Page 23 of A Runaway Bride For Christmas
“I’ve spoken to the Carmichaels, and they’re willing to still go ahead with the ceremony. We’ll do something small. Most of the guests are leaving today, so it will just be the families in the chapel.”
I stare at her, dumbfounded. I can’t marry Ryan. Not after the night I just had with Hans.
“But Mom…”
She keeps her razor sharp gaze on me, not even acknowledging Hans, and speaks slowly as if I’m a toddler she’s trying to make understand.
“It was overwhelming for you, Allie, but the marriage will still go ahead.”
Her lips are set in a thin line, showing off the wrinkles that have formed around her mouth in the last few months. Her eyes are dark shadows, and she looks haunted. But there’s something else. There’s desperation in her look, a plea in her eyes.
There’s too much at stake for her. If I don’t marry Ryan, then she’s got too much to lose.
My mother’s in a lot of debt. She forged documents to get her loans extended. Ryan’s family is old money, and once we’re married, half of that becomes mine.
Mom’s been putting on a show, pretending her business is still running, and that we’ve still got money. But the reality is that she’s in a lot of trouble.
The debtors will come calling if she doesn’t start paying. She’ll lose the house, the business, and worse, they’ll discover she falsified documents to get her loans extended.
Mom needs me to marry into a rich family, or she’ll be destitute and in jail.
She’s hard on me sometimes, but she’s still my mother and I don’t want to see her put in prison. If I don’t marry Ryan, then I’ll be responsible for sending her there.
My stomach clenches. It’s an impossible choice. Give up the man I love, or my mother goes to prison.
There’s only one choice I can make here. My mother gave me life, and despite her faults, despite how harsh she’s been on me in the last few years, she’s still my mother. We still laughed together when I was a kid. She took time from work to raise me, to run me around to hockey practice and chess club. Even if she wished I was cheerleading, she was still at all my games. She gave up so much for me. This is the least I can do for her.
I drop Hans’s hand, and as his fingers slip through mine, I feel the loss like a chill through my bones. My gaze flicks to his, and he looks confused.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
His expression turns shocked, confused, bewildered, and hurt. My heart hurts, and there will never be a worse moment in my life than this: giving up the man who brought me such happiness.
“I’ll get my dress.”
It’s hanging in the wet room, and I grab it off the hook. Our ski suits are hanging up drying, and it’s a harsh reminder of what I’m leaving behind. Tears sting my ears, but I force them back. If I cry now, I might not be strong enough to leave.
Hans still hasn’t said anything as I brush past him, his face now set in hard, unreadable lines.
“I’m sorry,” Mom says, and there are tears in her eyes. “But I told you not to mess around with the help.”
I turn back to Hans, but he’s already gone inside and slammed the door.
12
HANS
How could I have been so fucking stupid. I thought Allie was different. I thought we shared something last night that was real, and I thought she felt it too.
But today she’s proved I’m just a fling before she gets married. Just the help that gave her a good time before she settles down with her blue chip husband for her privileged life.
Rage boils in my blood and I slam my fist on the kitchen counter, making the coffee pot bounce. It tips over, rolls over the counter, and smashes onto the floor, scattering glass across the tiles.
I don’t care. I want to destroy something. I want to destroy everything.
I’m raging with anger that the woman I love just walked out the door to be married to someone else.
Everything I thought we shared is a lie.
