Chapter 25
Cori
I don’t know who is more shocked. Me or the man who drops the box when I slam the door with enough force to shake the building.
“Who are you?” I snap.
He opens his mouth to answer, but the door opens again, and the man who just upended my entire world is suddenly in my empty unit.
I guess I know who had it emptied.
“You can go,” Dax says to the mover, and he scurries out.
Once we’re alone, I finally look into his duplicitous face and say, “I’ll sleep on the floor or on a park bench before I go anywhere with you.
” He takes a step, and I take one back. If I had a knife, I’d stab him.
Instead, I pull off the ring, toss it at his feet, and run into my old bedroom.
I slam and lock the door behind me and lean on it.
I kick off my shoes and lie on the carpet, where my bed used to be. My stomach growls, and I’m reminded that I haven’t eaten since breakfast.
“Sweetheart?” There’s a tepid knock on the door, but I don’t answer. “Let me take you to dinner before we go home and talk.”
“Fuck off,” I shout through the door. “Go play in traffic.” Silence blankets the room until I hear something hit the door. It opens, and he stands at the threshold. I put my hands behind my head, stare at the ceiling, and contemplate the perfect murder.
The carpet muffles his steps, and I shut my eyes. If I speak now, I’ll cry, and I refuse to let him see me break down.
Despite my closed eyes, tears seep through the corners.
“I promise to make you happy.” I don’t answer. Putting me in a cage and trapping me will never make me happy, but I’m not gonna waste my breath on him. There is no point. He’s a selfish criminal who only cares about his own interests. “We can go pick out a car tomorrow. Anyone you want.”
He inches closer, and I move away.
“I’d like us to tell my mother together.” No answer. “And in a perfect world, we’d have an engagement party, but since the wedding is a week from Friday, we—”
“What?” I snap. I stand, ready to stomp his head into the floor, but he stands along with me, towering over me.
“The wedding. The invitations go out tomorrow.”
Rage takes over me, and I jump to my feet and slap him hard in the middle of his chest. He doesn’t flinch, so I hit him across the face. Then, I pick up my shoe and throw it at him as hard as I can. He ducks, and it slams against the wall.
I run across the room and beat him with my fists. Then, I try to wrap my hands around his neck.
He takes both my wrists and moves me until my back is against the wall. My chest heaves while I try to catch my breath, but I’m not done with him yet. I forget I’m barefoot and kick him in the shin.
“Ouch! Oh, shit!” I manage to yank my wrists from his hand and hop around.
He lifts me off my feet and throws me over his shoulder like he did the night he kidnapped me, and just like then, I rain punches down the middle of his back. He’s not affected. He walks us out of the apartment, down the stairs, and dumps me in the front seat of his Mercedes SUV.
He closes the door. “Let me out of here,” I yell when I can’t manage to get the front door open.
He ignores me and drives us out of Shadow Cove. He doesn’t take us to his place in Widow’s Peak, but goes two towns over into Hollow Mist. It’s another small but more affluent town.
He drives down a dirt road, and beyond a throng of trees, there’s a big house on a desolate road. I’m too exhausted to look at or admire it. All I know is that by the time this sham of a marriage is over, I will own every house he has.
In all my research, I never found any information on this house. He never came here, but maybe that was intentional since he was leading me around the entire time. If only I weren’t too stupid to know it. I should have left it alone, as everyone said.
He pulls his car into the garage and finally comes to my side to let me out. I sit in the seat and look straight ahead. He offers me his hand, but I don’t take it.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Go fuck yourself.” He reaches for me, but I hold on to the steering wheel with both hands. “Why do you want to marry someone who doesn’t love you?”
I didn’t mean to pose the question because I don’t care to hear the answer. Whatever he says won’t make me feel any better about the situation.
“How do you know you don’t?”
“I could never love anyone who would do this, and I promise that as soon as my mother gets what she wants, I’m leaving you. I’m leaving this town, and I’m never looking back.”