Page 136 of Corrupt Me

“His father helped Felix financially in exchange for Bailey’s hand,” she says, not sounding apologetic at all.

Disgust simmers low. She sold me for Felix. She wouldn’t know what maternal instinct was if it slapped her senseless.

“Where is he?” Cassandra asks, voice laced with impatience.

“I don’t know. He calls occasionally to ask me how it’s going and to threaten us if we don’t finally go through with it,” she says, sounding broken before she whips around to face me, her eyes glimmering with malice. “All you had to do was accept that marriage, and then everything would have been fine.”

I exchange a look with Cassandra. I have to do this. If we want to catch Felix, I need to agree to the engagement. I slump back in the chair, thinking of Hunter. While I know it’s the only viable option, it’s also the hardest thing to do. He will understand. I am doing this for us, for our future together, but the voice in my head blares with the truth and won’t be silenced. I know Hunter better than that. Currents drag me under while I try to stay afloat, clawing at a safety net that is made of paper, disintegrating and slipping through my fingers.

“Eric is not happy. If you want to sell it, we must convince him that you’re serious about the engagement. Fooling Felix will take even more time. I will help you if I have the same privileges as before,” Rebecca demands as if she’s in any position to make any.

Cassandra pins her with a serious expression. “You’ll stay alive and enjoy your life in exile if it works out.”

“What?” she screeches.

“That’s final.”

“You fucking b—”

“Don’t forget who you’re talking to. Now, call the Whitneys up for a meeting.” Cassandra doesn’t have to raise her voice to get her point across, and that’s real power.

While my mother makes the call, Cassandra turns my way. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way.”

There’s no other way I can think of, but being separated from Hunter will hurt so badly that my insides will wither.

An hour passes as we wait for the Whitneys to arrive. My hopelessness increases by the second. Cassandra and my parents speak every so often, but it’s just sounds. Knowing what’s about to happen, everything becomes muffled and distorted—just how I feel.

It’s like I am watching my life from the outside as the Whitneys step inside the penthouse. On autopilot, I greet them.

Eric grins so widely I want to smother him. The small talk grates on my nerves, and I have to constantly remind myself to smile. In my head, I shout and shout, but no one hears. The sounds are swallowed by a vacuum—emptiness spreads inside of me. I am hollow.

Everything unfolds in a blur.

My gaze falls to the engagement ring in the box. It’s grotesquely big and flashy. He grins at me triumphantly. “Only the best for my fiancée. We’ll be very happy.”

He couldn’t be more wrong. My heart, body, and soul belong to someone else. If I lose Hunter, I will lose everything.

“I hope you understand why I asked for that condition,” he says, looking at me expectantly.

Breathing slowly and precisely to keep myself in check, I nod. He insisted that I live somewhere else during our engagement so there wouldn’t be any temptation between me and Hunter. My parents, ever generous, offered the apartment beneath them.

I would be trapped and alone, but Cassandra decided I would live at the estate. Knowing she has my back is the only reason I haven’t succumbed to despair.

I will survive. Our love is strong. Knowing Felix will be caught soon is what motivates me.

As Eric leans in to kiss me, I turn my face, giving him my cheek instead. His eyes narrow, his jaw tightening. He obviously has a problem with it, but he remains silent.

“We have time,” I say to placate him. Keeping the charade up drains the last of my patience.

“Did you take it slow with him as well?” he snarls, and I stare right back at him until he’s the one who says, “I’ll give you some time, but then you’re all mine. I don’t share, Bailey.”

I am not his, and every molecule in me recoils at even thinking of belonging to someone other than Hunter.

I try to regulate my breathing, helplessness caging me in. Eric takes my hand in his, and I can’t stop him. With every second in his company, nausea threatens to make me throw up all over him.

Cassandra must notice my state. “We have an engagement party to plan, and Bailey needs to rest.”

I will be officially engaged soon and not to the person I want. As Cassandra and I leave the penthouse, that’s all I can think about. With each step, my chest threatens to cave in on me, burying my heart in despondency.

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