I finished washing up the dishes and wiped my hands on the towel just as my phone beeped with a notification. My face morphed into a frown.
William: We have a business party to go to so dress appropriately. I’ll pick you up at five.
I pursed my lips and put the dish towel back on its handle. Well, I guess I could go to the mall and be back in time to get ready—it was only two o’clock, after all. I shrugged and dialed Chelsea, praying she didn’t have a photo shoot to go to.
“Hey, Heather!” she answered happily.
“Hey, Chelse, do you want to go to mall?”
“Of course, I’m always ready for the mall. I’ll be ready in few minutes,” she said excitedly, and hung up before I could say anything.
I rolled my eyes in amusement and grabbed my purse and shoes. Once I picked her up, we drove out to the mall.
“So how’s William?” she asked, braiding her hair with ease.
I groaned. “Don’t even ask. This man is going to give me a whiplash with his different moods.”
She gave me a curious look and I started explaining the events of the past few days.
“He’s an idiot,” she muttered.
I snorted and pulled into the parking lot. “You’re telling me.”
As soon as I parked, she literally dragged me out of the car and began power walking. “Hurry up, slowpoke, the grandma who was behind us is already at the door.”
I heaved a sigh and let her pull me to through the entrance. There was no stopping Chelsea once she started.
As we went through dresses, Chelsea was showing me the weirdest designs I’d ever seen in my entire life. I didn’t even know such dresses existed.
“Chelsea, those dresses hardly cover my bottom! Is that formal to you?” I laughed, gesturing to the dress she was holding up.
“Details.” She waved her hand in my face.
She piled about fifty dresses on my arms and I rolled my eyes. “Here, try these on.”
“Fun!” I muttered sarcastically, and walked into the changing room.
The first three dresses were terrible. They were sky blue, neon yellow, and this lime green color. I sighed and put those aside. I stared at the fourth one. Compared to the others in the pile, this one was the longest and most formal looking. It was black, and the material was silky. The dress itself was strapless, and the back was slightly low.
I slipped it on and studied myself in the mirror. It had a slit going up my right leg to the middle of my thigh. The dress hugged my body in a flattering way, but it didn’t look too revealing. It was perfect for a formal event.
“Chelsea!” I called, walking out of the changing room.
I stopped for a moment and looked around the shop. However, in that exact moment, some guy had to walk right into me, and I stumbled back. Before I could fall, he caught my waist and pulled me back up.
“Thanks,” I murmured, stepping back and glancing at the man. I internally cringed at the look on his face.
His eyes were running up and down my body, and there was a weird glint in them. When his eyes met mine again, I felt a shiver run down my spine at the disturbing look he was giving me.
“Not a problem. It’s not every day I bump into a woman like you. Do you wanna go out with me?” he asked, reaching a hand out to grab my waist again.
I was shocked by his bluntness and backed away from his hand. “Sorry, but no. I’m married.”
He chuckled evilly. “I assure you, you won’t regret a night with me.”
Was this guy for real? Who even talked to women that way? I threw up a little in my mouth. I was a virgin and was going to stay a virgin.
Unless you let William take your virginity.
I immediately shook that thought off and returned my attention to the man in front of me.
“Okay, no way! That is just gross,” I said, absolutely disgusted.
He just laughed and started to walk away. “Your loss, honey.”
I felt a cold shiver go down my back at his tone. What a creep! I shook my head and anxiously looked around for Chelsea. She was standing near the counter and talking animatedly with the cashier. I approached her and did a small twirl. “Well, what do you think? Is this fine?”
“Fine, are you nuts? William will probably have a heart attack. You look gorgeous!” she said, beaming proudly at her selection.
I blushed. “I guess I’ll take this dress, then.”
I turned to the store guy, who was staring at Chelsea’s engagement ring with a frown. “How much is this dress, sir?”
He stared at me incredulously when I said sir. I just smiled innocently and saw Chelsea trying not to bark with laughter. His face turned red and he walked off to check the price. I went to change, and this time, I made sure to look where I was going to avoid that man.
Once I paid, Chelsea got a phone call from her manager about another show, so I dropped her off at her workplace. By the time I got home, it was about four in the evening, which meant I had an hour to get ready, which wasn’t really a lot of time. I rushed upstairs and ran into my bathroom, slamming the door shut.
I took a quick shower, then put on my blue bathrobe. For my makeup, I decided to use a little eyeliner and mascara to emphasize my eyes and strawberry lip balm. Makeup made me breakout, so I tried to avoid it as much as possible.
I decided to pull my hair into a loose chignon with a few curls hanging out.
For jewelry, I kept my usual earrings, which were medium-sized diamond studs, and a silver chain with a small diamond pendant.
By five o’clock, I was ready to go, so I grabbed a silver clutch from my closet and put my phone and keys in it. Then I raced downstairs and put on my favorite high heels.
I decided to sit in the parlor and started going through Facebook as I waited for William. The time was approaching 5:30, but William still hadn’t shown up. Just as I thought about getting undressed and simply lying around, I got a phone call from Alex.
