Chapter 4 #2
‘On the other hand, confidentiality is a luxury we guard with the same fierceness as our investment portfolios. As we speak, my team is putting this entire venue under a digital lockdown. No guest will be able to access WiFi or their networks to post on social media until I say so, until there is confirmation of the wedding continuing as planned.’
I stared at him, my stomach churning with disgust.
‘Is that all this is to you? Saving face because your daughter is MIA?’
‘I haven’t saved it yet,’ Reese countered, turning on his heel. ‘The most efficient way to contain this crisis is for the ceremony to proceed on schedule.’
‘How?’ I barked, a bitter laugh tearing from my throat. ‘The bride is in a sports car halfway to the freakin’ moon for all I know.’
We faced off, my chest heaving, glaring at him.
Reese shot me a sudden smile.
‘Then you’ll marry Roxy,’ Reese declared. ‘She’s also apparently my child. The guests won’t know the difference until the veil comes up, and by then they won’t give a toss.’
‘Are you insane?’ I growled in disbelief. ‘She’s her sister! You can’t just swap one sister for the other like livestock, Rosedale. I’m not doing this.’
Reese ignored my outraged roar.
He gestured, and his bodyguard exited the room, returning with Roxy in tow, with Elsa close behind.
Roxy eyed her father with suspicion, her brow furrowed.
Reese shot her a tight smile that never reached his eyes.
‘Your sister’s ran off and left us with egg on our faces. You’re putting on her dress, Roxanne, and marrying Angel today to save our family name.’
She blinked at the cold directive, then shock hit, and her knees buckled.
I preempted her fall, stepping forward to catch her.
Wrapping my hands around her waist, I helped her to a seat as Elsa whispered furiously to Reese.
He snarled at his wife, and she backed off, raising her hands in exasperation.
My focus turned to Roxy, whose fingers gripped her chair’s armrest as she stared at the floor, then at me, in incredulity.
Stepping back, I studied her.
Roxy was quieter, withdrawn and almost invisible, especially when in the presence of her sister.
I’d thought her always introverted, wistful and forlorn.
Yet now, as she darted a scorching glare at Reese, I caught a flash of deep disdain and anger at her father’s control.
‘Roxy, you can say no,’ I muttered in a hoarse whisper to her. ‘I don’t want any part of this. Tell your old man to shove his wishes up his -.’
‘She won’t say no,’ Reese interjected, stepping closer to us with a smirk. ‘She knows what’ll happens to her and Elsa if this wedding collapses.’
‘Shut up, Reese,’ I snapped, keeping my focus locked on the woman shaking with rage in front of me. ‘I don’t care about your freakin’ deals. Roxy, look at me. You don’t have to let him force you into anything you don’t want.’
‘She cannot refuse my ask,’ Reese declared with a smug smile. ‘My reputation protection goes both ways. With you Angel, and your family on one end and my wife and daughter on the other. Roxy has to comply lest Elsa and her be disowned and discarded for life.’
I furrowed my brow, then cursed under my breath as Elsa hissed and moved to grab her husband’s sleeve.
‘Not here, not now, Reese.’
‘Payback’s a bitch, woman,’ Reese crowed, his face glib with triumph.
Elsa turned her face away from him with a gasp, and marched to the terrace, gazing out at the water, her body trembling.
I huffed.
So what Evangeline had once told me, ages ago, in secret, was true.
I locked eyes with her old man, disgust turning my mouth bitter.
‘You’re a ruthless bastard, Reese. A straight-up sociopath, and I’ll have you know I don’t respond well to threats.’
‘And I don’t deal in empty threats, I’m telling you what will happen if you don’t comply.’
I shook my head, swiveling to stare at Roxy, who seemed frozen in shock.
‘You hearing this shit?’
She locked gazes with me, hers so lost and forlorn it sent a jolt through me.
Incensed even further, I turned to her father.
‘You pushed Evangeline to the needle, and now you’re intimidating my family, your own wife, and Roxy? You can’t sink any lower.’
Reese straightened his cuffs, unfazed by my rage.
‘Spoken like a damned musician; always dramatic, existing in a fantasy world. You don’t know the first thing about me or the power I hold, so I suggest you shut your mouth before you make a mistake you can’t undo.’
I stood glaring at him, lips twisting, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of getting under my skin.
He went on with a chuckle.
‘Nothing to say, son? How about I sweeten it? How does a million dollars as bride price sound? It’s a solid bride price to kickstart your lives together. Perhaps even provide your parents with a secure retirement.’
Reese nodded to his PR executive.
‘I can have her press release drafted in half an hour,’ the woman gushed, as she shared her corporate spin.
‘We can tell the media that you and Roxy were always in love. We can craft a tale of two lovers who’ve always adored each other in secret.
We’ll say that Evangeline has now graciously accepted your romance and that you’re all still friends. ’
Reese concurred, giving his nod of approval.
‘After the ceremony, we’ll lift the WiFi restrictions, and by the end of the day, the new narrative will be set in stone. The press and public, even your fans, Angel, will devour it.’
I almost lost my earlier espresso right then on the expensive carpet.
My mother turned an odious shade of green, clutching my father’s arm for support.
Reese flicked his eyes over us, disdain playing in his gaze.
‘It’s the best offer you’re ever going to get.’
He checked his gold watch, his face emotionless, as if he hadn’t ignited a firestorm.
‘You’ve exactly twenty minutes to think it over, Angel.
If you refuse, I’ll reach out to a couple of bank owners, friends I golf with.
I’ll have them call in every loan on Forrest Landscaping’s business by five o’clock.
I’ll talk to my many other esteemed acquaintances, and have them pull all of Six Sinners’ music contracts and corporate sponsors by Monday morning. ’
‘The hell you will,’ I growled, shaking my head in disbelief.
Reese gave me a tight, cold smile.
‘We must keep to the schedule and get you both down the aisle on time per the gold-inlaid invitations I paid for. We don’t want to alarm any of our high-profile guests or spook the media. So make your choice and do it fast.’
Five hours, twenty minutes after Evangeline Delilah Rosedale jilted me, I married her sister, Roxanne Rhiannon Rosedale.
For better or for worse.
For richer or for poorer.
Through the bitter sting of betrayal and the wreckage of a broken heart.
Through the agony of shattered trust and a soul ripped apart.
Through lies, angst, and tears.
Till death did us part.