comment on how out of place it is. I slide into the driver’s seat and wait for the engine to purr into life, smooth and steady.
I can still see her pale face as she whispered those two little words. "I do."
She doesn’t know she has inalterably changed the trajectory of her life. The words loop in my mind, relentless. I shift the car into gear, letting the familiarity of the road pull me forward. My father’s house isn’t far. It’s tucked away in the quiet outskirts of town. It’s a world away from the trailer park we used to live in, a place that still feels like a scar in my memory. My knuckles tighten on the wheel as I think of him forced into his sterile box of order and recovery. My father never belonged anywhere that asked him to be anything but broken. Now, he’s trying to put himself back together and, I guess, I’m supposed to be here for it.
The road blurs under the rain as my mind drifts elsewhere, pulled back to a memory of another rainy day.
It was the first week of high school.
I hadn’t been in town long and Blaze High Academy had its own way of treating new arrivals from the trailer park. I’d already caught enough sullen stares to know I was unwelcome. Nobody talked to me or wanted to sit next to the trailer park trash, but that bothered me none. I was the quiet, angry kid with grease-stained hands and a chip on my shoulder the size of this entire goddamned town. I didn’t need friends, didn’t want them. All I wanted was to get through the day without anyone trying to test me.
That morning, I walked into class late. Heads turned, whispers followed, but I paid no mind.
Charles was already there, front and center, turning around to look mockingly at me like the smug asshole he was. His father pulled strings around town, no doubt. The family was like royalty and he was Prince Prick. The seat next to him was empty, but his bag was perched on the chair like a territorial claim. The desk in the corner was empty. I dropped my bag onto it and pulled the chair out. The scrape of the wood was loud in the awkward silence.
Then Raven sauntered in. Of course, I’d noticed her. Who wouldn’t? She was smoking hot, the best-looking girl in town.
Charles pulled his bag away and grinned at her, but she walked right past him and headed straight for me. I heard the murmurs of disbelief. Charles’s grin of welcome faltered, his face twisting with rejection as she passed his desk.
“What are you doing?” His voice was sharp and furious.
“Sitting where I want,” she tossed back carelessly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world to reject the seat Boy Wonder had saved for her.
Charles’s jaw was clenched so tight I thought it might snap. His gaze burned into her back, but she was beautifully oblivious to him. She pulled out the chair next to me and slid into it. Her bag hit the floor with a soft thud, and she pulled out her notebook and gave me a wink.
I wanted to laugh. No one had ever chosen to sit next to the boy from the wrong side of town until today, but the coolest girl in town obviously didn’t give a shit about what anybody else thought. She acted like it didn’t matter where I was from, or I wasn’t dressed in designer gear, or what people might whisper about me behind my back. The teacher began her roll call in a monotone voice, and Raven sat next to me like it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and I fell in love.
But I didn’t know it was then. I just assumed it was a mixture of curiosity, raging hormones and lust. I tried not to stare too hard at her hands, her hair, her strip of exposed skin between her pants and her white socks, the soft curve of her cheek, her mouth. By the time the last bell rang, the sky had opened up. Rain came down in heavy sheets, soaking the pavement outside the school. Most kids waited under the awning, pulling out umbrellas or calling their parents for rides.
I didn’t have that luxury. My dad’s truck was a piece of shit I didn’t want to be caught getting into, and anyway, I wasn’t about to call him for anything. I pulled my hood up and started walking, the rain quickly soaking through my jacket.
“Hey!” Her voice stopped me. I turned, and there she was, running toward me with her bag held over her head like it might do something to keep her dry.
“What?” I asked, my voice unintentionally sharp.
“Wait up. I’ll walk with you.”
My heart made a crazy leap inside my chest, but I wasn’t about to show it. “You’re gonna get soaked,” I said, turning away from her.
“Already am.” She fell into step beside me, her bag still held awkwardly above her head. “We live in the same park, don’t we?”
I didn’t answer. I was too shocked. Really? This beauty lived in the same park as me and Charles was holding a seat for her. I looked at her. And noticed that her clothes were cheap. Yet, there was something so special about her that she transcended her poverty and shone like a little star.
She stopped trying to shield herself with her bag and we walked in silence for a while, the rain pouring down on us, soaking us to the bone. By the time we reached the bus stop, we were both dripping. Two empty seats waited under the shelter. I sat next to her, leaning back and letting the sound of the rain fill the quiet.
“You look good, wet,” she said with a soft laugh.
I watched her laugh and a smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
That was the start.