Page 43 of Don't Hate Me
I lifted my head to look at her to see if she was serious.
“If you married me, then he couldn’t.”
Marry her. Save her. That seemed pretty fucking easy.
I didn’t hesitate a second. “Let’s do it.”
12
Two days later
Ashleigh
I squeezedMarc’s hand as the flight took off. Could this work? This hadn’t been my plan at all. I’d fully intended to go through with the wedding to Evan, then, once I had a little more freedom, come up with a plan to escape.
Then, and only then, when I was truly free, would I reach out to Marc and have him come find me. That was going to be our chance. Years down the road. When he understood the power of what we had.
Did he understand it now?
“Okay. We’re on the plane,” Marc said, turning to me. We were the only two people in the row, as the midweek, mid-afternoon flight was barely occupied. It had almost been too easy. Marc booked the tickets and had texted me the date and time of the flight on my burner phone. George had given me enough cash to cover the cab ride to the airport.
There wasn’t enough time for Arthur or Evan to know I’d left the house. Once they discovered me gone, they would eventually find out a cab had been called from the residence, and it had dropped me off at Newark Airport.
But they couldn’t know where I was going unless they had access to passenger lists. Did billionaires have access to passenger lists? Did criminals?
“No one can stop us,” Marc continued. “In four hours, we land in Vegas. We get married, and it’s done. Now talk to me. What the fuck has been happening since we broke up?”
I looked at my hands, folded in my lap. I didn’t know where to start or how to explain.
“I don’t know what you want to know. I told you. My father planned for me to marry Evan. They’d both agreed to it years ago. They were just waiting for me to grow up. Evan explained my options, which were to run and be hunted down with all the resources his money can buy. Go public, and suffer the consequences he threatened would come out of that, not the least of which would be having reputable doctors question my mental state. Or marry him and enjoy some independence.”
“Okay, let’s start with the obvious,” Marc growled. “Why does a handsome billionaire need to threaten someone into marriage?”
“He thinks I’m a virgin. He knows I’ve been sheltered my whole life. He believed I would be docile and compliant. He doesn’t want a wife, but he needs one if he’s going to run for office. Evan wants someone he can fully control. I don’t know why, what secrets he’s hiding. I can only guess at something ugly.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
I glared at him. “You left me.”
“I didn’t…” He stopped himself. “We agreed to cut off communication so we wouldn’t fall back into something that wasn’t leading anywhere. But when your future is threatened, I expect you to fucking tell me!”
“Sir, is everything all right here?”
We both looked up at the blonde, female flight attendant. I smiled. “Yes, he’s just a nervous flyer so he gets agitated easily.”
Her gaze landed on my cheek for a second, and I knew what she was thinking, but I turned to Marc and patted his knee. “You’re doing fine, and when the drink cart comes around, we’ll get you a glass of wine. That will help settle you.”
The attendant continued to move down the aisle and Marc snapped his jaw shut.
“You should have told me,” he grumbled.
“I honestly didn’t know what you would do,” I told him. “What we had wasn’t strong enough to keep us together. Why would I think you might believe what we had was enough to overcome Arthur and Evan’s plan?”
He smirked then, and grabbed my hand again. “Isn’t it? Isn’t that what we’re doing right now? I’m going to marry you to stop them. If that’s not enough of a commitment for you, let me know now.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Evan is a bad man. Now that I know some of his plans, it’s like I can see the filth writhing under his skin. Barely covered by his slick hair, handsome face and expensive clothes. However, I think he’s also practical. If he knows I’m no longer an option for him legally, he’ll move on. He might punish Arthur.”
“How?”
