Will You Marry My Groom?

58

I watched his brows fuse together as a tight line formed on his forehead. "What is that supposed to mean?" His hands fell from mine. Oh no, he was judging me.

Yet, a strong urge to let it all out overwhelmed me. I would rather he knew the truth and hated me, than continue to lie to his face all because I was being greedy for his love.

"After my dad left me at this man's hands, the man maltreatment and abused me. One day, I had tried to escape, and accidentally shot his dearest bodyguard. Due to that, he--he tied me to a chair and had set a ring of fire around me." The memory struck me again. I shut my eyes tightly, shaking my head. No, I had to tell him everything. I had to let go of the trauma. "I was..." my words got caught up in my throat. "...burning. I watched the fire grow closer to me and I couldn't do anything about it. It hurt so badly. It felt like hell. Every day, I feel the heat. It choked me; I suffocated. And watched my life flash before my eyes.

"Right after that, he punished me with painful sex..." I sobbed, shaking.

Tristan hid his emotion from his face and walked up to me; surprisingly, he pulled me into a hug, letting me melt in his embrace as I wailed, encouraged to speak more. "I was nothing but a child, a teenager with no experience of the world around her." I sobbed harder. "To make things worse, he treated Tiffany with special attention than me, and that brat had always hated me, so she always caused trouble. I was flogged repeatedly because she would always frame me to seek his favor.

"I hated my life." I sucked in a wet sniffle.

He held my hand. "let's sit." Leading me to the bed, he offered me a cup of water which I gulped down in one drought, then he sat beside me, rubbing my back. "It's okay." His eyes were laced with concern, no sight of judgement and that made me break down in more tears.

"Tristan, whenever I offended that man, in just the slightest way possible, he'd strike me with heavy chain." I shut my eyes. Speaking about him always made me feel like I was reliving the moments. "They hurt."

"When my father's debt got worse, the man offered to buy me if I got married to him. And..." I watched Tristan eyes go wide but he adjusted then. "I did, Tristan. He threatened me, hit me, punished me, and most importantly, reminded me of how worthless I was and that no one was hoping to marry a wasted slut.

"I'm so sorry, Tristan, but I'm married to him. There's a contract. My father's debt...

. I'm married to that monster. Legally married to that beast, and now he is reminding me of that, he wants to use it against me. He owns me." Panic flooded my tone.

"It's okay, please calm down." He cupped my face, wiping stream of tears off my face with his thumb. "Now tell me. Who's this man? He's clearly still alive and roaming freely."

"I don't want you doing anything too him. Can you promise me you'll stay out of it and let me work things out?"

"Just tell me his name." With that tone, I could tell he was burning with the desire for revenge. As much as I appreciated that, I couldn't risk it.

"No, stay out of it." I shook my head. "That was one of the reasons I didn't want to tell you. He is a dangerous man. Tiff—Lucy also wanted her freedom, so she had brought up the suggestion that we killed him. We—We planned on killing him that night. He was always in his study whenever he locked me up in his basement and locked Lucy in a private bedroom. Just then, we met up at his storage room, poured acid in a container, and stole one of his guns; we mounted for his study room. His back faced us, so we quickly spilled the acid on him while Lucy shot him in the head." I shut my eyes again the image of his brain cells splattering struck me.

"So, he is dead?" Tristan's face turned red.

I shook my head. "That was what I thought until he showed up in my life again recently, reawakening this horribleness I had thought I shoved behind me. It turns out that he knew what we were planning, and he sent his innocent twin brother to a place he would normally be, so we killed his twin brother instead." I sucked in breath, my heart rate beating crazily again. "I killed an innocent person; I am a bloody criminal."

"Tell me his name." He demanded.

"NO! I just want to confide in you, but I will not put your life in danger. He is more dangerous than you can ever imagine. If anyone is above the law, it is Giovanni, and you can't stand a chance next to him." Just then, my eyes grew wide as I realized I had just namedropped him. I slapped my mouth. How could I be so stupid?

"Giovanni." The name vibrated from the depth of his lungs.

"Please, Tristan." I held onto his collar tightly. "Don't do anything at all. I promise I will deal with him. Please promise me."

"I won't lie to you. I will find this bastard and make him pay for it." I had never seen him this rage drenched.

Tears resumed streaming own my face, my guts twisting up in nuts. "I'm begging you." I held onto him tighter. "Prison is like his second home. He had been in and out of there a billion times but will always find his way out.

"My lawyers will work things out."

I chortled in frustration. "Your lawyers? That man has affiliations with politicians and billionaires around the world because he holds their dark secrets. He always gets out. He has even been sentenced to life imprisonment, death, and whatever brutal punishment you can name, but regardless, he finds his way out, hunts down whoever punished him, and ends their entire lifeline. I cupped his face. Please, don't do that to yourself. This is my fight. I want to fight it alone."

"Your fight is our fight. I'll fight it with you."

No words could fill my mouth. Tristan was adamant on being stubborn. Giovanni liked the suborn ones because he enjoyed punishing them even more.

Tristan's phone began to ring from the nightstand. He rose up to get it. "Hey, Kye. What's up?" he said. I heard mutter-like sounds from the phone then watched as his eyes widened. "Charlotte is awake?" He let out a deep sigh of relief. "Okay, we'll be there as soon as possible."

***

Tristan, after driving way past the speed limit and ignoring my pleas to leave Giovanni alone, finally arrived at the hospital.

We rushed up to Charlotte's room.

She had multiple bandages around her head, arms, and body. I took a halt at the door. The sight made me feel hollow inside. She looked like she had just walked out of the tunnel of death.

Scrunching her face, she held her head. "What happened? I don't remember anything..."

"It's okay. You're okay. That's what matters." Kye, sitting beside her, said, his face plastered with relief.

We walked up to stand beside her, and I couldn't help the tears of relief that fell from me. "I was so scared something was going to happen to you."

She forced a smile, and as if as a habit, her hands fell on her stomach, rubbing the bump. Her eyes grew wide, and she screamed at her reduced bump. "My baby! Where's my baby?"

"She's doing alright. They had to perform an emergency caesarian on you. However..." Kye took the much-needed pause.

"Speak. ¡No te atrevas a mantenerme en suspenso!" She hollered, her chest rising ad falling rapidly.

"It turns out we were pregnant with twins, but unfortunately, we lost one of them." His face dropped, matching hers.

"Oh no. All because I fell from the stairs. How could I have been so reckless?" she sobbed, her hands trembling. Suddenly, she squeezed her face in disgust. "No, I didn't fall." She gasped. "That bitch Indy pushed me over."