Chapter 36
POV: “Adide*
There was silence. I heard nothing from outside the closet door anymore. It was like radio static in my
head. All I knew was the lump in my throat and the memory of betrayal.
The door swung open, the light pouring in and blinding my unadjusted eyes. I nced up at the
offending figure with squinted eyes.
Corinna stood there, leaning against the door as she stared down at me with a smirk. Victory gleamed
in her eyes.
I sat there inplete devastation, and I could feel my heart breaking in two inside my chest. I could
hardly get a deep breath in like someone had reced all of the oxygen with water. I felt like I was
floundering in the emptiness-like trying to stand without gravity.
“Poor Addic,” Corinna put on a sad face as if she truly felt bad for me. “I tried to tell you. I really did.”
There was nothing I could say. Nothing I could do. I’d heard everything she had wanted me to. I knew
intrinsically that she had nned this. Had forced both of our hands into this mess, but now, I was
trapped.
Trapped like a fly in a spiderweb.
I moved slowly, one foot at a time as I got to my feet. I clutched onto the wooden door as my legs
wobbled beneath me- numb from how long I’d been sitting on them.
I took a step-then another. I pushed past Corinna and out of the closet, squinting my eyes again at the
sudden bright lights. I knew it had only been twenty or thirty minutes, but it felt like an eternity had
passed.
Like a lifetime had gone by and left me in this strange new world.
I made my way to the front door, not paying Corinna a bit of attention until she slid in front of me, her
hands pushing against my shoulders.
“Where are you going?” she demanded, crossing her arms as she stood in front of me to keep me from
advancing any further.
“I’m going home,” I said, quietly.
“Home? And where is that. Addie?” Corinna said as I pushed past her and towards the door. “To
Damon?”
I halted in my tracks, flinching at his name.
She clicked her tongue, and I heard the sound of her feet on the floor as she moved forward, reaching
out to me. Her handnded on my back, almostforting except for the manicured nails digging just
slightly into my skin.
“It’s not toote, Adide,” Corinna told me. “You can still back out of the arrangement with
Grandmother. A baby with a man who loves someone else? Could you really do that?”
I clenched my teeth, shutting my eyes firmly as I shrugged off her hand.
“I’m just looking out for you,” Corinna cooed like she was talking to a misbehaving child. “So you don’t
do something you’ll regret.”
Sofily, she tugged me to face her, and a smirk pulled at the corners of her lips as she saw the tears
running down my face. She faked a sad look, reaching out her arms to pull me into a hug.
It felt weird. We never hugged, and Corinna never showed me any kind of affection.
It was the only time I had ever been embraced by Corinna, but there was no warmth or love like I felt
from my grandmother or Damon.
There was just emptiness.
N?velDrama.Org owns this.
Like trying to hug a mannequin or have a conversation with a puppet. I felt nothing even as she let go
of me, a smile on her lips.
She really was terrible at hiding her emotions. No wonder she hadn’t made it as an actress yet.
“You’lle to my wedding tomorrow, won’t you?”
God, I wanted to scream. I wanted to take every emotion in my chest and heart and throw it into the
world so I didn’t have to deal with it anymore. I wanted to scream until my lungs gave out, until my
voice stopped working, and I had nothing left inside of me anymore,
But I knew better.
I didn’t answer her, not even seeing fit to give a response to her petty remarks as I threw open the door
and stormed out of her apartment.
“Bye, Addie!” Corinna called out after me, giggling to herself.
I skipped the elevator, instead taking the stairs two by two as I practically flew down them. I wiped my
face of the tears, my resolve hardening as I pushed through the lobby and into the fresh night air.
I turned right immediately, following the path I knew from earlier. I ducked onto one of the street corners
and there it was.
A sleek ck car waiting at the end of the road. The lights shed on as soon as I approached, and I
spotted Peter standing by the driver’s door.
“Miss Adide!” Peter called with a grin, waving me over. “Did things go well?”
“She bought it,” I said, roughly as I passed by him. I threw open the door to the backseat and got in,
settling inside. I tried not to nce at the other passenger as 1 threw on my seatbelt.
The car started rumbling as Peter got in and pulled away, heading back home.
“Did something happen?”
Damon’s low voice reached my ears and despite myself, I nced over at him. He stared at me with a
concerned look.
He reached out to me, his fingers just barely touching my cheek before he pulled back. His finger was
wet with a droplet of
my tears.
“You were crying,” he said with a frown.
“I had to make it look convincing,” I told him, tly.
“So she bought it?” Damon raised an eyebrow.
I nodded, ncing out the tinted windows as Peter pulled out of the street. I was exhausted, and my
tears drained me.
“Addie-” Damon started.
“I’m just tired,” I responded without looking at him.
I could hear the worry-the guilt in his voice. We both knew what was bothering me, but neither of us
was willing to admit it.
It had been the n. Trick Corinna by any means necessary.
It was perfect. She bought every minute of it. She had no idea that we were in on it together.
We both yed our parts well. But for me, some of it wasn’t a part. Some of the tears had been real.
I just hadn’t expected how much it would hurt to hear him say he loved Corinna. I’d grown so used to
hearing him whisper my name, the care, and love he put into every syble, that I never thought of
what it might be like if he said someone else’s.
I didn’t like it at all. I never wanted to hear him talk like that to anyone but me.
“I feel a bit bad for her,” I admitted, remembering the look on her face. She was as ufortable with
the hug as I was, but even after everything, I still only saw the little girl.
The little girl who came to my house only days after my mother’s funeral, the one with sad and hurt
eyes as she clutched her mother’s hand.
I had wanted to be a good big sister back then. Wanted to see her smile and be happy like my mother
had taught me.
But things don’t always work out. We’d never been the type of sisters I had imagined us being.
I tried, but it seemed like I could never gain her trust. No matter what I did, there was always a distance
between us.
“Don’t be,” Damon scowled, leaning back in his seat. “She’s getting exactly what she deserves.”
I nced over at him, even as he took my hand in his. His ring was back on his finger, but I could only
hear his voice repeating over and over.
He said yes.
Since I was a child, I thought he hated me. I was so sure of it. We’d never gotten along, and I felt like
before all this blew up in our faces we had barely even spoken to each other.
But now, I loved him. I wanted him to be my husband, not for the inheritance, but for me. I’d never
imagined I would end up with Damon, but that was what I wanted now.
I couldn’t stop my brain from reverting back to thinking this was all some big joke on me after hearing
him say yes to her.
No matter how much I hated myself for it. No matter how much I tried to deny it, the seeds of doubt had
been nted.
What if Corinna was right? What if I was never meant to be happy, and I could only suffer for the rest of
my life?
What if Damon was just tricking me too?
Why if we had always nned on him saying yes did it hurt so much?
Why did I want him to say no?