8
1016 Words
Esmeralda's POV
The scent of roses made me sick.
It clung to the air too sweetly, too heavily, suffocating me with every breath I took. My head throbbed as consciousness slowly returned, my lashes fluttering against the harsh glow of golden light overhead.
For a moment, I thought I was dead.
Then pain rushed through me.
A sharp ache pulsed behind my eyes. My throat burned raw as if I had screamed for hours. My body felt heavy beneath layers of fabric, and when I tried to move, satin whispered against my skin.
Satin.
My stomach dropped.
I forced myself upright, panic slamming into my chest the instant I looked down.
White.
I was dressed entirely in white.
“No…” The word escaped me in a cracked whisper.
My trembling fingers grabbed the skirts pooled around me. Expensive lace. Hand-sewn pearls. Silk gloves. A wedding gown.
Bethany's wedding gown.
Terror seized my lungs so violently I nearly stopped breathing.
“No. No, no, no—”
I scrambled off the bed, nearly tripping over the endless train. The room spun around me as memories crashed back in pieces.
The wedding.
Mom crying.
Father shouting.
Zade in the corner.
The guests murmuring.
And then—
The truth.
God.
The truth.
A strangled sob tore from my throat as I stumbled toward the mirror across the room. The woman staring back at me looked like a ghost. My blonde hair had been pinned elegantly beneath a jeweled veil, my makeup flawless despite the tears that had dried on my cheeks earlier.
I looked exactly like a bride.
But not the bride Leoandros was supposed to marry.
A knock sounded against the door.
I spun around violently. “Get out!”
The door opened anyway.
Father stepped inside.
Daniel Reyes stood tall and composed in his black suit, as though he isn't the cause of all my downfalls since I was born. His expression remained cold, unreadable, but I noticed the tension in his jaw.
Good.
I hoped he suffered.
The moment I saw him, rage exploded through me.
“You,” I whispered.
“Esmeralda—”
“How dare you?” My voice cracked into a scream. “How dare you!”
He closed the door carefully behind him, like we were discussing something civil.
Something normal.
I laughed hysterically.
“You drugged me!”
“You fainted.”
“You let me wake up in a wedding dress!”
“You need to calm down.”
“Calm down?” I lunged toward him, tears blurring my vision. “Mom tells you my my sisters aren’t even my sisters and then you expect me to calm down?!”
His eyes hardened slightly.
Bethany and Daniella.
Not Reyes.
Not my blood.
Illegitimate daughters from one of my mother’s affairs years ago. My mother had known. They had known the truth. I felt stupid
Felt stupid and pathetic.
I remembered all they did to. I thought it was my fault all me, I blamed myself for being born, for being in the same family with them. They made me think less of myself.
And Leoandros—
God.
Leoandros had looked furious.
Not heartbroken.
Not devastated.
Furious.
Because a legitimate daughter had been promised to him.
And Bethany was never legitimate.
Father’s voice sliced through my spiraling thoughts.
“The marriage will proceed.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“No.”
“It has to.”
“No!” I screamed again. “I’m not marrying him!”
“You are.”
“I hate you!” My chest heaved violently. “Do you hear me? I hate you!”
Something flickered across his face then. Pain perhaps. Regret.
But it vanished too quickly.
“You don’t understand what is at stake.”
“I don’t care!”
“You will marry Leoandros.”
“I won’t!”
His tone sharpened dangerously. “Enough.”
The room fell silent except for my ragged breathing.
Father walked closer, lowering his voice.
“The Drakos family was promised a legitimate bride from this house. If this alliance breaks today, everything we built collapses.”
“I don’t care about your stupid alliance!”
“This is bigger than alliance.”
I shook my head furiously. “Then marry him yourself!”
“Esmeralda.”
“No!” Tears spilled harder down my cheeks. “He doesn’t even love me!”
The words hurt more than anything else.
Because they were true.
For seven years I had loved Leoandros Drakos in silence.
Seven years.
I had loved him at sixteen when he first arrived at our estate in Italy wearing a black suit and a bored expression. Loved him at seventeen when he taught me how to shoot despite Father forbidding it. Loved him at eighteen when he carried me inside after I twisted my ankle in the vineyard.
Loved him through every cruel glance.
Every indifferent word.
Every moment he only saw me as his employees younger daughter.
And today…
Today he was supposed to marry Bethany.
Not me.
Never me.
Father sighed heavily. “This marriage is happening whether you accept it or not.”
“You can’t force me.”
His silence answered everything.
Cold fear trickled down my spine.
“You would really do this to me?”
His eyes softened for the briefest second. “I’m doing what I must.”
I let out a broken laugh.
“That’s funny,” I whispered. “Because all you’ve ever done is destroy me.”
His face darkened, but before he could respond another knock sounded at the door.
“We’re ready,” someone said from outside.
My heartbeat stopped.
Ready.
The wedding.
It was time.
Panic surged violently through me again. I backed away from Father, shaking uncontrollably.
“No…”
Father stepped forward. “Esmeralda—”
“I can’t do this.”
“You can.”
“No, I can’t!” I cried. “He doesn’t want me!”
“That doesn’t matter.”
It mattered to me.
God, it mattered so much.
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