CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
STELLA
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I collapse to the floor and sob my heart out when I hear them leave.
His kiss.
It means everything.
My hand touches my lips, wondering, knowing, if it will be the last time Declan ever kisses me. Or ever holds me.
Sucking in air between my sobs, I grieve what might have been between us. Grieving the life I’m about to give up. My home. My hopes and dreams, friends, career.
My beautiful, clever best friend, Charlotte.
All of it is over.
Tony is a cruel and dangerous man. Those few minutes with him at his estate told me everything I needed to know about him. He’s ruthless, cold, and I’m just a toy to him. Any hope of getting divorced dissolves as the tears pour out of me.
He’s been following me. Watching me.
No one can save me, not even three special forces men—two of them Navy SEALs.
One of them...one of them is the man I’ve fallen in love with.
How stupid of me.
After this, there is no way he’d consider me stable enough to date, even if some miracle did occur, and I don’t blame him.
I cannot waste my time dreaming. Dad has requested, no demanded, that I meet with him at his home office tomorrow mid-morning to discuss the wedding day and all the expectations.
Including the rules from thereon in.
Rules.
My wedding day.
My sobs turn to retching. I scramble to my feet and run to the bathroom where I throw up and bawl my heart out at the same time.
This can’t be happening.
Yet it is.
And there’s no way out of this horrible and terrifying nightmare.
Now Declan is gone.
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MY EYES FLICK open the next morning, and for half a second I begin to smile. Declan’s gorgeous face is front and center as I feel his lips on mine, his grip on my hips as he presses inside—
Then reality crashes down on my chest, and I let out a guttural cry.
Oh God.
My body trembles, and I curl up into a ball, hoping this is all a bad dream.
It isn’t.
But I do have choices. Not many.
I could run. Pack up my car, empty my bank account and go live in the mountains or on Kaua?i—one of the less-populated islands of Hawaii. I could be a surfer chick, living basically in the plush tropics.
Perhaps if Declan could forgive me, he would join me in the islands. Hey, he could contract with the Navy given they have such a huge presence on Hawaii.
It sounds much better than being married to Tony Marino and living in his dangerous world.
Anything does.
Even a root canal.
I would leap into my car now if I thought it was possible. It’s not. The only thing saving my father’s life is me saying I do.
My phone vibrates softly on my bedside table, so I reach for it and see my mom’s name.
“Hey,” I answer sleepily.
“Please make sure you’re here today, Stella,” Mom says, sounding stressed. “Your father is beside himself, and we both know it’s best to do what Tony wants.”
Oh, my god.
I sit up and rub one of my eyes. “Maybe he should start caring about how this impacts my life. How I’ll suffer.”
She’s silent for a short moment.
“He loves you. This is very difficult for him, darling.”
“Mom, can you hear yourself? I am the one marrying that monster so that he doesn’t end up in the Hudson. Don’t you care what he is going to do to me? Have you thought it through?”
“Of course, I ha—”
“The wedding night. Him on me. That man legally able to touch me. To...put his—”
“Stella please. My God. What is wrong with you?” she cries.
“Me?” I squeal, leaping out of bed and pacing. “Me? What is wrong with me? You can’t hear that a criminal a decade older than me is going to shove his disgusting cock inside me to keep YOUR husband alive, and you ask ME what is wrong with ME!”
I see red.
“I’ll get Greta to give you a sedative when you get here. You’re obviously unwell.”
My eyes widen further, if that is even possible, as I spin around waving my arms around. But no one is here. I’ve sent everyone who can help me away.
“Go fuck yourself, Mom. With all due respect.”
I end the call and throw my phone across the room.
What am I going to do?
It takes thirty seconds before tears replace my anger and they start falling down my face.
I need to run.
Walking into my closet, I stare at the suitcases on the top shelf.
“Think, Stella. Think.” I wrap my arms around myself.
Because if I run, and then hear that my parents have been dredged up in the river by the NYPD, could I live with myself?
Truly.
Can I?
Despite what they’re doing to me?
God, I wish Declan were here. I miss him with every bone in my body. I need him.
But I’m on my own.
It’s not just his protection I lost when he walked out the door, he took a piece of my heart.
I’ll never get to tell him.