Novel-novel oleh Mark T

Enid’s POVThe party after the wedding blooms all around me. It is perfunctory because Cassian and I know what we are. We know what this wedding is.Since all of this started, not once have I asked him what he stands to gain from us getting married. I have been so fixated on myself and teaching Adrian a lesson that I have failed to ask why he agreed to go on that blind date.And why he told my mother that I didn’t come. The guests are only a handful, a little more than those at the courthouse earlier today. I am seated in the dining room of the little villa rented for the party. Cassian is laughing with the witness from the courthouse, but it doesn't reach his eyes.Like the last time, there seems to be a weight on his shoulders. I wish I could just…I stop myself. It is none of my business. "Hey," the girl from the courthouse comes to sit next to me. "Congratulations." She passes me a glass of sparkling wine, and I don't think twice before bringing it up to my lips. I know no one f

Cassian’s POV"Do you really have to do this?" Lucas asks for the umpteenth time. We are standing in the hallway of the courthouse. It has been one hour now, and my bride is nowhere to be found. “You can’t talk me out of it,” I tell my best friend, my eyes meeting the clock hanging over the door. “I have waited years for this. Do you know what it means to watch the people responsible for the death of someone you love walk about freely, while you are made to live with the hurt?”“I am sure she knows nothing about it,” he reminds me, always the voice of reason. “Only if you are doing this for a different reason.”"What are you suggesting, Lucas?"“That she charmed your pants off at the dinner yesterday?”"I hate her," I spit with as much venom as I have in me. "Her family ruined my father. He didn't do anything to them, yet they ruined his company, lied against him, and drove him to kill himself. Want to know what that feels like? Want to know what I had to go through to be where I am

Enid’s POVThis has to be some joke. My hands push the door open, and I stride in, my phone still pressed against my ear. "There has to be some mix-up," I murmur as I throw my purse onto the white leather couch, my heels clacking against the ground. "Of course, you will have an excuse," she barks, causing me to jerk away from the phone. "Let me guess. You spent the entire evening begging Adrien to take you back, didn't you? Was that the reason you insisted on putting on that dress?"The irony was alarming. “Mon, I was there…”“Stop lying to me, Enid!” she snaps, her tone getting way more serious. “You were not there. And it is fine if you didn’t plan on going, but you could have at least informed me so Thane wouldn’t have waited for you all night.”“Thane?”“Yes. Thane Corvel. Your blind date.”"I don't know what you are talking about, Mom." I take the turning that leads into the hallway. "But you can tell this Thane that he is playing some game that I won't be a part of. I was at

Enid’s POVThe host walks up to us as my date grabs my hands, leading me out of the diner. “Mr. Dorne, is there…”“I’ll see you some other time.”The night air lashes at my skin, but he doesn’t stop walking. Behind him, my forehead is scrunched in confusion as I try to remember the name my mother told me. Was his second name Dorne? God, I should have paid better attention. It doesn’t help that my phone keeps ringing, the sound slicing into the night. “Mr. Dorne!" The name sounds foreign on my lips, and for a minute, it sounds so familiar. Not in the way that depicts I have heard it before. Much more familiar. Like I have used it a couple of times. Like I have lived in the orbit of that name.It nudges my brain gently, as if trying to remember something my body and mind don't want to. I feel a headache coming on, just as his feet finally come to a halt. “Get in.”I see that we are standing out by the curb, beside the passenger seat of a beautiful sports car. He pulls open the door

Enid’s POVI am dressed in red. The one I found at the back of my closet after years of letting it sit in there untouched. Adrien hates it, because the slit is too high and the color calls too much attention. And it didn’t matter that red looks great on me. I wanted to please him. I was such a fool. The doorman holds the door open, and I stride in, the dim lights of the diner reaching out to me immediately. I scan the space, then stop, realizing I have no idea who I am looking for in the first place.“Miss, you can’t stand here,” the doorman returns to me, his eyes apologetic and his tone polite. I watch his gaze stray to the slit, and I hear Adrien’s voice in my head. “The dress makes you look like a whore.”Maybe he is right. But I guess the girl he ended up fucking and cheating on me with was dressed in a potato sack. "Did you make a reservation?" the doorman asks, pulling his gaze back to my face. "Or are you waiting for someone?"“My date,” I say simply, reaching for my phone.