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He walks her to the empty pew like they’re a couple without anyone showing an iota of disgust at a son clearly lusting after his old mother. What in the fuck have I got myself into? Better yet, what the fuck has Delilah forced me to be surrounded by?

Lennox turns his back to them as he steps into my line of sight. He lowers his voice and I have to strain my ears as he says, “No questions, little shadow.” His lips don’t move as he takes his place at my side. “Not here, not now.”

I have a million questions, all of them are about Rowan. Mainly if him wanting to fuck his mom is normal or if he’s lost his mind recently. But I stand, silently waiting for a woman who is already mine to come to me.

Low murmurs come from the pew as I turn, focusing on a spot on the stone rather than whether Rowan is begging to be breastfed as a grown man. Fucking freaks. All of them are fucked up and need putting down.

The murmuring turns to shuffling and, like a car accident, I can’t stop the intrigue making me turn.

Thankfully, Rowan isn’t stroking one out as he stretches his hand to touch his mother’s thigh with the tip of his little finger.

It’s Harkin who exits the pew as Ruby enters the large hall.

She stands at the back, looking at her father with the same neutral expression she had when we were children.

Her partner turns his head slightly, acknowledging that she’s there without looking directly at her as Harkin follows her out through a small, wooden, arched door.

They’re not in the other room for long when Ruby walks out alone.

She takes a deep breath and her steps echo around the space until she sits beside Daigon, leaving an inch of space between them.

He doesn’t touch her or soften. He simply widens his thighs until the edge of his knee nearly touches hers.

Her head snaps down at the contact but she quickly looks up and everything else in the world is forgotten at the sound of a heavy clanging.

The arched door slams open and the clanging gets louder. A heavy chain is wrapped around Harkin’s fist, and it drags along the floor as he walks through. The three feet of the entwined metal trailing behind him roughly jerks from whatever he’s attempting to pull.

My brows slowly come together, and I tilt my head as though that will allow me to see around the stone wall. I can’t see anything inside of the room, so I take half a step forward when delicate fingers curl around the stone trim.

Delilah’s fingers.

She tries to fight something, her nails scratching the old stone, but she’s pulled forward. Her neck is the first thing to come into view. Specifically, the fucking chain around it.

Harkin drags her out of the room as he wraps the chain tighter around his fist. There’s a handprint blooming across her cheek.

Lennox steps in front of me, pushing me back with his shoulder firmly pressed to my chest as he speaks without moving his fucking lips again, repeating, “Not now, not here.”

Looking at me over his shoulder, he narrows his eyes and shakes his head. The expression is wiped off his face when Rowan takes his place at my other side and a scream builds in my chest.

Delilah stares at me with angry tears in her eyes.

If it wasn’t for the chain around her fucking neck, she’d be an ethereal vision.

Her hair is in loose waves and the lace dress wouldn’t look out of place in a castle.

But she’s barefoot and bites back her wince as the motherfucker tugs on the chain to keep pulling her forward.

Glee shines on everyone’s face. Other than Ruby, who doesn’t look at her baby sister.

She looks at me, imploring me to do something without telling me what.

I’m the ignorant party, the only person who doesn’t know what the fuck is happening.

But that’s not true either, because I know more than Delilah does.

In some twisted fucking fate, she’s my sanity again. The secret place where everything makes sense.

Her dress floats behind her, revealing small glimpses of her long legs through the slit. There’s no gentle walk or slow pace like most brides dream of on their father figures’ arm. She’s forcefully pulled to me with defiance in her eyes. Somehow she’s even more majestic because of it.

She doesn’t look away from me. Not as she’s dragged towards me or as Harkin unravels the chain from his hand when they reach the steps, and her chin is pulled down due to the weight.

He doesn’t kiss his daughter’s cheek or shake my hand.

He walks up the steps and stands opposite me, leaving a space for my pretty girl.

I walk backwards and escape Lennox’s barrier.

Stopping at the edge of the altar, I place my foot on the top step and hold my hand out to my wife.

In another life, we’d be in the middle of a forest either under a sky full of stars or as the sun rose, and once she put her hand in mine, it would never leave.

In this one, it still won’t happen. She belongs to me in the opposite of everything I ever wanted.

There aren’t any notions of bringing her peace or whatever bullshit people pay lip service to in their vows.

No, this is going to be an exchange of her pain, misery, and eventual death. I suppose there is a vow we can keep.

‘Til death do we part.

She looks at my hand as though it’s covered in shit. Her shoulders twitch as she assesses the guests out of the corner of her eyes, who are all waiting for her to move. I stretch my hand further, urging her to take it, and her eyes widen as she’s distracted by something over my shoulder.

Helene’s eyes turn colder as she slams her stick between her feet, layers both hands over the top, then begins grinding it into the floor.

Lennox has always said that every family has their secrets.

I look around the pews. Both my family and Delilah’s family have hidden their skeletons in the same closet.

From Ruby’s outdated marriage agreement bullshit, I deduce that this is a business decision.

My stubborn fucking woman is close to running so I tightly grip her hand, pushing my thumb into the delicate bones on the back of her hand to drag her attention to me while everyone stares.

Being cruel to her was my way to right the wrong of the cruelty she showed me, but now it’s to get her to fucking move so no one else attempts to take my place.

“Did you think that you meant anything to me?” I ask, pulling her attention to me only for it to go back over my shoulder. “You’re only a business asset.”