CRUEL MARRIAGE (Cruel #6)

Prologue Today I was marrying a man I didn’t love. And only my best friend, Lark, was waiting in the wings with me. Trying to talk me over the cliff. Not off it. “Okay, this is what we’ll do.” Lark immediately went into planning mode. I was another project she had to fix. A fire she had to put out. I barely heard what else she said. Just the end. “Poof, runaway bride.” I ran my hands down the front of my one-of-a-kind designer wedding dress. The bodice was strapless with a sweetheart neck. Made out of the softest, most delicate white lace with dozens of tiny white buttons running up the back. It swept down to my feet with an impressive train that flowed out behind me. A twenty-foot empire veil would be affixed to the intricate braided design at the top of my head. White. Perfect, virginal white. “No wedding. No Camden,” Lark continued. My eyes found hers in the mirror. “I can’t.” “Physically, you are able.” “I can’t,” I repeated. “But you don’t love him!” Lark gasped. “How can you do this when you don’t even like him? It can’t just be the money. We all have money. The crew has money. You can have mine. I don’t need it.” “Lark,” I said, shaking my head. “Is it the bet?” I frowned. My dark red lips turning down at the corners. I’d lost the bet to Penn. I’d wagered a wedding date. I was here to deliver. But still, that wasn’t it. “No. I just have to do this.” “I don’t want to see you unhappy,” Lark told me. I almost laughed. But I couldn’t even manage it. Unhappy? I’d been unhappy for years. Happiness didn’t belong to a girl whose father had lied, cheated, and stolen everything from her. Who ended up in prison for securities fraud, destroying my mother, who hadn’t even been able to look at me for years. It certainly didn’t belong to a girl whose brother had abandoned them all at the first sign of trouble. I wanted my old life back. The one before my father had been arrested for his enormous Ponzi scheme. The one when I’d had everything. When I had been on top of the world, and I hadn’t had to pretend to love or even like Camden Percy to build that future for myself. It wasn’t as if Penn was going to suddenly change his mind, to go back to the boy I’d known who worshipped at my feet. I’d been so naive then, thinking he’d always come when I called. And now, he wasn’t here to save me. But to feed me to the wolves. “I’ll manage,” I finally got out. “You’re miserable. Camden makes you miserable. Katherine, please listen to me. We’ve all been saying it from the beginning. We know the kind of person that Camden is. You do, too. You shouldn’t subject yourself to his whims.” She was right. Camden twisted me around his little finger. He f****d with my head. At least the s*x was good. That was about all he had going for him other than the string of Percy hotels he owned. “Why are you so set on this?” Lark asked. I didn’t even know how to explain it to myself. It wasn’t just about security. I had the penthouse overlooking Central Park. I still had a dwindling trust fund that I could probably stretch if I had to. It was more than that. It was an arrangement. Something Camden and I had crafted together for our mutual benefit. As far as I was concerned, I was getting the better end of the deal, as he now knew exactly how little money I owned. We’d had to fork over tax and bank account information before signing prenups. It worked. We worked somehow… even when we hated each other. “Maybe I don’t want to fail at one more thing.” Lark sighed. “It wouldn’t be a failure. You deserve better.” A knock sounded on the door, and the wedding planner, Virginia, burst in. “Time to go, Katherine. Are you ready?” Lark shot big, round eyes at me, silently begging me to change my mind. But I couldn’t. “Yes,” I told Virginia. “Great. I have the veil. Let’s get you both in position.” Lark and Virginia helped me from my pedestal and picked up the long train of my dress. We marched down the hallway and to the back of the church. Virginia tucked my veil into my hair and then moved to cover my face. I held my hand up. “Leave it.” She shrugged and left my face uncovered. I wanted to face this down with clear eyes. Alone. As always. The music started. Virginia hurried the bridesmaids out on cue. Lark shot me one last look of despair before stepping into the church in her dark red dress with a bouquet of white flowers. “Okay, let them get all the way down, and then it’s your turn.” Virginia beamed at me. “Don’t forget to breathe.” “It’s just another runway,” I muttered. Canon in D filtered through the church as it moved from the strings of the quartet I had chosen. The sound bloomed and magnified. The doors opened before me. I stood, silhouetted in the atrium of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as hundreds of guests rose to their feet to watch my entrance. For a split second, I faltered. Debated. Wondered if Lark was right. If I should turn around and run. But it was a moment, and then it was gone. I stepped forward. Virginia straightened out my train and then the never-ending veil as I walked past row after row of guests. Their faces were a blur. I kept my eyes forward as the altar came into focus. The priest in his ceremonial attire. A line of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Everyone identical. Then Camden. He stood in a tuxedo that had been handcrafted by a designer in London. I wasn’t close enough yet to discern his expression. That was probably for the better. I began to recognize more people. My crew taking up the front rows. My mother seated so regally beside my brother, David, and his little Texas bride. Camden’s father, Carlyle, seated next to Elizabeth Cunningham. To my surprise, they’d recently eloped. Next to Carlyle was Camden’s heinous sister, Candice, and then Elizabeth’s daughter, Harmony, who hated me. My new “family.” And then I landed on Penn. My Penn. I just wanted him to look at me. To object. To do something. But he just made eye contact with me. Looked sad for me. Pity. Penn Kensington pitied me. I’d told Lark that I wouldn’t run. But I hadn’t known until that moment that I’d been hoping Penn would object. Not just stand there with his new girlfriend as I went through with it. He really wasn’t going to stop it. I swallowed and turned back to the man I was marrying. I was finally close enough to see the smirk on Camden’s strong features. A beautiful exterior hiding a dark interior. His look said only one thing—mine. After tonight, I would belong to him. He’d own me. And no one was even going to object. Not even me. I stepped up to the dais. No one was there to give me away. I had made this deal with the devil. And I would be the one to give myself to him. Despite all of Camden’s faults, he was handsome. No, he was gorgeous. It honestly wasn’t fair that someone with that face and body also had the keys to an empire. His dark hair shone in the low lighting. His expression was stern and purposefully blank. As if, even here, even now, he didn’t want me to discern what he was thinking. No emotions from him. Not even on his wedding day. I’d expected it from his lips, but I never could understand how he hid behind his eyes. They were dark, so very, very dark. As if I were sinking into the Dead Sea. Drowning. They should have been windows. Instead, he’d closed the shutters, and he was once again a mystery. “Katherine,” he said evenly as he held out his hand. This was the moment. I could turn here. I didn’t have to go through with this arranged marriage. I didn’t have to marry him for his money. I didn’t have to live by this new contract. I could be a runaway bride. Something hardened in his face as he waited a heartbeat and then another. Then I placed my hand in his. I wasn’t running from him, but… to him. The only person willing to save me. He helped me up the steps and before the priest. His eyes never wavered from mine. They were unreadable, but still, there was something else in them at that moment as the priest began the service. I hardly heard what was said. The words so familiar that they didn’t register. All that really existed in that moment was Camden Percy. There was no reassurance. I knew what he wanted from me, what I had signed in that contract. My body in exchange for his money and name. I had no interest in his heart, and he had no interest in mine. It was better this way. Easier. The priest gestured to me. “Do you, Katherine, take Camden for your lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” The room went perfectly silent. As if everyone was waiting on bated breath for my answer. Camden nodded his head once, decisive and clear. And I knew there was no turning back. I squeezed Camden’s hand and nodded. “I do.” Part I I Don’t