Page 111 of Tangled Lies

I liked the way his face turned a few shades of red before he reached for my throat. The thing was, I’d been ready and my heel met his chest in a thud. The wheezing that followed was rather satisfying. The lack of energy after? Not satisfying.

“Margaux.” My uncle was glaring at a struggling Carrow before coming to a stop by me. “I suggest you find a reason for him to want to keep you alive. Perhaps you should heed my training.”

This time, even though I was ready, he was still bigger than me. I held my arm up to bar my uncle from being able to hit me, and the first two times it worked, but the third time he was far more angry than I'd ever seen him. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up to him. His fist found my stomach, and this time it was my turn to gag and wheeze.

“Much better, niece. Now, the Thornes expect to see their new daughter-in-law out there. Your appropriate dress is hanging right there. I’ll let Carrow supervise you.”

My uncle stepped away, letting go of my wrist, but in true lunatic style he wasn’t really done with his warnings. Instead of going for my stomach again, he pushed me down to the ground, and as he kicked me, I cried out when he made contact with my ribs.

“Carrow, pull yourself together.”

With that, he walked out and two women walked in. One went straight for my new dress and the other straight for the dress I’d wanted to wear.

I pushed the woman away as she reached for the ties in the back.

“Lady, no. Get away. I am not wearing that dress.”

“You will be wearing that dress if you want to walk down the aisle. I have no problem drugging you and dragging you down. Of course, Mom will be upset. She really hoped for a nice photo of her only son’s wedding.” Carrow said.

“I don’t care about your mom. Does she know your bride was bought?”

He grabbed my upper arm, and I flinched when his fingers dug into the skin.

“What the hell are you doing, Carrow?”

His other hand was behind me, and I could feel the way the dress grew more and more loose. I was positive it would fall down any second. I tried to grab for the phone before it could fall.

“Excuse you, I liked this dress. What gives you the right to decide what I wear?” I said the words, but really, I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to wear anything else. I wasn’t going to do anything Carrow said.

He wasn’t as dumb as I had built him up to be. Which sucked. When the phone finally fell with a thud to the carpet, I froze.

“Fine. We will do this the hard way. I don’t need a wife, Margaux, but here I am. You will do as you are told, and if you can’t get ready, your future will be worse than it has to be.”

He kicked the skirt of the dress, revealing the phone before I had much more of a chance to fight him.

I wasn’t fully recovered from the drug when Carrow grabbed me again and my knees buckled.

He put the phone in his pocket, and I wondered if he had any idea that it could be tracked and not by my uncle.

“Margaux, I really would rather not drug you again. You can’t even walk on your own. Be a good little wife and let them get the dress on you.”

A good little wife? I tried not to laugh.

“What If I’m not your wife? Would I be a good little wife if I listened to someone who wasn’t my husband?”

Carrow let me go, and I fell against the couch. I found my footing a moment later. I wasn’t able to physically fight the two women already pulling off my dress; it took far too much energy just to keep myself from falling.

“You will be my wife and only mine. You’re lucky, Margaux. Not just anyone can marry into the Thorne family.”

Carrow sat down in a plush chair I hadn’t noticed.

“Gee, lucky me. Are you going to just sit there and watch someone else’s wife like a pervert then? Because, fun fact, I don’t want to marry you.”

Carrow was already in a tux, and I watched as he fixed his cuffs.

“What? You think Ronan Barone will really marry you?” he asked. “Fun story, Margaux, you’re only as valuable as that trust fund of yours. As long as the Barone family gets what they want, they have no problems selling you. That little wedding? Just an act to flex their power. Ronan won’t get away with that.”

One of the women was practically raising my legs to get me to step out of my dress, and even as I tried to pull my leg away from her, I realized I really couldn’t argue with her.