Secret Billionaire’s Contract Bride: Marrying My Enemy’s Lover

Chapter 36

POV: “Adelaide*

There was silence. I heard nothing from outside the closet door anymore. It was like radio static in my head. All I knew was the lump in my throat and the memory of betrayal.

The door swung open, the light pouring in and blinding my unadjusted eyes. I glanced up at the offending figure with squinted eyes.

Corinna stood there, leaning against the door as she stared down at me with a smirk. Victory gleamed in her eyes.

I sat there in complete devastation, and I could feel my heart breaking in two inside my chest. I could hardly get a deep breath in like someone had replaced all of the oxygen with water. I felt like I was floundering in the emptiness-like trying to stand without gravity.

“Poor Addic,” Corinna put on a sad face as if she truly felt bad for me. “I tried to tell you. I really did.”

There was nothing I could say. Nothing I could do. I’d heard everything she had wanted me to. I knew intrinsically that she had planned this. Had forced both of our hands into this mess, but now, I was trapped.

Trapped like a fly in a spiderweb.

I moved slowly, one foot at a time as I got to my feet. I clutched onto the wooden door as my legs wobbled beneath me- numb from how long I’d been sitting on them.

I took a step-then another. I pushed past Corinna and out of the closet, squinting my eyes again at the sudden bright lights. I knew it had only been twenty or thirty minutes, but it felt like an eternity had passed.

Like a lifetime had gone by and left me in this strange new world.

I made my way to the front door, not paying Corinna a bit of attention until she slid in front of me, her hands pushing against my shoulders.

“Where are you going?” she demanded, crossing her arms as she stood in front of me to keep me from advancing any further.

“I’m going home,” I said, quietly.

“Home? And where is that. Addie?” Corinna said as I pushed past her and towards the door. “To Damon?”

I halted in my tracks, flinching at his name.

She clicked her tongue, and I heard the sound of her feet on the floor as she moved forward, reaching out to me. Her hand landed on my back, almost comforting except for the manicured nails digging just slightly into my skin.

not too late, Adelaide,” Corinna told me. “You can still back out of the arrangement with Grandmother. A baby with a man who loves

teeth, shutting my eyes firmly as I shrugged off her

she was talking to a misbehaving child. “So you don’t do something you’ll regret.”

at the corners of her lips as she saw the tears running down my face. She faked a sad look, reaching out her arms to pull me into a

felt weird. We never hugged, and Corinna never showed me any kind of

only time I had ever been embraced by Corinna, but there was no

was just

mannequin or have a conversation with a puppet. I felt nothing even as she let go of me,

wonder she hadn’t

my wedding

and throw it into the world so I didn’t have to deal with it anymore. I wanted to scream until my lungs gave out, until my voice stopped working, and I had

I knew better.

didn’t answer her, not even seeing fit to give a response to her petty remarks as I threw open the door and stormed

Corinna called out after

two by two as I practically flew down them. I wiped my face of the tears, my resolve hardening

following the path I knew from earlier. I ducked onto

black car waiting at the end of the road. The lights flashed on

waving me over. “Did things go

as I passed by him. I threw open the door to the backseat and got in, settling inside. I tried not to glance at

Peter got in and pulled away,

“Did something happen?”

my ears and despite myself, I glanced over at him. He stared at me with a

out to me, his fingers just barely touching my cheek before he pulled back. His finger was wet with

my tears.

were crying,” he said with a

make it look convincing,” I told him,

she bought it?” Damon raised

glancing out the tinted windows as Peter pulled out of the street. I was exhausted, and

“Addie-” Damon started.

tired,” I responded without

hear the worry-the guilt in his voice. We both knew what was bothering me, but neither of us was

plan. Trick Corinna by any means