Page 60 of Darling Nikki

“Did you think I was going to strike you?” I demand, not liking her reactions to me. It’s like she’s waiting for me to detonate at any moment.

She pulls back surprise coloring her features. “No.”

I look at her skeptically.

“At least not with your hands. Your words are bad enough, Mathias. If I’m here for community dick, what does that make me, community pussy?” She slides her gaze to me in her own demand.

“There is no excuse for saying that bullshit,” I say, looking at her.

“Why haven’t you ever taken me to the estate? Your gran’s house, your barn-turned-bachelor-pad, yes, but never your ancestral state.”

Stunned by her question, I charge, “Is that why you did it? Because you saw that house in the distance, saw the lavish parties and the soirées? Knew Natalie could come and go?”

“Mathias,” she actually screams my name like a bomb exploding from her little body. She turns from me, shaking so badly, it’s like she’s about to implode. But she’s silent, so silent.

Slowly she turns to me. She dashes away her tears. Her voice is calm when she starts talking.

“Yeah, Thi, that’s exactly why.”

It’s then that I realize how fucking dumb I sound, what an idiot I’ve been.

She continues, her voice unwavering and hard, convicting me with every word. “Yeah, that’s why. Because you risking everything for me wasn’t enough. You see, I want it all. Isn’t that what I’ve been showing you all along? That I’m a selfish, grasping bitch who will do anything to get the name Shelby? A name my family despises, by the way, but what do I owe them? They didn’t run me over and take me to a diner and feed me peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes.” My chest caves in when she hiccups tears clogging her words. “ No, Thi, having you is worth their ridicule and pity. I’d just felt worthy enough to join the Love fold, and what did I do? Hook up with a fucking Shelby. One who hates me and keeps choosing another bitch over me on a daily basis. I’m good enough to fuck and parade around but not to trust. Even after realizing what Natalie did, you still think me capable of the worst. Because you want to, Thi. You’d rather I betray you than be the friend you know me to be.” She steps away, looking at me with knowing eyes, calling me on all my bullshit.

“All this time I was so careful to keep our secret as to not harm you, but you not only thought I’d betrayed you but you’d been waiting on it. Prepared for it. You had everything lined up. Sure, you were caught unawares that day, but you had a convenient justice of the peace and lawyer for a prenup. Then planned on breeding me—”

“Which you made sure to nip in the bud.”

I watch her face harden. “You left me no choice. I’m not bringing a kid into this mess,” she says unapologetically, lifting her head.

“That’s your choice.” I sneer. “I guess you know what lengths I will go to keep you.”

“You don’t even want me.” She holds her hand up in pathetic attempt to stop me.

I fold her hands behind her, dragging her up my body. “Then why am I here, little wife? If I wanted Natalie, I could have had her that night. I could have made up any number if things to get out of marrying you. We could have paid an innumerable amount of people to discredit your cousin. Why do you think, of all the alternatives I had, I chose you?”

I let her go.

“Get your shit. We’re going to Shelby. Since you want to see it so bad.”

ChapterNineteen

Nikki

The driveto the Shelby Estate did not seem to take the two hours it did. Mathias drove like a man possessed. Like this is some type of quest he needs to see accomplished. He barely kept the speed limit. Then, when we were free of the more populated cities, he floored his F-150 like the hounds of hell were at his heels.

The last time I saw him this bothered, it was the night he showed me the ring his mom wanted him to give Natalie. The smothered anger that broke free that night was frightening to the young teen I was then. Now, after being served his wrath on a daily basis, it barely registers other than the fact there is more than rage there. Dread is another emotion he seems to be expressing.

When we finally arrive, the truck idles while he enters the security code into a panel. The well-oiled hinges of the main gate barely make a sound as they slowly swing open. I notice there are guards by the gate. They wave, recognizing the truck, calling out, “Hey, Mathias,” and “Sup, boss,” then tipping their Stetsons when they see me sitting in the passenger seat.

The drive to the house takes almost twenty minutes, the property is so vast. The house I saw in the distance for year was way farther than I realized. As we get closer and closer, I understand why it was so well defined on the landscape—it’s massive.

The mansion sits atop the high point on the property so the owner could look down and survey all that he owns. I can imagine how that once included my people.

“Awful, isn’t it?” Mathias says, and I look over to find him looking at me, his face awash with understanding. Not guilt—he knows that’s a useless emotion—but empathy. He turns away, his jaw working, and I continue to look out on the acres and acres of land as beautiful as it is grotesque. The sweetness of the sugarcane colors the air, and I can’t help but wonder how much blood in the soil adds to that bouquet, that of the modern-day workers as well as those who were forced onto this land in the past.

Just as we get closer, I see something that has me looking at Mathias in wonder. Row after row of new construction is being raised on the land behind the massive mansion.

“Homes for the workers. Shelby Sugar is now a co-op—farmer owned. We are shifting the business model.”

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