Page 119 of The Sins of Noelle

Even if she didn't matter for anyone else in the world, she matteredforherself. And that meant she would fight for herself. To the death. To hell and beyond.

If someone sought to bring her down, she would take everyone else with her too.

"They will all regret it," she whispered as she swallowed a sob. "One way or another, I'll make everyone regret this."

Blue's wedding came and went and Noelle was more of a prisoner than ever.

Intuiting that she wouldn't just give up at the news of her friend's marriage, Cisco ensured that the house was guarded twenty-four seven. And during the critical days of his marriage, there were even guards stationed outside of Noelle's room.

All in all, it was impossible for her to make one step without being monitored.

That meant that no matter how much she would have liked to crash the wedding—and she'd made plenty of plans to that effect—she couldn't leave her room.

After the day of the wedding, reality crashed on her and she became increasingly more withdrawn. If before she'd at least dined with the family, now she was taking all her meals in her room, refusing to talk to anyone and simply wallowing in her misery.

Still, somewhere deep within her, she refused to believe that her Blue would have married another. Maybe she didn't have any claim on him previously, but sheknewhim. As such, she was sure that if there had beenanyonein his life, he would have told her. More than anything, he wouldn't have let her have the impression that their meeting would be a romantic date. Her Blue wouldneverdo something like that.

So how could things have changed so drastically in the span of a few months?

The answer was simple.

They couldn't have.

Maybe in the beginning she'd despaired at the news and had spiraled out of control with hopelessness. But as time passed, she had more time to think logically about it.

Blue wasn't the type to marry someone so fast unless there was some other variable at play.

Then what could have happened?

Had he been coerced into the marriage?

Or had Cisco simply lied about it, manufacturing the article so he would crush Noelle's hopes once and for all?

Noelle was sure her brother was capable of that, and so much more. And that was why she kept all her suspicions to herself until she could verify them. And verify them she would. She refused to give it all up based on third party information.

Yet the days passed and Noelle's hopes were, indeed, dashed, as she realized she could not take a step outside her room without being followed at all times.

With no access to any device, she couldn't do anything.

One day melted into another, until there was only one week until her birthday—and her wedding.

"What do you mean we're going to Mexico?" she asked, incensed, as her brother deigned to come to her room to inform her how the festivities would proceed.

"Villanueva doesn't agree with our weather so he's decided to host everything at his hacienda. We're going to take a private plane for the ceremony," he explained, and Noelle could hear the unspoken.

They were going to stay there for the duration of the ceremony after which they would leave her behind while they returned to their perfect lives.

"You're really fine just throwing me to the wolves?" she uttered in a low voice.

"You'll survive," he replied, his lips pursed. "The alternative is much, much worse, Noelle."

She frowned at him, but she didn't want to look further into his words. It would just confuse her further. Nothing was simple with her brother, just as nothing was ever straightforward. For every one word that he said, he probably meant a thousand different things at the same time. He liked to use ambiguity to play the system.

Cisco's words were final, however, and as the day before the wedding arrived, she became increasingly more desperate. Every attempt to get in touch with the outside world had been in vain. Here she was, hours away from the flight that would take her to a completely different world, and she didn't know what to do.

She wanted to escape but there was no escape in sight.

She was simply…trapped.

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