Page 80 of The Catalyst

“A lot of attention to detail,” I mutter, trying not to let it show that his presence makes me feel like throwing up. I don’t know what it is about him that affects me like this.

“Mm-hmm.” I look down the hall that the butler went down, praying Martin gets here soon so I can escape this man. I don’t like being around him. “You know…” he starts before taking a long pause. Then, those blue eyes settle on me again. “Your mother and I have been working out a betrothment.”

“Betrothment?” I know what it means–a contract engagement.

“Between you and Martin.”

I feel my heart rate pick up. I can’t say how I would feel about that, being married to Martin of all people. I’ve always craved freedom and that would strip that away, but considering it would require me to interact regularly with this man, I’d rather eat rat poison. So, that would be a “maybe in hell” type of reaction. Plus, these people represent everything I hate about people. It would be like dying a slow and painful death.

“He needs some stability in his life and some way to ground himself.”

Please, stop talking to me.

“Everyone does,” I respond.

“Beth,” I hear Martin’s voice and snap around, seeing him walking down the hall toward me. “What are you doing here?” he asks, his gaze shifting between me and his father. He seems…uneasy. He’s not the carefree, teasing man I’ve seen him be right now. He looks so serious and worried.

“Is there somewhere we can talk?” I ask as I walk over to him. His hand immediately goes to the small of my back, but I feel the way his thumb shakes.

“Yeah, come on. We can talk in here,” he mutters as he pushes open the first door we come to in the hall. We go inside and I catch one final look from his father who is staring at me with a weird look in his eyes.

I really don’t like that man.

“What are you doing here?” Martin asks, looking freaked out, as he closes the door and locks it. He turns to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?” I’m not sure if he means my mood or if I’m injured.

I have the sneaking suspicion that he is only reacting like this because he found me talking to his father.

Is his father the reason all those girls were covered in bruises and hospitalized?

“Physically, yeah. Areyouokay? You look like you’re about to have a panic attack.” He looks pale, like he’s about to be sick.

He slowly shakes his head. “You shouldn’t have come here, okay? This place isn’t safe.” He cups my cheek in his hand, pushing his point home.

Not this place, but the people here aren’t safe. I get the underlying meaning in his words. He just confirmed my suspicions without outright saying it.

He’s worried that his father will hurt me, too.

For some reason, Martin cares about my safety and I’ve never been anything but an absolute shit to him. The guilt gnaws at me so intensely that I don’t remove his hand from my face. I let him touch me with so much care, something deep inside me is moved.

“I’m okay…” I press my hand against his, the heat from his palm soaking into my cheek. “He said he and my mom have been working out a betrothal between me and you. Did you know about that?” I ask, needing to make sure that I’m not the only one left out of the loop.

His eyes widen though. He was just as much in the dark as I’ve been.

“What?”

I nod. “That’s what he said. I knew my mom was trying to marry me off to the highest bidder, but I didn’t know she had gotten that far into anything. She’s been to the Jordan’s, too, and I don’t know who else.”

His lips thin in concentration before he whispers, “Don’t worry. I’ll put a stop to it. You won’t be forced to marry someone you don’t want to. I promise.”

I’m not worried. My mom can’t force me to marry anyone. I’m a legal adult. She has no leverage.

If I’m looking at the real Martin Gray, I can’t say I would be too much against marrying him. He’s being sweet and understanding. Plus, I doubt his family would expect us to be around too much after marriage.

Why the hell am I thinking of marrying Martin?

Like he said, he’ll deal with it. If he doesn’t, we’ll deal with that when we have to.

Besides, my mom said she was going to stop before she went to rehab.

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