Page 198 of Beautifully Reckless

“You really have no fucking clue what this is all about, do you?” Bitterness laces his tone. “Iwishthis was as simple as fucking money. If it was, I would’ve paid someone off to make this whole fucking arranged marriage go away.”

My stomach drops hard.

Yanking my arm from his grip, I stumble back, my heart beating out of control.

Once again, I feel unsteady. Out of the loop. Truly blind.

I always thought this was about money. That it started with a stupid bet. A competition with his mates.

He told me about the trust fund. That he wouldn’t get access to it unless he did exactly what his parents said.

My mum has been obsessed with making this wedding happen, so laser focused on me walking down the aisle to Daniel.

I assumed it was about money. It had to be. An easy road to a more grand life. Her twisted version of salvation.

But if it’s not for money… then what is it about?

Why have I been treated like this?

Why did my own mother sell me out?

Why did Maggie help them?

Why have I been raped, hunted, drugged, kidnapped, and stripped of everything by my own family?

Before the weight of the unknown can crush me, the doors fly open and one of the men that dashed out earlier strides in.

“It’s true!”

All heads snap in the man’s direction as he hurries down the aisle, holding up a piece of paper.

“I have a copy of the marriage certificate here.” He’s breathless as he glances at the sheet in his hand. “She married Cameron Musgrove on the twentieth of March.”

Maggie gasps. Daniel curses. And his dad explodes from his seat, pure rage contorting his expression.

I laugh.

It’s gleeful. Smug. And deliberate.

“Surprise fuckers.” I giggle, giving my best impersonation of jazz hands, before a shriek, loud and piercing has me cringing and shooting an annoyed glare my mum’s way.

The pure rage I witness on her face far outdoes any I’ve seen before, and for a moment, I feel victorious. Like I’ve won.

But then she charges for me like a bull, her wild eyes rabid, her fists balled at the ready.

“HOW COULD YOU!?”

Throwing up my hands, instinctively trying to protect my baby bump, I brace myself for the impact. But it never comes.

Instead, I’m quickly yanked behind Daniel, and I’m momentarily stunned as he wards off my mum’s fists.

“Protect the baby!”

His yelled words punch the air right out of me, and I’m reminded of his obsession over the last few days, wanting to know if the baby is his.

I don’t have time to analyse it right now. Not with my mum clawing to get to me, rage pouring off her in waves.

A wall of men Ihatestand between her and me, now, keeping her from tearing me apart.

---