“Hey, Alex,” I answered somewhat cheerfully.
“Hey, kid, you’re coming to that business dinner, right?”
I frowned. “Well, I’m supposed to, but William hasn’t shown up yet.”
“Are you ready? I can take you as my buddy.”
“Sure, I’m ready.”
“Great, I’m pulling into your driveway now,” he said, and hung up.
I walked out and Alex got out of his car. He stared at me for a couple of seconds before he started to look worried.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m going to have to fight off almost every young male at the party.”
I laughed and kissed his cheek. “That’s very flattering, but you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
He opened my door. “I doubt it. You’re notorious for getting into trouble whether you mean to or not.”
I shook my head amusedly and sat down. Alex went around and got into the driver’s seat. Once we were on the road, he began talking again.
“How are you doing?” he asked, concerned.
“I’m all right,” I replied, playing with my fingers.
“No one has been talking to Andrew properly after that night,” he said angrily. “I have to restrain myself from beating up the bastard.”
“Alex, you guys are overreacting. I should have seen this coming. Andrew has never been loving toward me.”
“You’re our baby sister! How can he say those things so…so heartlessly?” he said, raising his voice rapidly.
“Can we discuss this later? I want to get this dinner over with,” I pleaded.
His face softened and he nodded.
Once we got there, the valet took the car keys and we walked toward the hotel, where the dinner was being hosted. The paparazzi, however, was making it hard to get through.
“Mrs. Solace, how come Mr. Solace isn’t here?” two reporters asked at the same time.
I ignored them and kept walking through the flashing lights. We were safe from it all once we got inside. I took Alex’s arm and entered the ballroom.
There were so many people. I saw my parents and Andrew standing to the side, talking to some business acquaintances and friends. Just as I walked over to the greet them, I saw William enter the ballroom with a beautiful blonde woman on his arm.
You have got to be kidding me. I was burning on the inside with humiliation and hurt as several people noticed him enter.
My life was turning into one of those cliché movies.
He caught my stare and gave me a smug smile. I quickly looked away and walked through the crowd to find Alex. My cheeks burned as I passed a group of women who were commenting about how I couldn’t even keep a man for two months.
This was so embarrassing! Why would he tell me to come if he wasn’t going to bring me in the first place?
You guys aren’t even in a relationship. It shouldn’t matter, a voice reasoned in my head. But a part of me felt he was obligated to keep up the act even if we weren’t in a real relationship. After all, everyone except for our families thought we were in love.
As I walked into the throng of people, I saw Stephanie, looking slightly uncomfortable. She smiled when I approached her and opened her arms for a hug.
“How are you, Steph?” I asked, giving her a one-armed hug.
“Oh, Heather, I’m so sorry about An—”
“It’s okay. Just forget about it,” I said with a small smile.
She caught my gist and started talking about some of the people she’d met earlier. At one point in our conversation, I scanned the crowd and made eye contact with William. I glared at him and he glared right back. He kept eye contact with me until the blonde woman came back and took his hand to dance. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Stephanie.
A couple minutes later, Dad walked over to us with a slightly angry look on his face. “Sweetie, why is William parading that woman around like a trophy?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” I grimaced, watching the woman dig her nails into William’s arm.
Dad pursed his lips. “I’m going to go have a talk with him. How dare he humiliate you like this.”
“Dad, don’t, please. I don’t want him to cause a scene when you approach him. He has some sort of grudge against me and now he wants to annoy me. I’ll deal with him later, just let it go, please.”
He sighed and nodded. “Fine, but if he does anything else, I won’t hesitate to punch him in the face.”
“Thank you.” I sighed and excused myself to go to the bathroom.
As I made my way down the empty hallway, I heard footsteps behind me. I froze and turned around, bumping right into William.
He still had that smug look on his face and raised an eyebrow at my murderous look. “So how does it feel to be humiliated? It doesn’t feel good to get a taste of your own medicine, hmm?”
I gritted my teeth. “I have no idea what I did to you, but I swear, I’ll castrate you if you take this too far. You’re being awfully petty.”
He chuckled darkly and leaned forward. “It takes one to know one, and believe me, sweet pea, you haven’t seen petty yet. This is just the beginning.”
I narrowed my eyes and leaned in, matching his glare. “You’re insane.”
There was an amused look in his eyes as he glanced down at my lips. “Maybe I am, but I have every reason to be.”
I stepped away and turned around. “Leave me alone, William.”
There was silence before he let out a small snort. “And let you destroy other people? Never. You’d better watch out, sweetheart, I’m getting my revenge for what you did to my sister.”
I turned my head to see the back of his suit as he walked back to the dinner.
His sister? As in his older sister, Kelly? I hadn’t even met the woman, let alone talked to her! She wasn’t even there at our wedding. How did he get the idea I humiliated her?
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall. I gasped and struggled against the person as they gripped my throat tightly.
“What a pretty little dress you’ve got there. I wonder how it would look on the ground,” a hoarse, masculine voice whispered in my ear.
