Smiles & Scars

umble slowly over time. But that morning, sitting across from Aunt Claire in her icy, perfect study, I rea

to the corners. Everything in that room reflected her, the polished mahogany desk, the perfectly stacked books arranged by height and subject, and

until she gestured curtly at the chair across from her. My legs moved au

er the rim. Her silence felt like an interrogation. When she finally se

hor about to deliver a speech rehearsed a hundred time

ngers tightening

ctati

ord. "You're twenty-three. You carry the Wells name. And as the only c

the room

" I said, my voice low. "I'

ifices are necessary. We have an arrangement with the Blackwells. Damo

tures, all dark eyes and stone features. He looked like someone who wore sile

mon's family has

dn't d

id. "Especially yours. Damon can offer you stability,

be happy," I snapped be

s eyes

ir wishes no longer hold weight

hit me lik

. No longer

ves trying to build something aw

someone I don't know, someone who probably doesn't even w

s crossed tightly over her chest. Her

ut press or vanity. It's about alliances. It's about surviv

stay seated under th

an't m

ll. Unless you want to be cut off from the Wells estate. No tr

step, as if she had

would

mine, unwave

n. The ultimatum. Marry Damon

ver my head, clothed me, fed me. But she had never loved me. I think part of me had a

for a merger. And the worst part? The wo

Why so s

I were a child asking

is has been in discussion for over a year. And be

out thin. "And

From it, she pulled a folder and dropped it in

paperwork. Everything you'd

red legal

st always be prepa

flipped through the contents. The lang

again. "That gives you four days. If I don't have a signed agreement

he contract, and the next I was standing in the corridor, the walls clo

d me, then slid down to the floor. The fo

hat actually mattered. I didn't want a cold mansion or a name that made people either b

choice. Fre

weren't part of t

ound to witness my breaking. Claire would probably cal

room. The staff brought food, but I didn't eat. I star

t a life with Damon would look like. Cold dinners. Empty smiles. Silence so thick it suffocated. M

d, I'd be left with nothing. No apartment. No money. No security.

enough to

ong enoug

at the fountain my mother had once loved. I remembered her la

from the expectations and the cold and the lega

I do t

d my eyes, pretending for a moment tha

oment

had four days to make a decisi

e lost. I only had to decide w