Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
By this point I was screaming at him. Scalding tears were streaming down my face, my throat hurt from the screaming, and my head, which had been throbbing, was now aching with a constant sharp pain.
Marksen crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me for a moment before that stupid smile appeared on his lips. “So, you are saying a person’s reputation is important, and can be irrevocably damaged.”
“Oh my God, Marksen, would you listen to me?” I took a breath and spoke slowly, hoping he would finally understand what I was saying. “Mine can be, whereas yours will survive the embarrassment of being left at the altar. Sure, you were the laughingstock of society for what … two days? Then they all moved on. No one even brought it up at Luc and Amelia’s wedding. No one sees you differently now. Your reputation is fine.”
“Stop playing stupid. You know this was never about the church ...”
I looked at him for a few more minutes, really looked, and realized his mind was set.
The second he decided I was a pawn he was going to use to get revenge, I had stopped being a person.
I wasn’t even convinced he’d ever seen me as a person.
Which meant he didn’t put value in what I had to say.
I grabbed my coffee cup and left the room.
He didn’t get to see me cry again.
CHAPTER 33
AMELIA
Ilay in bed, hating the idea of getting up.
At that moment, I shouldn’t have been alone in my bed.
I should’ve been in a bed in an oceanfront bungalow with my husband, both of us naked and basking in the glow of post-sex highs and newly married bliss.
Instead, we were still in the city, our honeymoon put on hold until Olivia was found. I wasn’t mad at Olivia or even Luc for reacting the way he was. She needed to be found, and her safety absolutely took priority over a trip that could be postponed until … a much later date.
That being said, I still felt a little down and depressed about my lack of a honeymoon. The problem was, between Luc’s career being so demanding and the almost constant events I was hosting at the school, who knew when the next time we would be able to get away would be.
I was just very careful to not let Luc see it. So I was laying in bed, moping while doom-scrolling on my tablet and letting Luc think I was asleep while he continued to work on locating his sister. He hadn’t come in yet to tell me he was going to the office, meaning he was probably still working here at home, something about broken glass making his office unsecured. He never gave me the full details on that one, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
With a reluctant sigh, I sat up, knowing I needed to be productive. I pulled up my e-mails to see if I had anything from the school. Nope, everything was handled there. With Luc and Harrison’s help, I had an amazing staff that handled the day-to-day perfectly, leaving me time to plan the fundraisers and other events to fund the scholarships, and to teach extra classes when I chose to. And they made sure that absolutely everything was well in hand for my trip. Which left me bored out of my mind. Still, I checked the rest of my inbox, and the first thing I saw of interest was an update from Olivia’s website.
I assumed her staff was keeping the magazine going, but when I clicked on the link, a full-page picture of Olivia in a stunning dress with a masquerade mask that looked a little like a sheep was loaded on my screen. It only took a second for me to see her name under the title of the accompanying article.
She was safe.
She had to be safe. No one being held tied to a chair in a damp basement would be writing articles about a party. With my tablet in my hand, I jumped out of bed, almost losing my footing in the silk sheets, and went to find my husband. Maybe he or his security team could do some magical tech tracing thing and find where the article was posted, then go and get her. If they brought her back today, and we made sure she was safe and sound, we might still be able to make it to a few days of our honeymoon.
Immediately, I felt guilty for that thought.
Olivia’s safety and well-being were more important than my honeymoon and I shouldn’t have been thinking about that trip while she was in danger. That being said, if it turned out this was some kind of trick and she was off enjoying every moment of a stunt with Marksen DuBois, she was going to find out how ruthless her new sister-in-law could be. Just because I wasn’t, and refused to become, my mother, it didn’t mean I hadn’t learned a few tricks from her.