My eyes widened and I started pushing him away the best I could. When he loosened his grip slightly, I saw something glint in the light.
It looked like a butcher knife. How did he even get that in here? There was security all over.
I shoved him off as hard as I could and took the chance to kick his family jewels. He fell to the ground, but before I could even react, I saw a flash of silver and pain erupted in my thigh.
My eyes squeezed shut at the pain and I let out a loud scream as I collapsed.
I heard some scuffling and a few voices yelling before I was picked up.
“You’re going to be okay. I promise,” a male voice whispered sorrowfully. He started to carry me away from the scene. My hearing became hazy as I slowly faded into unconsciousness.
I smiled weakly at the person and let the darkness take over. The last thing I remembered thinking was, Who carries a butcher knife with them?
***
I was in so much pain. It felt like someone had ripped open the side of my body.
Well, you were just cut open with a knife, my mind chided.
I could hear voices whispering around me and wanted to open my eyes, but they felt so heavy. Eventually, the voices were gone, and I felt someone’s warm hand hold my cold one.
“I’m so sorry, Heather,” a familiar voice whispered.
Was that Andrew? He sounded like he was crying.
He continued to talk with a shaky voice. “The whole ride here, I kept having flashbacks o-of all the times I treated you like crap. Like when you used to ask me to play with you and I pushed you in the mud instead, or when you made me a macaroni painting and I threw it in the trash right in front of you. I’m a terrible older brother. I should have been there to ward off all the boys, go to your softball games, and protect you. Instead, I was so jealous of the attention you got that I neglected you.”
He paused and something warm fell on my leg. “I-I just want you to know that I do love you, even if it never seemed like it.”
My heart ached as I heard him ramble about how stupid he was. At least I knew he loved me, and that was all I needed to hear. I felt a weight on my leg and slowly opened my eyes with great effort. Andrew’s head was laying on my leg, and I reached a hand out to ruffle his hair. His head shot up, and I gave him a weak smile. His eyes and nose were red from crying so much. He was a mess, and I knew that I had forgiven him.
“Andrew,” I croaked.
I needed water, and he must have known that because he grabbed the cup from the bedside table and helped me sit up to drink it. Once I was done, I looked at him.
“I forgive you,” I said softly, and he immediately wrapped me in a tight hug. I could feel him crying into my shoulder and felt tears run down my cheeks too. He squeezed me tight and I ignored the pain. I just wanted to enjoy this moment.
He pulled back and kissed my forehead. “Alex and Dad went to get some coffee but they’ll be back any second.”
Just as he said that, the door opened and Alex walked in with Dad behind him.
“Thank God you’re okay,” he said, crushing me in his embrace.
Dad started yelling at me from the door. “What were you thinking, scaring your old man like that? I just lost twenty years.”
I gave a fake sniffle. “I’m sorry, Dad, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
He looked worried and came over to the other side of the bed. “No, don’t cry, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to yell.” He hugged me gently, wary of my stitches. I rolled my eyes, causing Alex and Andrew to laugh.
“How long was I out? And what happened to the man who stabbed me?”
“Well, he was arrested, obviously, and you’ve been out about three hours. They took you into surgery because they couldn’t get the knife out safely. You have about ten stitches along your thigh now,” Alex replied. Andrew and my dad were talking to the nurse who had just walked in to give me some painkillers.
I nodded. “So where are Mom and Stephanie?”
“They went home to get some clothes for you and to check up on Landon. We called them once you were out of surgery. They should be coming back in an hour or so.”
“When can I leave?” I asked, playing with my fingers.
“Tomorrow. You have two weeks of bed rest and you are going to stay at Mom and Dad’s place since William has to go to work.”
I groaned. “Two weeks? But that’s so long!”
Before Alex could reply, Dad chimed in on the conversation.
“You are staying with us for a month, not two weeks. I want to make sure you’re perfectly okay before letting you go back to your house.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
“No buts! I already contacted your workplace to inform them and William will be informed later.”
Suddenly, the door slammed open and Landon leaped into the room with my mom and Stephanie in tow.
“Oh, my baby!” My mom came toward me. She hugged me so tightly that I was gasping for breath.
“Mom,” I choked.
“Sorry, sweetie! I’m just so happy that you’re safe,” she said with tears of joy in her eyes.
I smirked. “I’m not going anywhere. I have to fulfill my goal of finding Alex a girlfriend.”
Everyone laughed, except Alex. “What? No way! Why me? What happened to Jason?” He frowned.
“Jason found himself a girl already, so you’re the only single one left.”
“Speaking of which, did anyone call Chelsea or Jason?” Dad asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex.
“Crap, they’re going to kill me for not telling them,” Alex muttered, and left the room cursing loudly.
I snorted and turned to Stephanie to give her a quick hug. Once she pulled back, Landon squeezed me tightly and lay down next to me drowsily.
I was actually getting sleepy myself—I had yawned at least three times in the last ten minutes.
Andrew ran his hand over my hair. “I think we should let you rest now. We will be back soon, the three of us need a shower.”
I nodded, closing my eyes as I drifted off into my own world.