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“She won’t understand that I didn’t feel I had a choice,” onscreen Lucia says. “He was putting us in the hole, making so many bad choices with the wrong people and getting us into serious danger. We had all those medical bills to pay, too…”
“You did the right thing,” the Nataniele onscreen reassures her.
On the projector, my mother covers her face with her hands. “I thought so at the time, but how was I to know he’d never renewed his life insurance policy? If only he’d done that, we’d have been okay. I should have realized he’d be a fuckup right to the very end.”
I stagger away, unsure where I’m going, just knowing I need to put distance between me and my mother. I stumble back up the aisle, practically bouncing off each of the pews. My legs no longer feel as though they belong to me. My pulse pounds in my ears. My cheeks burn with anger and shame.
Everyone is staring at me.
From the front of the chapel, my mom cries, “Mackenzie.”
I put out my hand, warding her off. I don’t want her anywhere near me.
I don’t feel good. The room is no longer solid around me, the floor tilting. I’ve receded from everyone around me, tunneling inside myself.
No, no, no. I can’t have this happen in front of everyone. I don’t want them to know.
My mother’s voice filters through to me. “Mackenzie, please, wait. It’s not what you think.”
Something else occurs to me. The footage. Someone recorded that conversation and then went to the trouble to rig it so it would be played at the wedding. I remember the glimpse of regret I saw in Tino’s eyes, and the way Dom didn’t smile as I walked down the aisle.
It hits me—they did this.
And everything goes black.
Chapter 44
Domenic
What the fuck is happening to Mackenzie?
My father is finally pulling the projector down, but I ignore him, focused on the scene playing out in front of me.
I knew this was going to be bad. I wanted it that way. I wanted her to pay for spilling my secrets all over the university. I knew this footage would not only bring an end to the wedding but would also make her hate me once and for all.
It would be enough to make both her and her mother leave.
But I hadn’t expected this.
I also hadn’t expected the flash of pain seeing her like this gives me.
Mackenzie hits the floor.
Her body shakes and trembles. Her beautiful mouth is curled to one side in a grimace. Her hands have become claws. The only part of her eyes that is visible are the whites.
“Kenzie!” Tino yells and runs to her side.
Kirill runs, too, joining him. “Oh, fuck. Mack? Mack!”
They both drop to their knees beside her. I’m rooted to the spot, staring on in horror.
“Don’t touch her,” Lucia cries. “She’s epileptic.”
What. The. Fuck?
Mackenzie is epileptic, and she’s never said a fucking word. We’ve been basically torturing her, and she’s got a…
I don’t even know how to think of it. An illness? A disability?
