Page 45 of Castle

Devin walked out of the steaming bathroom moments later, dressed in denim jeans, no shirt. Winston walked inside the room and began helping Devin dress up. Only after the servants finished dressing him did he sit down to breakfast.

I showed him the box with the wedding dress inside. “What’s this?” I demanded, crossing my arms across my chest.

He sipped his coffee, his emerald eyes dancing with amusement. He found immense pleasure in seeing me in discomfort.

“I’m sure you have perfectly capable pair of eyes that can distinguish what’s inside the box, or have you turned blind in a matter of hours?”

His sarcasm was getting on my nerves.

“Yes, Mr. Montgomery, I have eyes to see what’s inside the box, which is what I need your clarification for. Why am I being told that I will be married off to you by evening? I don’t remember agreeing to something like that.”

He chuckled like he’d heard the best joke ever and picked a bowl of fruit salad. “You should be happy that you’d be living every woman’s dream. As you may have realized, you’ll be married into our family, bearingourlast name, which will bring nothing but privilege to you. You get to live in this house, enjoy the luxuries the name brings you, and in return, you are to only play wife. What I don’t understand, Millie, is what’s all this fuss about?”

“I did not sign up for this!” I snapped at him. “I will not marry you…you…disgusting piece of?—”

“If I were you, I’d watch that mouth before it runs off and causes more damage. Damages that you will pay for.”

I was shaking and not with fear, but with my instinct to murder this man. I wanted to scream at him, maybe even take that fork from the tray in front of him and stab him with it. But I did no such thing as I remembered the torment they had put me through.

I’d kill myself before I cry in front of Devin and give him something else to derive sadistic pleasure from.

“Doesn’t it matter to you what I want?” I asked.

“It doesn’t.” He said with indifference. “If you want, I can ask the guards to open the gates for you right now and you’ll be out of here, completely free.”

“You would?”

“Yes, you will be out of here in a coffin.” He smiled, “On the bright side, your anklet comes off.” He laughed, spreading some butter over his toast.

That left me with little choice. Either I could marry Devin or die.

And I refused to die at the hands of this sick family.

He was still smiling as he extended his hand towards me in an invitation. “Come closer.”

I shook my head.

His eyebrow was raised in question, like I would dare say no to his request. He grasped my hand and pulled me towards him, and I landed right in his lap.

I gasped and tried to get up, but he tightened his hold over my body.

Softly, he whispered in a silky voice, “Marrying me wouldn’t be so bad. You’d love it, I promise.” his fingers caressed my cheek, making my skin crawl. “I’m just thinking of all the things I’d do to you once you’re mine.” He licked my earlobe.

I just sat there frozen, feeling like this was all a bad dream and hoping I’d wake up.

Suddenly, he pushed me off his lap, gently and playfully swatted my ass. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my lovely fiancé, so I can go about my duties. I’ll be looking forward to this evening.”

I’d cried long and hard in the bathroom that afternoon. This felt worse than a nightmare. Devin was a monster that I didn’t want to marry, and it didn’t help that I kept thinking of the things that he would do to me once I was his wife.

My future was destined to be trapped on this estate, surrounded by servants who were trapped or obliged to the family. They would never talk about the atrocities if I found myself in situations where I was being harassed. As my husband,he’d use me in every way possible, would never be faithful to me, and I’d be stuck in a marriage with a man I didn’t love.

I went to Castle’s room to find him, to see if I could tell him what Devin planned to do and hoped that he’d listen to me and stand against his younger brother, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.

He didn’t even have a phone so I could call him, and that killed my last hope. I couldn’t ask anything of Theo, not when he was almost in the same position that I was, with the exception that he was trapped by his own family. It was unlikely that Devin would even listen to his seventeen-year-old brother, and I didn’t want to give the kid any trouble.

I went back to my room in resignation. Penelope and Sally dressed me up in the wedding gown; they pulled on the back laces tightly, helped with my makeup, and styled my hair like they were pro.

I remained numb to everything, my insides screaming at me to run.

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