Chapter 11

• The car door slid shut with a loud thud that felt like it sealed me away from the chaos outside.
• The voices of reporters outside were muffled, camera lights still flashing through the tinted glass.
• The reception ended in a blur of fizzling champagne, and polite smiles. I barely tasted the food nor remembered half the faces that congratulated me. But what I did notice were some of the guests that stood out.
• Old men in tailored suits, surrounded by silent bodyguards. I assume they were some politicians I don’t recognize, or foreign investors based on the heaviness of their aura. I wondered how Arlo, or rather, the Frantz family, who owns a fashion empire, could gather such powerful people.
• But I have no time to think about them when I should be thinking about myself first – trapped in a small, confined space with him.
• Sitting across from me was Arlo, shadowed in darkness, but the light from outside rolled over his face in brief streaks of gold as the car drove off.
• While I focused on calming my trembling hands, pressing them against my lap.
• I didn’t want to meet his intense gaze, so I focused on other things, his clothes in particular. His dark coat was unbuttoned, his tie loosened, and despite this, he still looked commanding. Rather, he looked more dangerous this way.
• Silence filled the distance between us. Neither of us spoke. I was too aware of him, and perhaps he was too drained from all that practiced smiles and calculated handshakes, so he’s resting. But one thing is for sure, my chest still burned from the memory of our kiss — the cameras, the noise, the way his hand tightened around me that ultimately calmed my nerves.
• “Are you cold?” he asked suddenly, making me flinch from my seat.
• “Huh?” I blankly blurted out and finally looked up at his face to meet his gaze.
• His head was tilted back, looking at me through his nose, studying me.
• Maybe he noticed that I was shaking, so I stopped and leaned back as well, trying to see if the comfortable cushioned seat of this car would lull my nerves down... and it did. I was relaxed and told him I was fine.
• “You did well,” he spoke again, his voice a low rumble that sent electrifying charges through space between us.
• I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a reminder that I had to fulfill my role as his wife as perfectly as I could, to make his dying grandfather believe that we were madly in love before he pass away.
• “Thank you,” I replied, recalling my days working in the showbiz industry where I had to watch actresses act and memorize their techniques. “I’ve had practice,”
• A hint of smile touched his lips, amused. “You’ll need more,”
• The car turned, and from the distance I could see his mansion. But when my vision focused on the reflection on the tinted window instead of what was outside, I caught sight of the two of us.
• The perfect couple, the newlyweds that shocked the world, but the longer I looked, the clearer my fate had become.
• I was married to a man I barely knew, heading towards a night I wouldn’t be able to predict.
• ***
• The moment the car door was opened for me by one of Arlo’s men, I slipped out before anyone could offer a helping hand.
• Cool night air hit my face, freeing me from that suffocating car. I could tell that everyone was confused as to why I bolted out of the car and ran across the stoned steps, but I just ignored their murmurs and kept going.
• “Kerri—” I heard Kate call from somewhere behind me, but I did not stop.
• I needed space, or just anywhere but being under Arlo’s watchful gaze.
• My heart drummed too loud from knowing what Arlo meant with his sentence that he whispered oh-so-dangerously-close to my ear.
• “The world saw you as mine today. Now you’ll learn what it means to really belong to me.”
• Even just thinking about his voice made my hair stand on end.
• I briefly looked back before I could enter the main door and saw Kate turning to Arlo, frowning. “What did you do to her?” she loudly asked.
• Then Arlo stepped out of the car, slowly. He straightened his cuffs with elegant calmness as he looked up at me at the top of the stairs, traces of amusement plastered all over his face.
• “I didn’t do anything,” I hear him say, his tone dripping with mischief. “Not yet,”
• My breath was caught at that moment and my face distorted into a panicked state. My pulse jumped, wild and uncontrollable.
• What in the world did he mean by that?
• Coming from a man like him, perhaps he plans to shoot me, sack me, throw my body in the river to let my flesh rot to the point that my face is unrecognizable.
• Or he just plans to make our wedding night extra, extra special.
• I prefer the former.
• But seeing Arlo’s mischievous expression, with his devilish smile and teasing gaze, made me realize he plans to do the latter.
• The heat crawled up from my neck and settled on my face so even without a mirror, I could tell that my cheeks were bright red.
• Arlo Frantz was not supposed to affect me like this. And yet, one look, a few words spoken, and I was already running, not from him... but from whatever is awakening inside me.
• ***
• I refused to get help slipping out my wedding gown and did it on my own inside my room. I didn’t want other people to see me in this panicked state.
• My heart refused to settle down even when an hour had already passed ever since I last saw Arlo, because every sound in this place, every step, every whisper, made my pulse leap.
• Then finally, the door clicked open.
• I flinched hard and turned to see him standing by the doorway.
• The dim light caught the sharp lines of his face, his coat gone, his sleeves rolled up, with eyes darker than the night outside.
• The moment he stepped inside the room, I felt the air shift, heavy with heat and danger.
• I swallowed hard, and he seemed to notice that, which made another smirk appear on his face.
• He took one step closer, his voice a low murmur that sent shivers down my spine.
• “The chase only makes it more thrilling, darling.”