Chapter 4

Mia’s pov

“If you burst out crying once again and ruin your makeup for the hundredth time in that process, I’m going to take out my belt and beat you right here and now, not caring that we’re in public right now.” Father’s voice was angry as he thundered out, making me flinch and instantly forced myself into blinking my tears away.

Knowing who father was, he might just go ahead with his promise, and no one would even bother to intervene on my behalf, that was very certain.

“You don’t need to make use of your twin’s name, the names have been changed to yours on the marriage documents and the contracts already.” Father continued to speak after a moment while cleaning his gun with a handkerchief, making me suppress a shudder.

Being in close proximity with guns gives me so much anxiety, despite how much I’ve seen them literally throughout my entire life.

I nodded stiffly when father kept staring at me like he expected me to say something to that, but was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to be happy that my actual name was now on the marriage documents? Is that supposed to make all this suddenly better?

“You know, I never expected Maeve to do this. Maeve has always been reliable and perfect, but she did run away on her wedding day, that stupid child.” His mouth hardened as he spoke and I gulped a little.

In as much as I was already feeling some kind of hatred germinate in my heart for my sister for putting me in this kind of situation, I couldn’t deny that I was worried about her.

We had both been sheltered literally throughout our entire life, where could she have gone to? Was she with any money? And what if some creeps take advantage of her?

“Are you going to find her?” I found myself asking after a few moments. Father scoffed as he blew air over the tip of his gun for a moment.

“I suppose I should, but I won’t.”

I flinched at his words.

“That’s to teach her a lesson for being so stupid. She’s going to end up coming back, she can’t survive in the harsh world all by herself.” He continued after a few moments, and that fondness which he usually reserves for Maeve was present in his voice.

My hands tightened on the flowers and I remained silent. After some time, we had to leave the car since the wedding was about to start.

“Knowing how clumsy you are, here’s a warning right now; if you trip and fall while walking down the aisle, you won’t like what I’d do to you, so you had better get yourself collected right now.” His voice was low but filled with so much threat that I felt myself flinching as I nodded hastily at him, while trying to get my anxiety under control.

We began to walk down the aisle after a few minutes, with my hand lightly gripping father’s bicep. I hated how unnerved I was feeling. I’ve always hated attention since I was little, and having thousands of people stare at me right now was threatening to make my anxiety rise to the surface, but I was quick to shove it down since father’s throat was still ringing at the back of my mind.

The reality of what was about to happen right now, felt like it was all starting to actually sink in, making me tighten my hold on the flower when I remembered the words on Maeve’s letter.

Now, what she had said about her not deserving my love last night was just starting to make sense, she really doesn’t deserve my love. How could she even do this to me? She had definitely been planning to run away before we had spoken last night, that was probably why she had hugged me like her life depended on it.

I suddenly began to feel angry at Maeve, for doing this to me, the anger was quick to turn into hate. When my hand slipped into Mr. Romero‘s palm, that feeling of hatred intensified instantly, just as I swallowed down a sob.

I’ve only seen Mr. Romero once, at a celebration gathering and we didn’t interact with him, it was from a distance. Feeling his cold hand enveloping mine through my gloves was making my skin crawl.

Bile rose to my throat when he unveiled my face at the end of the exchange of promises, and when he leaned down to kiss me, I squeezed my eyes tight and wished I’d drop dead when I felt his lips press against mine. Feeling grateful on feeling how light the kiss was, a surprised sound slipped past my lips when he shoved into my lips roughly, making me feel really nauseous, as the crowd clapped loudly.

And, there goes my first kiss, taken away from me by someone that looked just as old as my father, and also very hideous. I silently cursed out Maeve as we were presented to the cheering crowd as man and wife.

——-

The reception passed by in a blur and I couldn’t eat a thing because of how knotted my stomach was. I felt lost and numb, and could do nothing but wallow in self pity while watching people interact happily around me.

When I shared my first dance with my new husband, he kept staring down at my exposed cleavage without shame in a way that creeped me out, I wasn’t looking forward to being left alone with him in the slightest way.

I spent any time I could with my mother, knowing I had no idea of what I’d see her again, I forced myself to smile through all the pictures that were taken.

When I was finally in the car with Mr. Romero, I flinched when he pressed his lips against my exposed shoulder. When we arrived at his house, he was on me in an instant, shoving me against the wall so hard that I cried out in pain.

He was kissing up my throat and breathing harshly while I tried hard to force down my nausea and breath through my nose. I succeeded in tearing my lips from his to suck in deep breath, and then I wiped my lips instantly. He reeked of cigar and alcohol that I really felt like I’d have puked over him right now assuming I had eaten a thing throughout the whole of today.

“Can you at least brush before continuing this? you reek so much.” I snapped out without thinking and his hand came down on my cheek before I could blink, making my head whip to the side from the force in the slap..

“Why you little– how dare you?” He growled into my face, making me retch a little, he really smelled horrible right now. He shoved me sideways, making me stumble, and then he was on me in an instance, which made my eyes widened in horror.

“You little bitch, I’m going to teach you a lesson you’d never forget. Teach you to never forget your place in this marriage, teach you some manners.” His voice was angry as he spoke, with his hands moving over my chest to tear off the satin over there, making more of my cleavage spill out.

Tears were streaming down my face as I pleaded to no avail, I knew there was no use trying to physically stop him because he had me trapped beneath his heavy weight right now. He loosened his belt and I averted my gaze and squeezed my eyes tight, while sobbing harder on feeling him starting to shove the layers and layers of Maeve’s wedding dress upwards.

He was about to tear off my underwear but suddenly froze about me as soon as gunshots echoed around the whole place loudly. My eyes widened and I screamed frighteningly when suddenly, every window around this room was being shot at, at once.