After I Saw His Mole, I Dumped Him

Chapter 3

I brushed off his words completely, popped a couple of sleeping pills, and finally drifted off into a deep, heavy sleep.

When I finally jolted awake, my phone was blowing up, over a hundred missed calls stared back at me from the lock screen. Besides Brandon's dozens, my parents had called too, over and over again.

I called them back right away, and the moment they picked up, they said they were already on their way to the hotel venue.

On top of that, they chewed me out for getting drunk and spamming random texts in the middle of the night, ordering me to hurry up and get ready.

A dull throbbing split my skull as I tried to explain what was actually going on. But how do you untangle a mess like that over the phone? I had no choice but to head to the hotel first.

Brandon was already there, looking sharp and put‑together in a tailored wedding suit, waiting for me.

The second he spotted me, a smug grin pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"I knew you'd show up," he said, adjusting his cuffs. "But if you want me to marry you, you have to sign a prenuptial agreement first."

I skimmed the document. It spelled out that I couldn't have any marital relations with him for three years after the wedding.

Accidentally brushing his hand? A ten‑thousand‑dollar fine.

Grabbing his hand? A thirty‑thousand‑dollar fine.

And if I so much as mentioned marital relations? A fifty‑thousand‑dollar fine, every single time.

Back when he was sneaking around with Natalie, he still had the shame to hide what he was doing. But now that we'd burned all our bridges, he didn't even bother pretending. He dragged it all out into the open, forcing me to cave by laying his rules out in plain black and white, with a price tag on every single one.

I was frozen in dead silence when my phone suddenly blared its ringtone, cutting through the suffocating tension. It was my dad, his voice cracking and thick with sobs.

"Your mom had a sudden heart attack! She's in emergency surgery right now. Get here as fast as you can!"

My hand shook so hard I almost dropped the phone.

I spun around and bolted for the door, but Brandon's hand shot out and clamped around my wrist, yanking me back. Dark irritation was written all over his face.

"It's just a standard agreement," he sneered. "Are you really that scared of it that you have to run?"

I couldn't care less about his garbage agreement or any of this nonsense right now.

"My mom's in trouble. Let me go, now."

Natalie, who'd been standing off to the side, burst out laughing right then. "Your lying game is so weak! Brandon just called your mom, not even ten minutes ago. How does she suddenly have a heart attack out of nowhere? If you don't want to apologize to me, just say that. I'm not the petty type."

My mom is fighting for her life in the ER right now.

I ground my teeth until my jaw ached and forced the words out. "I'm sorry."

I looked at Brandon. "Can you let me go now?"

Natalie arched an eyebrow and passed me a pen. After I signed my name on the agreement, she clicked her tongue, enjoying every second of this.

"How'd you get so obedient all of a sudden?"

She waved a hand, and her bodyguards lunged forward instantly. They slammed me hard into the floor and pinned me down before I could even react.

My knee cracked against the hard tile, and a wave of hot, burning humiliation swallowed me whole.

"Weren't you so tough when you hit me last night?" Natalie stepped closer, shoving the toe of her shoe right in my face. "It's your wedding day today. I don’t really want to make things harder for you than I have to. Lick my shoes clean, and I'll think about letting you go."

I stared up at her, stunned.

What happened next made my stomach drop. Brandon didn't even say a single word to stop her.

"Just lick it," Brandon murmured, looking down at me coldly. "Do it, and I'll let you leave."

I bit down so hard on the inside of my cheek that I tasted blood, but I had no choice but to cave. My mother's life was ticking away.

"I'll do it, but you have to keep your word."

Surrounded by their jeering laughter and the constant click‑flash of their phone cameras, I dragged myself through the most humiliating ten seconds of my entire life.

When it was over, I choked back my tears. "Can you let me go now?"

Natalie threw back her head and cackled. "What a good, obedient little dog. Does exactly what you tell it, huh?"

Suddenly, she reared back and slammed her boot straight into my shoulder. "Let you go? In your dreams! I only said I'd think about it. I never said I'd actually let you leave."

Rage made my lips twitch so hard I could barely hold them still. "Don't go too far!"

Natalie sniffed in cold disdain, then ground her stiletto heel hard into my fingers. "Today I'm going to show you what actually pushing too far looks like!"

Agonizing pain shot straight up from my fingertips. Driven by pure survival and fury, I lunged forward and sank my teeth deep into her calf, biting so hard I ached to tear a chunk of flesh clean off.

Natalie yelped and wrenched her leg back, screaming furiously at her bodyguards, "Beat her to a pulp!"

Blows from fists and boots rained down on me like a brutal hailstorm. I curled into a tight ball, throwing my arms up to shield my head from the worst of the impact.

When I managed to force my eyes open through the pain, all I caught was Brandon sweeping a whimpering, hurt Natalie into his arms and hurrying away, his back fading fast into the distance.