Page 6 of Stolen Vows

3

Cara

Beneath the heavy blanket, the air is stuffy, and I can feel a ring of sweat around my scalp; the dress feels constricting, the corset digging into my skin.

I can’t lay like this much longer, I need to get some air, but I have no idea how much further it is to our destination.

If I am even going to get there alive at all.

He hasn’t said a word to me since he took me from the hotel—not that I was expecting witty conversation.

I just want to know who he is, why he is doing this, and what exactly his motives are for breaking into the hotel on my wedding day and stealing me away just moments before I was due to walk down the aisle.

He must know who I am, who my father is, so he must be aware of how much danger he is in, doing something like this.

I shuffle around beneath the blanket, the rumble of the car rocking me this way and that as I try to at least unhook thecorset. If I am going to be kidnapped, then I want to do it in clothes that will not constrict me if I try to make a break for it. Though I get the feeling that he will make me pay if I so much as think about escaping.

I manage to find the hook of one of the layers of the corset, and I grope around until I can push the hook back out of the eye. There, almost got it, just a little?—

"What the fuck are you doing?"

I freeze. His voice is sharp and laced with anger; I can’t see his face, but I can picture it. From the moment he laid eyes on me, he’s talked to me with nothing but disdain and distrust, even though I have never met him before. It must be something to do with my father, something to do with his business.

"I’m just taking off my corset," I mumble back, though the words are muffled by the fabric of the blanket.

"I told you, don’t try anything," he warns me. "If you think I won’t kick you out on the road?—"

I inch the blanket back a little, trying to get a look at him. His eyes dart to mine in the mirror, and a flash of fury crosses his face.

"Get back under there," he spits. "Keep your face hidden. I’m not telling you again."

"We’re in the middle of nowhere," I protest, as I peep up to the window to see streaks of trees and fields passing by. "It’s not like anyone will see me. I need to breathe, it’s?—"

"I said, get back under there!”

The roar in his voice sends me skittering back beneath the blanket, my heart hammering in my chest. I have no idea where we’re going, but I can tell that any more attempts to push my luck are only going to end in disaster. I don’t know what this man is capable of, and if I’m smart, I will not have to find out.

I still can’t believe this is happening. Just as I was about to go down the stairs to the man I’m meant to marry, this stranger bursts in through the window of the hotel and orders me to scramble down the lattice before he forces me into his car. None of this makes sense.

And yet, there is a part of me that almost wants to thank him. I have no clue what he is going to do with me, what he has planned once he gets me far enough away from the city, but I know that it means I won’t have to go through with the marriage to Mario. At least for the time being. I can’t imagine that my father is going to let me dodge my duties that easily, but if I get a stay of execution on my wedding night, I will take it.

Did I put up enough of a fight? I don’t know what more I could have done, especially when he pulled the gun on me. I know this is part of my father’s world, the violence, the rivalries, but Dad has always gone out of his way to insulate me from having to deal with it. When he drew that weapon and pressed it to my side, it was like all the breath was knocked from my body, and the only thing I could do was obey.

But if he thinks that I am going to be that easy to control... I have some bad news for him.

After what feels like an eternity, the car slows to a halt beneath me, and I hear him climbing out. I listen to his footsteps as he approaches my side of the car. He pulls open the door, and then tugs back the blanket that’s been draped over me for the entireride. As soon as I gulp down some fresh air, I scramble out of the car and glare him down.

"Where are we?” I demand. It looks to me like we’re in the middle of some forest. A canopy of green lies above us, a few shafts of sunlight studded where the leaves break to allow the sky through.

"Doesn’t matter. This way."

He grabs my arm, and steers me towards a path. It leads a little further into the woods, and, if I know one thing, it’s that I shouldn’t wander off into the forest with a man I don’t know. Especially when he has a gun.

I dig my heels into the soft ground below, and stop dead in my tracks, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not exactly dressed for a hike."

He pauses, facing away from me, and I can see the tension rising in his body at the sound of my words. I shouldn’t be pushing him like this, but hell, maybe if I can annoy him enough, he’ll think better of keeping me here...?

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