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I halt my movements when I feel a flutter in my stomach, making me gasp, and my eyes close because the little one reminds me that he doesn’t agree with my decisions either.
Even though I’m doing all this to protect my tiny bean from the hatred and vengeance a madman craves, using me and my baby as collateral damage.
“Jimena?” Dad whispers, and I look at him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” We resume our walk, although I notice several people shooting me questioning glances while some men even share a drink, seeming bored with the whole thing.
Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, should I?
Monsters rarely care about anyone but themselves.
I grew up among their kind and loved them all, only for them to turn their backs on me when it counted the most.
Compassion, after all, has no value in our greed-filled world built on sadistic desires and power.
Five more steps and we pause in front of the groom, who extends his hand to me. “Jimena,” he utters my name, and his presence alone makes me nauseous. “I’ll take good care of her, Lucian,” he addresses my father, who tenses next to me. I have to pull at my arm to finally free myself from his hold while his brown eyes scan the groom from head to toe. Judging by his stare, he probably wishes to punch him and wrap me in a protective cocoon so I won’t have to go through with this.
Except the protective cocoon doesn’t include me being with the one I want, so does it really matter?
“If anything happens to my daughter, I’ll kill you.” Coldness seeps in his words as he utters them and finally steps back. “Remember that, Maxwell.” Dad goes to sit next to my mom on the pew, and I quickly turn all my attention back to the groom.
I won’t withstand seeing her disappointment yet again even though I can feel her love even now.
The tension permeates the air as it grows thick and heavy, serving as an invisible weight on us all because one wrong move may signal our downfall.
The priest, wearing a colorful mantle, flips open the Bible, but not before his eyes linger on me. He shakes his head, probably hating all this as much as I do.
After all, I grew up around him and used to come to this church, considering it a happy place where I could always find solace. Where he could always listen to my problems because I could never share them with my family as they lived and existed in permanent grief.
Except the familiar solace transformed into gore while the walls closed in on me, placing me in an airless vacuum where nothing but darkness rules and remains.
He clears his throat as Maxwell grips my cold fingers, his touch sending repulsion through my system, and I barely hold back the need to snatch my hand away.
“Dearly beloved…” The voice becomes muted in my head while the groom grins because we’re getting closer to him finally getting what he wants.
Revenge on his cousin. And I’m the perfect weapon, right?
I catch my brother’s blue pools, but compared to everyone else’s…they have no emotions.
Nothing, just endless hollowness while he fixes his stare on me as if studying his latest prey and expecting it to obey, or otherwise, there will be a price to pay.
He shouldn’t worry.
I’m paying it already.
“…any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Father Paul takes a long pause, longer than necessary, judging by how everyone shifts in their seats impatiently and sighs heavily, ready to continue the ceremony when people remain silent.
What did he expect? A divine intervention?
One would have to be completely insane to interrupt…
I hear heavy footsteps rocking off the walls, alerting us to someone’s presence right before the husky and deep voice straight from my dreams and nightmares alike booms through the space. “I do.”
“Oh, thank God,” Father Paul mutters, shutting the Bible while I gasp in shock at the sight of the handsome blond man entering the church. His green eyes scan the crowd until they land on me, and something inside me snaps when possessiveness and complete ownership coat them.
His three-piece suit only accentuates his features that are so haunting one might think he isn’t real as his handsomeness can rival those of gods.
Florian Price.
