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“It’s all yours.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Chester
“Take a look at this.”
“What is it?” Moreen asks, picking up the off-white envelope.
“See for yourself.” I sigh while dropping down in the booth next to Sebastian.
For days now, I’ve been stuck in this negative mindset. I've been a mess of emotions, all tied to Evangeline and her upcoming nuptials. There was one dominant feeling corrupting me the entire time. Frustration. I resembled an old man complaining about everything while gritting through his teeth. Half of the people on the street must have thought I was nuts. Well, I felt nuts because I woke up with the feeling and went to sleep with it.
That envelope became the bane of my existence. But it reminded me of the feeling that created my frustration, and that’s helplessness.
I feel nailed to the ground, and no matter which way I turn, a solution doesn’t magically present itself. I broke my mind trying to come up with a plan, something to prevent this wedding from happening, but nothing productive came to mind.
It all hit the ceiling when I got my mail this morning and my eyes fell on my name written in curly letters on a thick, elegant envelope. Her cruel brother and his tricks made me hit the wall over and over again when I read its contents.
He’s playing me, and I’m sure he enjoys every second of making our lives miserable. The next time I see him, I’ll go for the throat.
“It’s an invitation,” Moreen says, shocked, and it matched my tone of voice when I opened the damn thing. And then, it made my blood boil, and I’m still having trouble breathing normally.
“This is messed up, Ches,” Moreen whispers, and Sebastian slowly leans over her shoulder to take a look at the evil object. His eyes look my way instantly, and cold-hearted Sebastian looks like he swallowed a lemon whole.
“It’s tomorrow,” he adds.
I can’t look at the thing anymore. I want to burn it in some witch ritual to undo all of its truths. How the bloody hell am I supposed to go through the weekend now? A thing like that you can’t ignore, even when it’s Frederic’s way of showing he has the upper hand in all of this.
Sick bastard.
Every single time when my thoughts switch to Evangeline, my heart breaks, imagining her in her room alone, counting down the hours until she’s dressed in a white dress with a long veil.
“What’s with the sour faces?” Prescott interrupts. A frown is on his face as he gives us our drinks before grabbing the paper out of Moreen’s hands. He reads it quickly.
“You’re invited to Evangeline’s engagement party?” I nod my head and stare at my drink with a huge weight on my shoulders.
Would it be wrong of me to get on a plane to some exotic island and forget about all of this? To sip on margaritas instead of wondering about a brown-eyed girl? To swim in the ocean, letting my muscles relax instead of tightening them up, anxious to hit a certain brother?
“What are you going to do, Chester?” Prescott asks.
“He’s going to go of course,” Moreen says quickly.
“I don’t know, Moreen. I can’t watch it happening.”
“Poor you,” she mocks. “Your life is not getting ruined. Evangeline is the one who’s going to lose everything. The least you could do is support her on one of the worst days of her life.” It was only a slight movement, but I caught it. Sebastian flinched. He flinched at what Moreen had to say.
She speaks from experience. The topic of marriage is a sensitive one when it comes to the couple, but it’s Moreen who’s very vocal about it, while Sebastian rarely shares anything about it. But this, this is new.
Cold-ass Sebastian flinched at what his wife had to say about their engagement and their marriage.
“If you won’t go, I’ll go,” Moreen says firmly, throwing the invitation back at me. I stare at it, seeing Evangeline’s name written next to Thomas Meyer’s. This is so wrong, and I’m sure I’ll get back from that party with an ulcer and ten years reduced from my lifespan.
But Moreen’s right. I’m not the one being forced to kiss my hopes and dreams goodbye. I’m privileged in the fact that I have so much freedom. I don’t need to ask someone for permission if I want to go back to school. I can open a new business tomorrow if I desired it, and I get to decide if I want to tie the knot.
It’s Evangeline who picked the short straw.
If I can’t stop it, then I’ll make sure to hold her hand through it all. Like Moreen said, it’s the least I can do.
