Page 90 of Three Stepbrothers Save Christmas

“Fuck no! I told you I’m never leaving, not now, not ever.”

“Then what are you hiding?” I ask as my eyes burn, and it starts getting harder to breathe.

“She deserves to know the truth,” I hear Ethan say from the doorway.

“I know,” Travis sighs into my hair.

He turns us around and leads me into the room, where I realise all four O’Reillys have been sitting with my guys. Ryan walks over to me and wraps me in his arms.

“Come here, Little Kitten.” He pulls me onto his lap as Ethan sits on one side of us and Travis on the table in front of us. I’m aware of Jasmine and the O’Reilly’s in the room with us, as one of them whispers to Jasmine, but my sight is fully set on my three guys.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” I ask. Travis nods as he takes my hands.

“I don’t know how to begin; it’s so bad. I wanted you to have one last night without worrying about everything. But, as usual, you are too clever for your own good.” He tries to make a joke of it, but I can tell none of us are in a teasing mood.

“After I got off the phone with Mum this morning and heard what Henry had been saying to you, something started playing on my mind. I realised that you might be in danger, and since then, I have been doing everything I could to discover if I was right, hoping I wasn’t.” Travis looks stressed, and I expect him to say more, but instead, it's Christian who speaks.

“Have you ever heard of a man called Thomas Nicholason?”

“Yes, Dad took me to his house once for dinner,” I answer, frowning at him.

“Was there anything that stood out to you about that meeting?” Ryan asks. I look at him and shrug.

“Not really. I was left on my own with his son for most of it. Something about Dad needing to talk business with Thomas.”

“How was his son to you?” Travis asks.

“Fine, we didn’t really talk. Dad told me to remember my manners and only speak when spoken to. He asked me a few questions about my background and what I liked doing. But he soon left me alone in the library. Why do you ask?” I don’t miss the look Travis gives his brothers before lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing my knuckles.

“Today, after you went out with Ethan, I called Christian. Many things were playing on my mind, and like I said, I had a bad feeling about something Mum kept saying.”

“What did she say?” I ask cautiously.

“That I was going to ruin everything, and you were not for me,” he answers, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “I thought she meant that you were promised to someone else. That they had already picked you out a husband.”

I burst out laughing but quickly stop when I see everyone else is straight-faced.

“Are you serious? This isn’t the fifteen hundreds. People don’t arrange marriages like that in this country anymore.” I look to Ethan and Ryan, but when there is no sign of them joking with me, I look to Jasmine, but she is leaning against Sean with her hand over her mouth.

“Do they?” I ask, looking back to Travis. He takes a deep breath and nods.

“Sometimes, yes.”

I feel like the ground has opened up underneath me. There is no way.

“He wouldn’t do that. I know my dad is far from perfect, but he wouldn’t arrange for me to marry someone without my consent.”

“I wasn’t sure either, so I asked Christian to see if he could get any information.”

My head snaps to Christian, who looks at me with the softest face.

“I’m sorry, Verity, it’s true. Your dad has promised you to a Mitchell Nicholson. You are to be married next month.”

I can’t breathe; it feels like something is pressing against my chest and back. I shake Travis's hands from mine as I pull out of Ryan's arms. I need space; I need to breathe.

“Sweetheart, look at me,” Travis stands at the same time as I do. He cups my face between his hands, forcing me to look into his eyes. “Breathe, I’ve got you.”

I shake my head as I gasp for breath, but Travis continues to look into my eyes whilst holding my face.

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