Revenge Wears A Ring

Episode 7

Larissa's POV

He dug into the pocket of his suit and produced a velvet box. He placed it on the table and slid it toward me.

“What’s in there? Something that will help us?”

“Yes.”

“What is it? A flash drive filled with incriminating evidence?” I asked.

“The box is in front of you Larissa. Open it and find out for yourself.”

I did as he asked. Inside the box was a simple yet elegant ring, a single diamond set in a delicate bond. I peered at it and then pulled the ring out of the box. I turned it around in my hand. I once owned a flash drive that looked like a lipstick, maybe this was something like that.

I turned to Brayden. “How do you open it?”

“Open a ring? Are you dense?”

“Wait, this is a ring? Like a ring ring?”

He groaned. “Are you also blind?”

“I am neither of those things.” I snapped at him. I kept the part where I thought the ring doubled as some sort of flash drive to myself, not wanting to endure any more insults from Brayden. “Why are you showing me this? Is it evidence in one of Benjamin’s crimes?” I asked, a little bit annoyed with him for letting me get my fingerprints all over possible evidence.

“It’s not evidence.” Brayden clarified. “And I’m not showing it to you, I’m giving it to you.”

I peered at the ring and then back at him. It wasn’t my birthday and it wasn’t any significant holiday. Brayden had no reason to give me something this expensive. We barely knew each other. We didn’t even like each other.

“Why?” I asked.

“Congratulations. We’re getting married.”

I dropped the ring on the coffee table like it burned me. “Are you crazy?”

“No, but sometimes I think you are.”

“Why in the world would I want to marry you?”

Brayden sighed. “This isn’t about what you want to do, it’s about what you need to do.”

“And you think that I need to marry you?” I asked and he nodded. “Nope. Absolutely not. There is no way in this life or the next that I’m getting married to you.”

“And you think I want to marry you? I’m doing this for your safety. By the time word gets back to Benjamin that you’re looking into him, he’s going to come after you with everything he has. He killed Lara, you think he won’t do the same to you?”

“Lara was an accident.”

“But you won’t be.” Brayden said. “No, your death will be very intentional. Perhaps he’ll get someone professional to do it and they’ll make it look like an accidental fire in your apartment. It’s a terrible way to die.”

He picked up the ring and held it towards me.

“So what do you say, Larissa?”

“No. I’m not getting married to you. I don’t care whatever reasons you present to me.” I said.

“Larissa, listen…” Brayden started.

“No, you listen!” I interrupted. “We’re not getting married and that’s final. I just got out of a relationship with one Patterson brother, and you want me to enter another one?”

“It’s not a real marriage.” He argued, his voice annoyingly calm. “Well, it will be real on paper but that’s about it. When we’re done with all this, we will get a divorce, and we can put all of it behind us.”

“I still don’t care.” I said. “I don’t like you and more importantly, I don’t trust you. How stupid do you think I am?”

He raised a brow. “You do not want me to answer that but do know that I'll think you’re even more stupid than I already do if you don’t accept this proposal.”

My hand itched to slap him but I restrained myself. Could he not make it five minutes without insulting me?

Remembering that I had free will, I raised my middle finger at him instead. “You know what? Screw this. Screw Benjamin and screw you especially. I’m out of here.” I stormed out of the study, making sure to slam the door with so much force that the sound reverberated through the corridor.

I expected him to come after me but he didn’t. I spent the next couple of minutes trying to navigate the treacherous labyrinth that was Brayden’s corridor. And even when I was able to find my way out of the mansion, I was still stuck on the estate.

Mr. Carter had driven me here, so I couldn’t leave on my own. I didn’t have my phone, wallet, or cash with me, so there was no way I could call a cab. And I was way too proud to go back into the house to ask Brayden for help. So I sat on the cool marble tiles of the front porch.

In the hour and a half that I was there, a few of the domestic staff came in and out of the house. I figured that one of them would have let Brayden know that I was still outside his house. And I knew that Brayden would have told them to leave me be.

“Let her sulk. Maybe she’ll come to her senses and accept my offer if she sits out there long enough.” I imagined him saying. Well, he had another thing coming to him if that’s what he thought, because there was no way in this life

or the next that I was going to get seriously entangled with a Patterson.