Page 31 of Claiming His Property

“Wh–what are you doing?”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny velvet blue box. I gasp and cover my mouth with my other hand.

Is this seriously happening right now? I’m in my pajamas in the middle of a trailer park!

He pops open the box and to reveal the ring: white-gold with a perfectly sized diamond, cut with just the right shape as though I was right there picking it out with him when he bought it.

I absolutely love it.

“Skylar, will you marry me?”

The air is electric. I can’t speak. A moment passes as I stare down at the gorgeous man in front of me, kneeling with my hand in his and a ring held up to me, his face filled with a love that I fully believe.

“You know that if I marry you, my aunt won’t leave me a dime, right?” I ask.

Cade grins. “You know that I don’t care, right?”

And then it hits me. A revelation in my chest that should have never taken me this long to fully connect to.

“I know,” I say, so happy I can speak the words.

“So is that a yes?” he asks.

I’m about to speak, but before I can, I hear the sound of screeching tires and spin to see blaring headlights speeding toward me. Cade quickly stands and pulls me out of the way as a Mercedes G-Wagon comes rocketing past us and skids to a halt just a few feet from where we were standing.

“Is that–?”

The door opens, and my Aunt Beatrice leaps out, her hair an absolute frizzy mess, her clothes a wreck like I’ve never seen her before. She marches toward us both, pointing a finger at me like the last time she threatened me.

“Oh, I knew it!” she screeches, her voice like a squawking vulture. “You didn’t turn me down because you wanted to stay here. You turned me down because of her!”

“Beatrice, maybe you should calm down–” Cade starts to say, but Beatrice turns her eyes on me.

“And you! You little bitch. I told you to stay away from him!”

She rushes me like she’s going to grab me and choke me, but Cade steps in the way and grabs both of her wrists and pins them behind her back.

“Easy there. Easy,” he says. “Let’s just calm down.”

“What the hell is going on out here!?” I turn and see my dad stepping out of the trailer and wish I could just shrink myself into a Lego-sized version of myself and hide until this is all over.

“Hey there, Mr. Parks!” Cade calls out, doing his best to be a gentleman while keeping my crazy aunt at bay. “Just a little situation here. Maybe you could help me out?”

My dad looks completely shocked as he quickly jogs over and takes my aunt from Cade and holds on to one of her wrists.

“Beatrice, what are you doing?”

“She tried to run us over, Daddy!” I cry out. “She’s lost her damn mind!”

Beatrice tries to tear herself away from Daddy’s grip, but she’s not strong enough to do something like that. He holds on as she screeches again, howling like a banshee as outside lights across the trailer park come on.

“She stole him from me!” she hisses, pointing her finger at me. “That bitch daughter of yours!”

Cade glares back at her, stalwart and poised, as though nothing could break him.

“Nobody stole me from you, Beatrice. I was never yours to steal.” I feel my heart melting as he wraps my hand in his and holds it tightly. He turns and brings those beautiful eyes to bear on me. “My heart belongs to her.”

“You’ll regret this,” Beatrice snarls. “Both of you!”

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