Page 56 of My Horrible Arranged Marriage (Bancroft Billionaire Brothers #20)

ISAAC

I didn’t know heartbreak could feel like suffocation. Like devastation. I was a bag of bones. There was nothing inside. My brain felt like a lead weight in my head. It was a rock. There was no functioning.

I sat on the couch in Hectar’s study with my head in my hands. Dad and Hectar had gone out to tell the guests there was a delay. Hectar was certain Mina would come back.

It had been an hour.

She was not coming back. That thought did something to me I couldn’t explain. I knew she wasn’t coming back. Hectar didn’t know his daughter as well as he thought he did.

The moment Mina ran away, my lungs closed up. It was like she’d sucked all the oxygen out of the room. She was gone. And it was my fault. I ruined this. I should have been man enough to tell her the truth. The whole truth.

Dad came into the study. It looked like he had aged twenty years.

“Well?” I asked.

He shook his head. My head dropped again. I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.

“You need to get out there, son.”

I jerked my head up and looked at him. “Why?”

“Because there are a lot of people out there wondering what’s going on,” he said. “Be a man.”

I jumped up from the couch. “Be a man! Are you fucking kidding me? I’m in this mess because of you!”

I grabbed the glass of scotch on the side table and hurled it against the wall. It shattered with a satisfying crash, amber liquid dripping down and soaking the expensive rug.

“This is on you!” I shouted, my voice breaking. “You and your goddamn favor! Did you even think about what this would do to her? To me?”

Dad stood there, taking it. His face was impassive, but I could see the regret in his eyes.

“I was happy, Dad. For the first time in my life, I was actually happy. She made me feel like I could be more than just the family disappointment. Like I could be someone worth loving.”

I paced the room, running my hands through my hair, not caring that I was ruining the perfect styling.

“And now she’s gone. She’ll never trust me again. She’ll never believe anything I say.”

“Isaac—”

“Don’t,” I warned, pointing a finger at him. “Don’t you dare act like this is all going to be okay. You’ve destroyed me! You two old men made deals before we were even born and we’re the ones paying the price!”

My voice cracked again, and I felt my knees give way.

I slumped back onto the couch, staring at my trembling hands.

I couldn’t tell my dad about the baby. Why?

I couldn’t explain why but I didn’t want to tell them.

It felt like it would make things worse.

Not worse. Like they won while Mina and I lost.

“I’m going after her.”

“Son, give her time?—”

“I’ve given her enough time to think I don’t care.” I headed for the door. “I’m not letting her go without a fight.”

“She’s gone, Isaac,” Dad said. “She’s not on the grounds. Hectar’s security said she left with Tori.”

“Fuck,” I hissed.

I didn’t know why I was surprised. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was actually holding on to hope there might be a chance we could talk through this thing and get married.

“Come on,” he said. “You’re a Bancroft. We don’t hide from anything.”

That was easy for him to say. He wasn’t the jilted groom. I had been left at the altar. But it was better to face the music now. No matter what I did, there would be rumors. I wasn’t going to hide.

I did what I could to fix my hair. “Let’s do this,” I said.

“I’m proud of you, son,” he said solemnly. “It takes courage and strength to stand in the middle of the storm. Give them thirty minutes and then you leave.”

I nodded and followed him out. The second we stepped into the backyard, I felt the tension. People were milling about with glasses of champagne and huddled in small groups.

And then everything stopped. When they saw me, everyone froze. I immediately knew the memory would haunt me for the rest of my days.

Dad put his hand on my shoulder. He didn’t need to say anything.

I moved through the crowd and went straight for one of the three bars we had ordered for the reception.

It seemed a little weird to be celebrating a failed wedding.

But I got it. All the food and alcohol would go to waste.

Many of these people traveled from out of the country to be at our wedding.

The bartender poured me a scotch and handed it over without a word. I was guessing the tux gave me away as the star of the show. And this whole damn thing was a fucking show. A shit show.

The guests were circling like vultures. I heard the whispers.

“What happened?”

“Where is she?”

“I heard it was an arranged marriage—was that true?”

“Who does that in this century?”

I could feel them staring at me. I felt their opinions like actual feelings.

Disgust. Judgment. Some with pity. Most with revulsion.

They came for a wedding and got a scandal.

Another Duvall downfall, only this time it was me holding the match.

A Bancroft scandal with a Duvall scandal bow on top.

This was going to be talked about for years to come.

There was no point in letting bullshit fester and circulate. I would face it head on. And I was taking full responsibility. There was no way in hell I was going to let her get destroyed again. This was not Mina’s fault.

It was mine.

I stepped up to the mic that had been set up for the emcee. It took a few seconds for people to notice me standing at the mic and I waited for them to shut the hell up.

“The wedding’s been called off,” I said with no emotion in my tone.

“Mina left because she just learned something she should’ve been told a month ago.

” I glanced at the crowd. Eyes wide. Phones discreetly aimed.

“This engagement wasn’t organic. It was orchestrated by her father and mine. She didn’t know. Until today.”

