My fingers latched onto my silver, charm bracelet. With a frantic need, I used the sharp edge of the heart and dug it deep into my wrist. I winced and the pain made me think. Made me feel alive. “Is that the only reason why you agreed to this marriage?”
He bent forward, bringing his head closer to mine. I felt his breath against my ear. “You know very well what my reasons are.”
“You could just kill me,” I said. “Make it easy for both of us, don’t you think?”
“Why should you have an easy death?” The hatred in his voice was unmistakeable. “She died a cruel death, Julianna. And you will suffer a worse fate.”
There it was. This was the reason why we were poison together.
I killed his love and he wanted vengeance.
“Do you know what date today is?”
How could I forget?
Killian was still too close. His presence was suffocating. “She was supposed to walk down the aisle today,” he said, deadly and heartless. But I didn’t miss the pain and the longing in his voice.
Gracelynn would have been the prettiest bride ever. I closed my eyes and choked on the sob threatening to spill from my throat.
My sniffling filled the room and there was Killian’s dreadful silence. His silence was eerie and disturbing. Killian was deadlier than a viper, as he waited for the right moment to strike.
He moved around my wheelchair and stood in front of me. Dressed in all black, he was an imposing figure. I dragged my gaze up, from his polished leather shoes, up to his strong thighs, his wide chest and shoulders and then his face. Full lips, dark eyes and a glacial expression.
Our eyes met and he blinked, once, as if to shake the image of me from his brain. As if I was a ghost, haunting him.
Maybe I was.
Killian leaned against the window, his hands going to the sill as he crossed his ankles. He looked every bit the powerful and confident man he was. So devious, so in control, so cruel.
I fidgeted under his gaze, feeling so out of control while he was so contained.
“Two years.”
I blinked. “What?”
There was a tick in his left cheek, his muscles clenching, and his jaw hardened. Killian nodded at my legs – useless and frail. “Your father said it’ll take you a long time to walk again, if you ever will. With all the necessary therapy, he’s giving you two years.”
I swallowed. “Two years…?”
“Two years so you can walk down the aisle. Our wedding will be held on this day, two years from now.”
I knew this was coming. My father warned me beforehand – I’d have to take Gracelynn’s place at the altar – but I was still not prepared for this announcement.
“What if I can’t walk again?”
He grinned cruelly. “Then, I’ll drag you down the aisle, on your fucking knees, if I have to.”
I sucked in a shuddering breath. Killian stepped away from the window and bent forward, bringing his face closer to mine. I couldn’t even move. My wheelchair kept me in place. His breath feathered over my veil, right over my lips. “Listen to me very carefully. You will marry me; you will pay for your sins and you will die at my hands.”
He didn’t see that I was already paying for my mistakes.
Just like everyone else, Killian didn’t see me. They saw my veil. They saw my sin.
No one saw Julianna Romano anymore.
They didn’t see my remorse– or that my sister’s ghost haunted me.
My nails dug deeper into my palm, drawing blood. I lifted my chin up, matching his cold stare. “You’ve made yourself very clear, Killian Spencer.”
He chuckled at my show of I’m-not-scared-of-you-do-your-worst. It was a weak attempt at bravery, but I didn’t want him to think I was as powerless as he thought I was.
My life was already hell. But I still had some kind of control over what Killian could do to me, even though I deserved everything he said.
I should pay for my sin.
I should suffer.
I should die at his hands.
It was his right. After all, I killed his heart.
It would have been easy to say that Killian was the villain. But it was far from the truth. He was just another casualty of my mistakes and the end result of my sins.
I was the villain in this messy fairy tale.
His hand came up to my face and I flinched, expecting him to strike me, but he didn’t. Killian curled a finger around a strand of black hair and then pulled. Hard enough to burn my scalp. “I will break you, Julianna Romano.”
You can’t break what’s already broken.
I turned my face away, no longer able to look into his dark eyes. There was just something in them. Something that made me ache.
“You’ve said what you came here to say. You can leave now.”
Killian pulled back and strode away. I clutched my chest, bearing the pain that seemed to dig itself deeper under my flesh. It wasn’t just my heart that ached. It was my soul that was tormented.
“Oh right, I forgot to give you this.” He fished something out of his pocket and then carelessly threw it my way. It skidded on the shiny floor, a few feet away from my wheelchair.
“Your ring,” Killian said coldly, his voice dripping with venom. “Wear it. Happy engagement to us.”
After he was long gone, Selene came back. Without a word, she lifted the ring from the floor and handed it to me. I took it from her, staring at the extravagant diamond ring. The rock was huge and nothing like my personal taste. But then again, this wedding wasn’t about me and Killian could care less about my preferences.
It was heavy in my palm, but the weight was more than just the shiny diamond itself.
I loathed it.
And yet, I still wore it on my ring finger.
When my father came into my room much later, he smiled approvingly at the sight of my ring, patted me on the hand and then walked away without a word.
It was official.
Two years from now, I would be Killian’s wife.
This marriage was his vengeance – the vows would not be of love, but of hatred.
His retaliation. My atonement. One imperfect marriage.
CHAPTER TWO
Julianna
Two years later
A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion, a day to be celebrated, where two souls come together. Joined in holy matrimony. Bonded by vows – to love and to cherish.
I always imagined something romantic. A grand wedding; the prettiest, most expensive gowns; gorgeous heels that many brides would envy; a lovely veil to put any other veils to shame, and my handsome Prince Charming – my own little fairy tale.
But it was just that. A fantasy. A lovely one to dream of, but a fantasy nonetheless.
Because my wedding was nothing short of a cruel reality. In the last two years, Killian and I only crossed paths twice.
Once – on our engagement day. The very same day he threw me the ring, so carelessly, so heartlessly.
And the second time was yesterday, when I arrived on Isle Rosa-Maria.
He had barely spared me a glance as he walked past me to greet my father. As if I wasn’t even there. As if I wasn’t his wife-to-be. As if we weren’t about to get married in less than twenty-four hours.
Killian, without a single spoken word, had reminded me that Julianna Romano was forgotten. Even while I was still alive, my existence had been rendered to the life of a ghost.