Page 129 of Wrong Marriage. Right Groom
I froze for half a second, trapped.
His hold wasn’t painful.
It was Intentional and certain.
Heat radiated through him, surrounding me in a way that made the world narrow to nothing but sensation.
“You can’t fucking take that,” he snarled, the words cutting through the air. “I would never do that to you.”
He didn’t release me. If anything, his hold tightened, pulling me closer as if the mere idea pissed him off.
I managed to twist just enough to create space between us, sucking in a sharp breath like I’d been pulled out of deep water.
Rafael didn’t step back.
He stayed too close.
“I know how difficult your past has been—how unstable it was for you—and I’m not here to add to that pain. But you have to allow yourself to heal.”
That made my throat tighten.
I turned my face away on instinct, as if hiding could change anything. As if blindness hadn’t already made me too exposed.
My hands curled at my sides. “As if healing is something you can simply speak into existence.”
“It begins with a decision,” he said quietly. “I’ve watched you. I’ve never seen you smile—not truly. Not even with Tess. I noticed the way it almost happens... and then stops.”
My breath caught.
“But you can become who you were before all of this.”
My voice came out thin. “No. That woman died a long time ago.”
“No one dies completely, Loretta.”
That almost made me laugh again.
Instead, tears burned behind my blind eyes.
“You have no idea what he... what they did to me,” I managed, my voice breaking despite my effort to hold it steady. “I don’t even know how to heal.”
A shaky breath slipped out. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t heal. I would rather stay in this darkness... this is what my life has become.”
The words came out heavier than I intended.
The temperature between us seemed to drop.
Rafael didn’t speak.
But I felt it—the weight of him focusing entirely on me now, like the world outside this moment had been erased.
“Besides, why would I want to heal?” My voice trembled, but I didn’t stop. “There’s no one in my life worth holding on for—only Tess. And even she will grow up and realize I was never her mother. Or you’ll decide to send me away long before that.”
My breath shook. “And don’t talk to me about healing when you chose to marry me because of my father’s sins. You added to my pain the moment you brought me into this.”
I swallowed hard. “I understand enough. My purpose in this marriage is obvious—it is your revenge. Your debt ledger. Not my life.”
He moved as if to come closer, but I lifted my arms between us at once—an instinctive barrier. My hands trembled in the dark, a fragile shield built on nothing but reflex.
