Chapter 178
Ellie POV
Sarah keeps stabbing pins into my scalp like she’s on a mission from the gods.
“Hold still,” she mutters around the bobby pin in her mouth.
“I am holding still.”
“You’re vibrating.”
I probably am.
It’s my wedding day.
Which is normally dramatic, but I never planned to be in this chair ever again.
I stare at myself in the mirror while she twists the last section into place. Before, it was a maid. This time it’s Sarah, she was doing a better job too. The dress is on. The lace sleeves hug my arms. Before was some frilly mess. Now, my mother’s dress. Altered to fit me, but still hers.
The one part of this show that is mine.
Which is nice.
But as I stare at a face that looks something like my own, I can’t stop thinking about the dressing room.
Dominic’s hand braced on my bare back. Why did that feel so…
My lips pursed.
I don’t have some back fetish. That would be weird…but why did like when he traced my spine, it melted-
It took everything in me not to shake my head and ruin Sarah’s hard work.
No. Delete.
Still today was our wedding day. That would be tonight… would that mean…
Too many thoughts. Shut UP.
It’s just a fake marriage. After this, I need…. to find a way out.
“Wow,” Sarah says softly.
I blink, pulled from my messed thought. “What?”
She leans closer, brushing a thumb gently at my neck. “We’re going to need concealer.”
I glance down at my reflection and there it is. Faint but unmistakable. A mark at the curve of my neck above my collar bone, half
hidden beneath lace.
Heat crawls up my face. “Shit.”
“You two are not subtle,” she teases.
“It wasn’t-“I stop. I don’t even know how to finish that sentence.
Sarah grins. “Relax. It’s kind of hot.”
I glare at her through the mirror. “You are not helping.”
+30 Bonus
She softens immediately, hands settling on my shoulders. “I quite literally am. But, serious time What’s going on in that head? Is it because we didn’t have enough time to…hide his keys?”
A giggle leaves her.
Thesitate.
“I’m not sure about this,” I admit quietly. “About any of it.”
She studies me in the mirror.
“Well, no duh,” she says. “You want help getting him to divorce you. And your not married yet. Not exactly a great vow going
in.”
“It’s not just that,” I say. My fingers twist together in my lap. “I thought….Sarah I thought Dominic wouldn’t care about any of this either. That he’d be aloof or whatever. And as soon as we were wed, divorce me anyways. But…he talks like it’s real, Sarah. Like this isn’t a contract. Like he actually…wants it.”
She shrugged like that was nothing. “Maybe he does.”
I twist around. “I’m serious. It’s…weird. It wasn’t the deal.”
“Deals change, Ellie.”
“This one can’t.”
She arches a brow. “Says who? Seriously, contract or not, this is your first real wedding. That means something. For most people, it’s the last one they will ever have or get. You should….try and make the most of it.”
I open my mouth. Close it again.
First, huh?
I press my temples.
Back at this damn wedding. I knew the flower arrangements, where each person will be sitting. Everything. I don’t know if I’m protecting myself or sabotaging something before it can hurt me. I don’t know if I should go up, down, left, or right.
Gods.
Sarah dabs concealer over the mark with careful fingers. “Wedding jitters happen whether you’re madly in love or strategically
married. You’re allowed to be nervous.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“You are absolutely nervous.”
“No, I’m scared.” I sigh. “But this gets my mom out. That’s the point.”
She leans down so our eyes meet in the mirror. “You’re allowed to want more than survival, Ellie.”
+30 Bonus
