CHAPTER TWENTY
STELLA
––––––––
While phoning Charlotte to see if she’s okay and can forgive me, I pack a suitcase. I know deep down I’m not courageous enough to flee, but it made me feel better.
Dad messaged to remind me to bring the wedding dress, so I kicked the damn thing down the steps to the elevator.
Fuck him and the stupid dress.
Declan, please steal me away from all of this.
“Of course, I forgive you. I’m worried about you,” Charlotte says, “Hey, there are men standing guard outside my apartment and they won’t answer my questions. Are you in danger? Am I?”
Declan mentioned BHS had a team protecting her, but I don’t know whether I should tell her.
“God, I’m so sorry. Just let them do their job. Please, Char.”
Dread fills me as I think of something happening to my best friend in the world. This is why I’m doing this. To keep everyone safe.
“Are you safe?” she whispers.
“You are safe with them; that’s all that matters.”
“Stella! Do I need to ring the police, because this is not all right. You cannot marry someone against your will.”
“I’m...not.” My voice is barely audible.
“Oh, come on! I’m not going to sit back and let you marry someone you don’t want to. I’m your best friend. I don’t know why your family is letting this happen, but...tell me or I’m ringing my father.”
I drop the T-shirt I’m folding and panic.
Fuck.
“No. Char. No. Please. That’s the worst thing you can do. Someone will get hurt,” I stammer.
“Well, it won’t be you, and that’s all I care about.”
I press my eyes closed tightly. I never thought this would be easy, but I definitely didn’t think it all through.
“I love you Char. God, we were only twelve when we met, and you said you liked my pink Converse. Then, the next day when we pranked Billy Shaw by filling his locker with a blow-up doll because he was tripping kids in the hallway, I knew you and I would be friends for life.”
I hear her sniff and let out a sad laugh. “Life isn’t over. We’re only twenty-five.”
It feels like it’s over.
For me anyway.
Life as I know it is.
“This won’t be forever,” I hear myself say, and realize I’m getting too close to the truth and shut it down.
I don’t want her to be in danger.
“Promise me you will do something fun this weekend. Ring Jess and Ryan. Go to a bar, drink daiquiri’s and dance all night.”
“Stella, please.”
“I have to do this. I will explain one day, but I have to do this.”
Glancing down at the screen, I swallow hard, whisper goodbye, and then hang up.
Then I collapse over my suitcase, knowing it’s not coming with me. That the box I’ve dumped downstairs containing the items Tony wants me to wear on our—gag—wedding day is all I’ll be taking with me today.
I’m expecting Dad to give me a lecture. Not what a little girl dreams of the day before her wedding. I thought he’d be telling me he has ensured the man I’m marrying will respect me. Honor me. Look after me.
Nope.
It won’t be any of that. He’ll tell me to obey the man and make sure I do my duty in saving his damn life.
There will be no Hawaii.
No life in the mountains.
No Declan.
I could have fallen deeply in love with that man. I think we could have had something real. It feels real now.
He hasn’t messaged, and I don’t blame him.
I belong to someone else, and nothing can change what must happen.
After tidying my face in the bathroom, I grab my purse, phone, and the box, then take the elevator downstairs to the lobby.
My driver is waiting outside. He takes the box.
“Hop in, Ms. Voss. I’ll put this in the trunk.”
“Thank you,” I smile sadly and climb into the back and stare blankly out the window as we begin moving through the streets of Manhattan.
This time tomorrow...
I haven’t eaten and my stomach feels raw from all the vomiting I’ve done, and if I close my eyes and focus, I can feel Declan’s arm around me and the heat of his thigh against mine.
I give in and swipe open my phone to find our messages. There aren’t many as we were together most of the time. There are one or two saying goodnight.
I find the photo I sent him of us walking through the park one night.
It’s dusk and the lights sparkle around us.
Both of us have silly grins. After I took the shot, Declan turned to me and kissed me as if I were the love of his life.
If it had been a movie, he would have dropped to his knee and held out a ring.
I don’t know for sure, but it felt picture-perfect, and the selfie I took of us tells that exact story.
His dark hair was ruffled, those gray eyes filled with unspoken emotion.
I never truly let myself see it before. I couldn’t. He wasn’t mine to keep, and the temporary life we were living wasn’t real. Or at least I didn’t think it was.
I had to do what I did.
I had no choice, during their intervention, to demand they leave. Especially after hearing my father on the phone, and when he said Marino had demanded my bodyguards be removed, or his hand would be cut off.
Before I say my vows, I need to tell Declan how I feel. I need him to know that he meant everything to me.
I start typing.
I delete and retype it at least ten times. Finally, I find the words, the only words that I can safely say. I hope he can read between them and know what’s in my heart.
I’m sorry. No one has protected me the way you did, and if I could change all of this, I’d choose you. Every time. SV x
––––––––
WHEN I ARRIVE at my parent’s house, security is waiting, and they don’t hesitate before opening the door and taking my arm to escort me upstairs.
What the hell?!
“Excuse me, take your damn hands off me.” I snap, pulling at my arm.
“Your father’s instructions are clear.” A giant goon I’ve never seen before drags me further.
“Stop. You are hurting me.” I glance around, looking for someone to intervene, but we are striding fast toward my father’s private elevator, and no one seems to care.
Glancing behind me, my driver watches with concern as he hands the box to a guard.
Before I can yell out to him, I’m pushed into the elevator, and the world I know disappears.