Chapter 1 #3
Then Mr. Gillespie gave a slight nod. The next thing I knew, all of the men who’d sat at the dinner table with us pulled out guns, training them on the three of us.
Moses was livid. “What the fuck is this, Gretchen? You have some crooked official and his minions pull guns on us? Your family?”
“Whether you like it or not, this is happening.” Gretchen was scarily calm. “Tinsley will marry Sterling. He will save the family’s company. Once they’re married, Tinsley will get her inheritance. We’ll use it to buy Sterling out, and the company will once again belong to the Campbells.”
I took a good look at my aunt. “So, you not only want me to marry a stranger; you want me to give him my inheritance? Are you insane?” My eyes moved from Gretchen to Mr. Gillespie, to the armed men who still had their guns trained on us.
I felt the tears as they started to form.
Why could I never just live my life? Why did everybody I was related to think they had the authority to control me?
I was over it. “There’s nothing in this entire”—I waved my arms around—“plot that benefits me.”
“Well . . .” My aunt had that sinister expression on her face again. “You’ll get to keep your life.”
“You’re willing to kill your niece over this?” Moses’s disbelief read on his face. “Over a company that’s past its prime and money?”
Thoughts swirled inside my mind. Everything in my life, for as long as I could remember, felt like a battle.
I battled to get my parents to love, acknowledge, and connect with me.
It never happened. I battled with my father for control of my young life.
I had to take extreme measures just to have control over the most menial things.
When my mother died, I battled with Gretchen constantly, just to avoid ending up under her thumb.
Now she was back, and she expected me to marry a stranger.
She expected me to give my money and my virginity to someone who was almost old enough to be my grandfather.
I had an okay life. I had a great best friend.
My company was thriving. There was laughter in my life and things I enjoyed.
Still, when I really considered the options my aunt had set in motion for my future, there was nothing I had going on that was worth fighting for.
Faylise, Moses, and Lianna would miss me, but ultimately, their lives would go on.
I knew in my heart of hearts that there was no way I could live as Sterling Gillespie’s anything, let alone as his wife/sex toy.
“I don’t want this life,” I said finally. “Take me in the yard and shoot me.”
“Always so fucking dramatic. Kill me now,” she mocked me.
I walked up to the nearest gunman while they watched in shock and horror. I placed my forehead against the barrel of his gun. “Please, do it quickly,” I whispered.
“He’s not gonna shoot your dumbass unless Sterling gives him the command,” Gretchen hissed from somewhere behind me. “But since you’re willing to play so fast and loose with your own life, like the martyr you are, I’ll have you watch while I kill your beloved uncle and auntie.”
I ignored her and repeated my request to the gunman. “Pull the trigger.”
“Pull the trigger? Pull the trigger? Oh, okay. You think I’m playing with your monkey ass,” I heard Gretchen say before the deafening sound of gunfire erupted in the room. Even the barrel of the gun against my forehead gave a tremor.
My head whipped around just as Lianna gasped, and Moses shouted. My gaze shot to Gretchen, who now pointed a gun at her brother and sister-in-law. “Next time, I won’t miss,” she taunted.
“I can’t believe you shot at us.” Lianna took a step toward Gretchen, and then the gun was pointed at her.
“I told you that I won’t miss next time. You—”
Mr. Gillespie cut her off with a look of disgust and a shake of his head.
“Gretchen, stop it with this unseemly behavior. Shooting at people. If you can’t afford the mortgage on this place, how are you going to afford the repair to the wall?
Grow up.” He shook his head again. “Nobody’s dying .
. . tonight. You”—he pointed at me—“young, beautiful one. You will marry me . . . willingly or unwillingly.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders.
“A month from Saturday. You”—he pointed back and forth between Moses and Lianna—“will not stand in the way. Gretchen made the deal, whether you agree with it or not. It’s done.
If, for some reason your pretty, young niece should go missing, disappear off the island, or something like that, I will gut your entire family bloodline.
There will not be one descendant of Milton Campbell left on Iredia when I’m done.
I’m Minister of Finance, Sterling Gillespie.
Who on this island would be willing to stop me? ”
I felt the telltale signs of a panic attack begin to brew beneath my skin. Before I could start to employ any kind of strategy to get on top of it, I was swallowed into darkness by my inability to catch my breath.