There it was. The truth landed with the weight of a guillotine. People shifted uncomfortably. A woman in the front row let out a horrified gasp. I heard the whispers. Did they really think no one else could hear them?

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Hectar and he looked like he was going to try and kick my ass.

“You fool,” he spat under his breath. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

I looked him dead in the eye. “Told the truth.”

“You think that’s noble?” he hissed. “You humiliated her. You humiliated me. ”

“She deserved to know,” I said, every word strangled in my throat. “She should’ve heard it from me months ago.”

Hectar shoved off and disappeared into the murmuring crowd, probably to do damage control or bark orders at his PR team. I didn’t follow. I just stood there like an idiot while everyone stared at me.

My tux felt like a costume. My bowtie choked me. I pulled it loose, ignoring the dozens of eyes watching, whispering and undoubtedly posting on social media. Whatever they wanted to say, I’d already said worse to myself.

Hudson showed up first.

I didn’t see him approach. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. I flinched, half-expecting him to turn me around so he could punch me in the nose.

He didn’t say anything at first. And then he shook his head. “Keep your chin up, little brother.”

I scoffed. “What’s there to hold up?”

Hudson looked around at the disappointed crowd. “Soon they’ll all be gone. Then you can smash something.”

It should’ve helped. But when the guests finally trickled out and the band started packing up, I didn’t feel any better. The desire to destroy something, to throw a table or crack a champagne bottle against a tree, vanished the second I was alone.

Instead, I just sat in one of the white chairs by the aisle, surrounded by wilting flowers and discarded programs. I let my elbows rest on my knees and dropped my face into my hands.

I should have left an hour ago. It was a special kind of torture to stick around and listen to the gossip.

I stayed because I thought maybe there was a chance she would come back.

I knew she wouldn’t but that didn’t stop me from hoping. For the first time in years, maybe since my mom died, I cried. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just silent tears.

Hudson sat beside me without a word.

I wiped my eyes on my sleeve and stared straight ahead at the empty arbor where we should’ve exchanged vows. The breeze ruffled the gauze draped around it, knocking one of the peonies to the ground.

“I screwed it all up,” I said hoarsely. “The best thing that’s ever happened to me. I ruined it.”

Hudson leaned back in his chair. “Yeah. You did.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Not gonna sugarcoat it, huh?”

“You wouldn’t want me to.” He glanced sideways. “But you didn’t do it on purpose. I believe you tried.”

“No,” I admitted. “I had a hundred chances to tell her the truth. A thousand. I held on to this life-altering lie because I didn’t want to lose her.”

“Because you loved her,” Hudson offered gently.

“Still do,” I whispered. “But that doesn’t matter, does it? Love without honesty is just manipulation.”

Hudson sighed and nodded slowly. “True. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it right.”

I let that sit for a second.

Then Kent’s voice cut through the quiet. “Bullshit.”

I turned as he stomped down the aisle. He had lost his jacket and bowtie, and his shirt had the top three buttons undone. He looked like he’d been the one dumped at the altar.

Kent came right up and kicked me. Hard. In the shin.

“Ow!” I flinched and jumped up. “What the hell?”

“You deserved that,” he snapped.

“You think you’re the one to dole out the justice?”

“You’ve done enough sitting around and waiting. Look where that got you,” Kent bit out. “She’s gone. And you’re sitting here brooding.”

“I’m not brooding.”

Kent ignored me. “Go find your girl. Tell her you’re an ass with a pea-sized brain and a pencil dick.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? You’re going to insult the size of my dick.”

He shrugged. “I’m just trying to help you out.”

“Trust me, I’m not packing a pencil and she knows that,” I said. I couldn’t help but defend my manhood. It was stupid and petty but it was something to focus on other than my broken heart.

Hudson snorted. “If one of you busts out a ruler, I’m out of here. We are long past the days of dick-measuring.”

“She deserves better,” I said with a shake of my head. “Better than a guy who used her. Who thought about himself at every turn. She needs space and time. Maybe she’ll come back. Maybe she won’t.”

I knew the right thing to do was to step back and let her heal from what I had done. The problem? She was pregnant with my child. There was a clock running on her healing. Stepping back wasn’t an option now.

I didn’t tell my brothers about the baby. That was Mina’s news to share. And I knew they would very likely beat my ass. Not just with words but with fists. Bancrofts were a lot of things, but we didn’t abandon our children.

“Then be better,” Hudson said and got to his feet.

“You’re looking at a guy that fucked up.

Bad. Real bad. I had to be a better man before I could chase after Diana.

I got lucky. She’s a good woman who forgave me and gave me a chance.

You don’t have the demons to fight like I did.

You just need to get out of your own way. ”

He walked away and right into Diana’s arms. I had been so close to having that.

“Want to get drunk?” Kent asked. “Like really fucked up?”

“No,” I sighed. “I want to go home.”

“You’re going to go home and get drunk alone.”

“Yeah, I am,” I said.

“I’ll come with you.”

“No. I want to be alone.”

“Alright. Try not to do anything stupid.”

“Did that,” I muttered.

I stared down the aisle and tried to picture her walking toward me. That dress. Her smile. Fuck me. How could I have possibly screwed up so badly?