CHAPTER 3

ARYA

I withdrew my hands from my mother’s hold, frowning in nothing but disgust and shock.

“Arya,” she called out in a warning tone. “Do not cause a scene.”

Even I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I turned around and walked out of the reception hall.

“Arya!” Mom called out to me, catching up to me and holding my hand again. “Please don’t do this to me. He’s a good man. His name is Jaxon, and he’s in the reception hall now. If you could just—”

“Forget the man for a second.” I waved her suggestion aside. “Let’s talk about how you just called me a murderer. You just… Oh, my God! Mom, you should know just how much guilt I have dealt with over this. I can’t believe you’re trying to manipulate me.”

“That’s not what this is at all—”

“It’s exactly what it is! First, you all plan this whole wedding without telling me, and I still don’t believe it’s real even after witnessing it, and now you’re trying to sell me off as Rose’s replacement by going as far as telling me that I killed my own father?”

“They got into that accident because you wanted them to come pick you up, remember?” She squeezed my hands, and tears started to blur my vision of her.

“What’s going on here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Ciara,” David said as he saw us, snaking his arms around my mother’s waist and kissing her on the cheek.

“She doesn’t want to get married to Jaxon. I’m so tired, David,” Mom expressed in an exhausted manner, sounding just as if I was a child refusing to have her meal or something way more trivial than me refusing to get married to someone, almost as if she had not blatantly accused me of being the reason for my father’s death and my brother being on life support.

“Jaxon is a good man, Arya,” David said.

“How come Rose didn’t marry him as planned, then?” I crossed my arms.

“It’s the business world,” David lectured. “Most of these marriages are done for the sake of business, you know. Jaxon was the perfect match until he wasn’t. His father went bankrupt and—”

“And that’s it,” I laughed without an ounce of mirth. “That’s where it all lies, isn’t it? Money. All of this is just—”

“Arya, that’s enough!” Mom raised her voice, turning to David and signaling for him to give us some privacy. “Even a child wouldn’t be as difficult as you’re being right now. What is wrong with you?!”

“What is wrong with me?” I pointed to my chest. The real question was what was wrong with them. How could they have gone so far in their greed that they didn’t see anything wrong with what they were doing.

“All of this – everything – that I have been doing, I have been doing for you and your brother. Do you think it’s easy for David to pay James’s medical bills all by himself? This family will do everything for you, including sorting out your brother’s bills. Isn’t that something you should be thinking about? You should know I would never drag you into something like this if it weren’t for your own good. All I ask of you is to get to know him by going on one date. He’s already accepted. After that, you can make your decision.”

I stopped to ponder for a hot minute. I didn’t care much for my mother and the Devilles, but if this Jaxon and his family were willing to keep my brother alive, I immediately saw no harm in trying. My brother was the only one left for me to nurture and protect at all costs, and getting married to a stranger was not too far.

With a defeated sigh and to the excitement of my mother, I nodded. “I’ll see where this date takes me.”

~~

I hadn’t met a lot of arrogant people in my life, but I knew when to identity an arrogant person when I encountered one and had a conversation with them.

Jaxon Pierce was as arrogant as they came.

The only forms of politeness he had been oh-so-kind enough to offer were arriving not too late for the date and apologizing for wasting my time.

I had lost count of how many times he checked his wristwatch, a sign that he could be somewhere else now and probably wanted to be there.

I wondered if he knew that I wasn’t wanted to be there as much as he also didn’t, but I didn’t spend every five minutes looking at the time.

“So, why exactly is your family willing to give you as some form of peace offering for withdrawing your sister?” He questioned.

“Stepsister,” I corrected as I looked at the plate in front of me, “and I am not your peace offering.”

“Alright, then.” He leaned against his chair, looking at me with raised brows. “Why did you decide to give this a shot?”

“I guess you could say I’m only trying to look out for my brother and save his life. I cannot afford to lose him. I’d rather be somewhere else right now,” I replied, and as soon as I said those words, I regretted them immediately. It had slipped my mind that the marriage was something both of us had to agree to, not just me, and I needed to get my brother’s medical bills cleared.

Jaxon raised his brows at me as if in doubt of my words. Then, he cleared his throat.

“That’s the first time someone has ever said something like that to me on a date. Not even your stepsister was this eager for the date to be over.”

I could imagine.

I also couldn’t tell if Jaxon was surprised at the fact that he wasn’t as much of a big shot as he thought he was, or if he was annoyed at me.

“You do know my father went bankrupt, right?” He questioned me out of the blue.

“I heard.” I nodded.

“And you’re still here?” He frowned, suspicion clouding his eyes.

“I have a brother whose life I need to preserve, and I heard that you and your family are willing to pay his medical bills and expenses,” I finally admitted the real reason why I was there, and he leaned against the table, staring at me.

“You’re a strange one,” he commented, and I watched his eyes go towards his wristwatch.

“You know, you can always leave and call it a date if you have somewhere to go. I don’t want to be the person keeping you here against your will.”

“I have to eat first, at least.” He gestured at the plate containing the food he had ordered earlier. “I also have a lot of places to be right now, and this isn’t one of them. It was nice sitting here and talking about mundane things, but that’s it. I would like you to know that this is not going to be a regular thing; not even after marriage. You’re only here because David convinced me. He and I made a deal on Rose, but she made her own choice, and I now have to work with what I have.

Right then and there, I made up my mind – I was not going to marry this man.

My phone vibrated, and I picked it up after looking at the caller ID and seeing that it was my mother on the other side.

Before I could even say a word after picking up the phone, I heard my mother’s frantic voice.

“Your brother is dead, Arya!”