Chapter Fourteen: All Hell Breaks Loose
1040 Words
The beach house was in full-blown chaos. Cassidy and Annie were scrambling, throwing pillows off couches, pretending to look for Lila’s “missing” phone, while Cotton paced the living room like a caged animal. His normally put-together Southern charm was gone—his green eyes were dark with fury, his jaw locked so tightly it looked like it might snap.
“She’s not answering my calls,” he growled, running a hand through his perfectly styled blonde hair before turning on Cassidy. “Where the hell is she?”
Cassidy let out an exasperated laugh, tossing a couch cushion aside. “Relax, Cotton. She probably just went for a walk. Or maybe she’s getting coffee—she’s been stressed, you know, wedding planning and all.”
Cotton wasn’t buying it. “Don’t bullshit me, Cass.” He turned, pinning Annie with a glare. “You. You always know everything. Where is she?”
Annie popped a piece of gum in her mouth, chewing slowly. “You ever think maybe she just needed some space?”
“Space?” Cotton scoffed, stepping closer. “Space from me?”
Annie didn’t flinch. “From everything.”
His hands curled into fists at his sides, his patience wearing thin. “I hired someone to follow her,” he admitted, his voice sharp. “And guess what? I know exactly where she was last night.”
Cassidy and Annie exchanged a quick glance.
“Really?” Cassidy feigned innocence. “Well, that’s creepy as hell, Cotton.”
“I don’t care if it’s creepy,” he snapped. “I care that my fiancée was with another man.”
Silence. Heavy and suffocating.
Annie finally sighed, rolling her eyes. “Look, I don’t know what you want us to say. You already know. But maybe, just maybe, you should ask yourself why she felt like she had to run.”
Cotton’s nostrils flared. “She didn’t have to do anything. She’s being reckless, and now she’s going to come home, marry me, and forget this ever happened.”
Cassidy let out a sharp laugh. “Oh, Cotton. Do you really think you can control her like that?”
His jaw tightened. “I know her better than anyone.”
Annie crossed her arms. “Then why is she running from you?”
Before he could answer, the front door creaked open. Every head snapped toward it.
Lila stood frozen in the doorway, sand still clinging to her legs, hair slightly tangled from the ocean breeze. Her heart pounded. She hadn’t wanted to do this like this, but there was no turning back now.
Cotton’s eyes locked onto her, burning with anger and something else—something close to desperation.
“Lila,” he said, his voice eerily calm. “Where the hell have you been?”
Lila swallowed hard, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run, but there was nowhere left to go.
“I was out,” she said, her voice steady despite the storm raging inside her.
Cotton let out a cold laugh. “Oh, you were out?” He took a slow step forward. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
Cassidy moved subtly closer to Lila, while Annie positioned herself near the kitchen—just in case.
“Cotton,” Cassidy said cautiously, “maybe you should—”
“No,” he cut her off, his eyes never leaving Lila. “I want to hear her say it. Tell me, Lila. Where were you?”
Lila inhaled sharply. She could lie. She could try to soften the blow. But what was the point? He already knew.
“I was with Noah,” she said simply.
Cotton flinched as if she had slapped him, his chest rising and falling with controlled fury. “You were with Noah,” he repeated slowly, tasting the words like poison.
Lila forced herself to stand tall. “Yes.”
Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. Cotton’s jaw clenched, his hands balling into fists at his sides.
“You humiliated me,” he finally said, his voice eerily low. “You let me plan a future for us while you were running around with some—some—”
“Don’t,” Lila snapped, her own anger flaring now. “Don’t you dare act like this is just about Noah. You don’t own me, Cotton.”
His eyes darkened. “You think you can just throw everything away? Your family, our future—over some fling?”
Lila took a deep breath, her heart hammering. “It wasn’t a fling.”
Cotton’s face twisted, his breath coming in sharp, uneven bursts. Cassidy and Annie exchanged a glance, both of them clearly ready to intervene if things got worse.
“You are going to regret this,” Cotton finally said, his voice shaking with fury. “Your parents will never forgive you.”
Lila swallowed hard. She knew he was right. She knew exactly what this would cost her. But for the first time in her life, she wasn’t afraid of losing everything.
Because maybe, just maybe, she was finally finding herself.
“Then let them,” she whispered. Cotton refused to let this be the end. He had waited for Lila through college, through every obligation, believing that one day, she would be his in every way.
He clenched his jaw, inhaling sharply. “You’re mine, Lila,” he said, voice taut with frustration. “I have given you everything, I have waited for you, and now you think you can just throw it all away?”
Lila’s stomach twisted. The intensity in his eyes was no longer just heartbreak—it was possession.
“This isn’t about waiting,” she shot back. “This is about control.”
Cotton’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “No. This is about us. About what we’ve built. About what’s expected.”
He had spent years preparing for this life—a successful attorney, running his family’s horse farm, ready to marry into one of Raleigh’s most powerful families. Fighting was in his blood, and he wasn’t walking away.
- Writer
