Page 55 of Cruel Pawn
“Help me!” the officiant yelled, his voice ragged and broken. Not the first time he’d screamed for help. I hadn’t even heard him in the cottage. “Help! There’s a madman trying to kill me!”
“Rude,” I muttered, my ego a little bruised at his lack of fear of me.
Arden slapped the man hard, and I startled, mostly at the flutter that went through my stomach. Ina-fucking-propriate. I glared at my arms, and my attention snagged on the custom lace. Wait, was that… yep, that was the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Motherfucker. I swallowed the lump in my throat, refusing to cry. This wasn’t a real wedding, wasn’t a real marriage.
“All you have to do is marry us, and I’ll let you go,” Arden said, sounding completely civilised.
I nearly snorted at the relief that filled the officiant’s face. “That’s all you want?”
“Yep.” Arden grinned widely, that disarming smile that lured me in when we first met. “That’s all. Don’t worry, I already brought the correct paperwork, and this is all above board.”
Divorce exists,I reminded myself as I got to my feet, dressed in my dream gown, with my face all prettified and red roses in my hair. I was trying hard not to look at the cracked mirror across the shitty little house. I didn’t want to know what I looked like.
You don’t want to leave. Say it.
I don’t want to leave.
The officiant swallowed and nodded. Great, this was really happening. If I went along with this shit show, I would willingly accept a new set of chains. I might not be chained to his bed, but I’d be his, legally.
He’ll be yours too,a small voice pointed out. I shut it out, along with the hum of possessive pleasure at the thought of Arden being mine and only mine.
I jumped when Arden linked his hands with mine, my mind so frazzled I wasn’t paying attention. “There’s no way this is legally binding,” I muttered.
“I looked at every last detail,” he informed me with glee, squeezing my fingers. “There’s no way out, Priya McFadyen.”
I opened my mouth to say that wasn’t my name when the truth hit. He knew who killed my parents. I could finally make their killer pay. Everything I’d planned, trained for, everything Iwas—it would be over. And I would really, genuinely, be Priya McFadyen.
No one knows how to love you at home, Priya. Only I can love you like this.
I shook my head, startling when the officiant began to speak, recanting the service from memory. This chaotic fire between Arden and I didn’t matter. Revenge mattered, and it was so close I could touch it.
So, when the bound, nervous-sweating man glanced at me expectantly, I wet my lips and said, “I do.”