The Wrong Bride (The Windsors, #1)(104)
I shake my head and pull my hand out of his. “I need some space, Ares. All I’m asking for is a little bit of space to think about what I want. All my life, I’ve catered to everyone I loved, but not once has anyone asked me what I want out of life. Even marrying you was something I was told to do. I’m tired of living my life by other people’s rules. I can’t keep doing this. All my life, I’ve been manipulated, forced to conform until I fit in the boxes others built for me. And I did it — with a smile on my face. What for? What did I do it for, Ares? This marriage has cost me my sanity and my career, and that would be worth it if I’d got you in return, but I didn’t. Even now, after the price I’ve been forced to pay, it’s the three of us in this marriage. It always will be. As the mother of your child, she’ll always be a part of our lives. And I… I don’t know if that’s something I can live with.”
Ares stares down at the floor, still on his knees in front of me. “One week,” he says, his voice soft. “I’ll give you one week to think things through while I fix the mess Hannah caused.” He looks up at me. “But you should know that no matter what you decide, I will never be with her. I will never give her another chance. For the rest of my life, you are the only woman I will love. I know I’ve hurt you, Raven. I know I made you promises that I forgot about, but that will never happen again. You are my entire world, and I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that I’m deserving of you, that I’m worth coming back to.”
I smile at him, the feeling bittersweet. “You were always worth it,” I whisper. “And I will always love you. I just need to ensure that the life I’m choosing to live is one that allows me to love myself too. Being around Hannah makes me lose sight of who I am, Ares. Can’t you see?”
He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing my hand with such tenderness that it brings tears to my eyes. I see the pleas in his eyes, the silent promises.
“I will fix this,” he tells me. “So come home to me in a week, okay?”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Raven
My heart feels heavy as the driver that picked me up parks in a large elevator. It starts to rise, until the car is parked in the corner of my friends’ living room. The passenger door opens, and my friend Alanna offers me her hand. Her arms instantly wrap around me, enveloping me in a tight hug, and that one small human gesture is enough to make me fall apart. I burst into tears, loud, heart wrenching sobs escaping my throat as she leads me to the sofa. “I… I didn’t know where else to g-go,” I tell her.
Alanna and I have been friends ever since she walked into my boutique in search of a wedding gown. No one has ever understood our friendship, but it’s one of the most genuine and closest I’ve got. Alanna is one of a kind, and right now, she’s the one person that can give me the solace I need, without judgement.
“I’m going to kill him,” she whispers.
“Easy, Little Psycho,” her husband, Silas, says.
Silas hands me a handkerchief with a small Ψ embroidered on it, a kind smile on his face. “Alanna prepared this for you the moment you called our emergency line. She even ironed it.”
I take it from him with trembling hands and snuggle closer to Alanna, laying my head on her chest as she strokes my back. “Tell me what happened, Rave,” she says, her voice soft.
I try to take a deep breath, but my sobs just start to come harder. Alanna tightens her grip on me, her fingers gently combing through my hair, soothing me as best as she can.
“Get him,” Alanna tells her husband, her tone in stark contrast with the gentleness she’s showing me. “Go get Ares Windsor for me. If Raven won’t tell me what happened, I’ll make him talk.”
Silas chuckles. “It’s not so simple, Ray. He’s a Windsor. I can’t just grab him without facing consequences.”
“It… it wasn’t h-him,” I choke out.
Alanna pulls away from me and wipes my tears with the handkerchief she gave me. “Then who?”
I sniff, my eyes falling closed as I gather the courage to tell her what happened, not leaving out any detail. I tell them about Sierra’s 21st birthday, the wedding, the pregnancy. By the end of it, I’m exhausted and heartbroken. “I can’t see an end to this,” I whisper. “Is this going to be my life now? Marrying him was supposed to be my happily ever after, yet somehow, it feels like the beginning of the end. Forever this time. If I stay, she’ll keep chipping away at my soul, until I end up a shell of who I once was.”
Alanna rubs my shoulders, her gaze reflecting the sorrow I feel. “Silas and I can tell you a thing or two about meddling siblings and family,” she says, her eyes finding her husband’s. I freeze for a moment, remembering that Alanna used to date Silas’s younger brother. “Trust me when I say that love truly does win in the end. I know that it feels hard right now, and you’ve made the right choice by taking a step back. Being stuck in that environment makes it hard to remember why you chose to marry him in the first place, despite the odds. I think you’ll find that some time away will give you clarity, Raven.”
She looks at Silas. “Can we get the articles bashing her taken down?”
“I was going to request it, but someone has already taken care of it. Whole servers have been taken down all around the world. The news is reporting that at least two large social media channels are completely down right now. I suspect Windsor is behind it. I’m not sure how he’s doing it, but it’s clear he’ll move heaven and earth for his wife.”