Before His Wedding, the Good Girl He Used Quietly Vanished Chapter 02

Before His Wedding, the Good Girl He Used Quietly Vanished Chapter 02

The biting wind at Fairgrove Station cut through me.

I had barely stepped out of the station.

A black SUV pulled up to the curb without a sound. Two men in suits stepped out, flanking me on both sides.

I froze.

“Miss Hart,” the guard on my left said. “Mr. Sterling wants you back.”

My grip tightened on the suitcase handle.

“I… I just want to go home.”

“You can go home later.” The other man reached for my suitcase. “Don’t make this messy.”

They took my phone.

They were just following Mr. Sterling’s orders.

I leaned my head against the tinted window. My temples throbbed relentlessly.

The same words kept circling in my head. Keep her around a little longer.

Why wouldn’t he just let me leave?

The woman his family had chosen was gorgeous. Accomplished. Everything I wasn’t.

Her last name was Holloway. I never asked for her first.

She’d shown up in a designer camel coat, polished down to the last detail.

She carried herself like someone who’d never been told ‘no’.

She didn’t waste time cutting to the chase. “You’re the one Everett keeps around, right?”

My fingers tightened around my coffee cup.

I remembered what Everett had told me once.

“Good girl. If another woman ever tries to mark her territory, you ask her one thing.”

He’d taken the coffee from my hand, taking a sip, eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Ask her: Has he ever poured you coffee?”

I’d gone still.

Then he’d smiled. “A little rebellion looks good on you.”

I’d held on to that.

But in three years, no woman had ever bothered challenging me.

A houseplant wasn’t worth the effort, I guess.

That changed the day Blair Holloway walked in, someone who actually matched him.

I pushed a fresh cup toward her. My throat locked up.

“Has he… has he ever poured you coffee?”

She glanced at the cup, picked it up, and took a delicate sip.

A mocking smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. “No. But I’m pregnant.”

My hand fell away from the coffeepot.

“Our families are sitting down next month to finalize the wedding details.”

She adjusted her coat. “Walk away while you still can. Don’t make this messy for him.”

My hands went still in my lap.

“Okay.”

“You’re really just going to roll over?”

“Knowing my place,” I said, “makes it easier for everyone.”

She looked at me like I was pathetic. Then she left.

Everett came home that night and noticed nothing.

I didn’t tell him.

Before her, I didn’t know there was an arranged marriage.

After her, I pretended I still didn’t.

…

Three hours on the highway. Then the SUV turned through the wrought-iron gates I knew too well.

“Miss Hart.” The driver glanced back at me. “Mr. Sterling is waiting upstairs.”

I stood in the driveway, looking up.

It was still dark out, but the second-floor bedroom light was on.

The curtains were half-drawn.

That used to be my room.

When he told me to get Paige Foster settled in there, I only hesitated for a second.

Then I swallowed my pride.

I opened the bedroom door. He was alone.

He didn’t look up. “You’re back?”

I stayed by the doorframe.

My hand was still locked around the suitcase handle. The ridges had left red lines across my palm.

“Yes.”

“Why’d you run?”

I bit the inside of my lip. It stung. Good. It kept me sharp.

“I just wanted… to go home for a few days…”

He stood and closed the distance between us.

He was a full head taller than me. When he looked down, his towering frame cast a heavy shadow over me.

“You can go home. But did I give you permission to go home and get married?”

I looked up at him.

Everett caught my chin in his hand, tilting my face up.

Then he laughed. Low and quiet, his breath warm against my forehead.

“Willa,” he said. “I thought I’d trained you better than this.”

I said nothing.

He already knew everything. What was left to say?

“Is that what this is, jealousy? Over the new girl? Fine. I’ll get rid of her. Happy?”

I blinked.

I swallowed the sting behind my eyes before it could reach the surface.

He’d get rid of her…

I’d lost count of how many times he’d said that.

All I remembered was the look on his face every time, that tired softness he put on like a costume.

And then, weeks later, there’d be a new girl.

I lifted my eyes to his and smiled.

“Then why don’t you marry me?”