The Bridal Agreement

Chapter 11

❀ Noelle's POV

I stare at him, wondering if he's the man I married.

“Keith, how could you?!” Adalynn screams.

“I'm sorry. My love, I can explain...”.

“Don't touch me” I hold my hand up and step back.

“Noelle” he sighs desperately.

I just stare at him.

“Why?” is all I can ask.

“I was scared!” he cries out, gripping my shoulders. “I didn't want to lose you, babe. I...”.

“So you pretended to be my sister for eleven years, why? So you could keep me all to yourself?”.

“I didn't want to lose you, my love. I swear... I was just scared you'd want to leave if you found out they weren't fine and I can't bare to live without you” he says, his eyes frantically searching my face.

I step away from him.

“Where's the money?” I ask.

Stefanie laughs.

“This is the good part” she chuckles. “There's no money”.

Keith glares at her and I turn.

“What do you mean there's no money, Stefanie?”.

She arches her brow at Keith and I look at him.

“My love, I need you to trust me okay? Just trust me”.

“Keith, what did you do?” Sydney, who seemed to have sobered up, asks.

Keith threads his hands through his hair in frustration and holds me.

“I can explain, my love...”.

“What did you do, Keith?” Sydney asks again.

He groans.

“Just shut up okay, Syd?!” he shouts at her.

I jump back and he catches himself.

“I'm sorry, my love. I didn't mean to...”.

I cup his face in my hands and tilt my head to look at him.

“What did you do?” I slowly ask.

His breath turns shakey and he grips me tighter.

“I made some bad investments, my love, and I.. I..” he stammers.

Shit, shit, shit, Keith!

“I just...”.

“How much?” I cut him off.

He looks at me, fears in his blue-green eyes. His hands tremble as they hold me.

“Three million? Five? Ten?” I ask.

He shakes his head and closes his eyes. A tear suddenly drops and he loosens his hold on me.

“Seven hundred and fifty million dollars”.

My stomach sinks and I let go of him.

“Seven hundred... and fifty million?” I whisper. “What were you thinking?!”.

“I'm sorry” he whispers, lowering his head and holding onto me tightly again. “It seemed like a great idea in one minute and the next, it was an obvious mistake and I'd lost everything”.

It was all starting to make sense.

“That's why you were so hell-bent on meeting John Blase, weren't you?” I ask, shaking my head. “You needed that much... that much and you refused to let me help because you'd already invested everything I've been sending to my family for eleven years!”