Ready To Run // h.s

thirty five

mia

  Three days later, it was finally time to pick out the dress that I would be wearing to the Gala. The only bits and pieces of information that I had squeezed out of Matthew was that it would be filled with prestigious celebrities and a window of opportunity to get us back into the public eye. I couldn't complain, this was quite possibly my one shot at freedom. 

  Rosita and I had devised a plan. Since it would be impossible for me to bring all the evidence that I had collected and not look suspicious, I would only bring with me the single document that was the most important; the statement that my father, Matthew, and I signed saying that we would never talk about my marriage being forced. Even though I had signed it, the agreement was illegal, and so exposing it and breaking my end of the bargain wasn't wrong.

  I would hide the document in my dress. It would most likely have to fit somewhere around my chest, where the dress would most likely be tighter and it would be easier to stay in place. Then, I would have to hand it off to someone. This was the part that got complicated- if I couldn't find someone to hand it off to, the whole scheme was a no-go. This was the only segment that was not perfectly executed and it made me nervous just thinking about it.

  "The dresses I have selected will arrive this afternoon," Matthew said as he strolled into the kitchen, where I was digging through a bowl of trail mix and picking out the M&M's. "You'll try them on for me and I will decide what you wear."

  "Can't I choose?" I frowned. If Matthew chose anything loose-fitting, then smuggling an important document in my dress would never happen. 

  "Absolutely not," Matthew huffed. "My outfit has already been chosen and I will pick what I think complements me most."

  "Okay." I nodded. One thing that I had learned to be key in making our relationship as steady as possible was to not fight him on anything. It meant that I had to become the inferior and often come across as weak and small, but it was a much better alternative than having to endure a boxing match with my husband. 

  "I promise I'll choose something nice," Matthew smirked, walking behind me and grabbing my waist. From behind, he ducked his head down and began to kiss my jawline. I still had M&M's packed in my cheeks and his gesture made me want to spit all of them out in disgust. Freezing, not knowing what to do, I let him continue until he finally kissed me and moved on. Every time something like this finished, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Even though Harry and I were most definitely not together, I felt like I was doing him wrong by acting like this with Matthew. 

  Rosita had the day off, since it was a Saturday. She always had the weekends off, as did many of the staff apart from the select few that we needed in order to keep the mansion up and running. Weekends were the worst for me. Matthew didn't work late on Saturdays and on Sundays he didn't work at all. I didn't have Rosita to hover over me like a protective mother and shoo him away when he got close to me. 

  Speaking of Matthew getting too close for comfort, last night was a bad night. He hadn't had a good day at work and the minute he came home he drank a few glasses of wine. It seemed like that was all it really took for him to take his anger out on me, and I was too tired to fight back. Fighting back just meant that the situation would escalate even more, and knowing that I would be freed in a short amount of time was worth getting a few bruises for.