Page 63 of Captivated By You
It didn’t hit me how much I’d changed since my parents’ deaths until I realized I used to be that same way.
I hated him even more.
“Harrison.”
“You know a man doesn’t enjoy it when his fiancée runs out on him days before their wedding.” His grin was slimy. Arrogant mixed with evil intent.
I stepped back but he continued coming closer.
“I’m not your fiancée anymore. I believe I made that clear.”
“You’ll change your mind.”
From behind his back, he pulled a stack of folded papers out and held them toward me. “Read this.”
Taking it would mean getting closer to him, within arm’s reach. He was tall and a man. He could probably grab me if he wanted to but I wasn’t about to make it easier for him.
“There’s nothing you have I could possibly want.”
His brown eyes flashed in anger and he shook the papers. “No? You’re not even curious?”
A part of me was. The stupid part that still hoped my dad hadn’t broken half a dozen laws before holding a gun to my mom’s head. The stupid part that still hoped good would come out of this.
The naive, disappearing part of me that still went to bed at night, crying, hoping like hell all of the last several months had been a horrific nightmare.
I hadn’t had those dreams since I stepped foot on Anguilla. Meeting Liam changed more than one thing about me.
And I knew it was partly because of him I finally grew a spine.
Still, I’d come for closure. To make it clear to Harrison he could shove my trust fund he managed up his ass. There was no way in hell I’d ever marry him. I’d never be his side-piece. I’d never step foot into another ball or gala on his arm even if women eventually ceased their gossiping. They’d shown me too much of who they were, who I used to be, and who I never wanted to be again.
“What is it?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me. If he wanted me to know, he could read it out loud.
Instead, he came closer. Each slow step of his gave me the sensation of being a baby lion surrounded by a pack of hyenas.
Turning the paperwork toward me, he shook it out. All at once, in dark, large bold letters the words Real Estate Deed glared back at me, and beneath the words, my address.
“I don’t understand.” It was up for auction. All of it. The auction was set for two weeks.
“It’s mine,” he said. “Ours, actually. As trustee of your trust fund, I’m able to disperse funds into investments I deem worthy.”
“And you used it for this house?” I shook my head. This was too much. “Why?”
“Because it will be ours.”
“Haven’t you been listening?” I said, my voice rising and going trill. The man was delusional. This was what he thought it’d take for him to buy me? I never should have returned.
At once, I missed Liam and the way he’d protected and cared for me once we reached Kansas City. He was a man.
This weasel in front of me wouldn’t understand the definition if I spoke in small, simple words.
“I won’t marry you, Harrison. And I don’t give a crap about this place. You think I’d want to live here after my father and mother died in here? Are you insane?”
“No,” he growled, lips curling like a predator about to attack. I’d seen the same look in rabid dogs on television and I stepped back, closer to the kitchen. “I’m not insane. I own you, Claudia. Down to the very last dollar to your name and the remaining shreds of your reputation. And we will live here, in one of the best homes in Savannah. Together.”
I laughed. My God. I’d been so stupid. So absolutely ridiculously dumb to think I could come back here and have a civil conversation with this man so he would leave me alone.
Pressing my hands to my cheeks, I tried to cool myself. Then I moved farther into the kitchen.
