Brianna stared at the contract on her passenger seat. Permanent.
"How?" she hissed into the empty car.
"How am I supposed to marry a dead man forever?"
The absurdity of it!
The cruelty of the timing was too much!
She stepped out of the car with her thirty-thousand-dollar bag, hurling it against the concrete floor with a scream of suppressed rage!
The leather hit the ground with a dull thud, her belongings spilled across the oil-stained floor.
She needed an out. If she married Keenan~and she married him fast~the Dowager's contract would become null. She couldn't marry the ghost if she was legally bound to the living nephew. It was a messy, desperate solution, but it was the only way to bury the secret of Lucian's death.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket.
She wanted to smash it too, but the sound of footsteps nearby forced her to breathe. She reached into her pocket and looked at the screen.
[Matthew Koch: Don't forget about dinner. Saturday, like you said. I'll make the reservation.]
Brianna closed her eyes, leaning her head against the cold glass of her car window.
Tomorrow WAS Saturday.
The day of the dinner. The day of the cremation. The day she had to decide which lie she was going to live for the rest of her life.
She had never felt like ending a day before it even started. If Saturday was a person, Brianna was probably already holding a gun over its head.
...
Today was Saturday.
And Brianna was stalling.
She sat in the driver's seat, watching a young couple walk out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, glowing as they flashed their red booklets at a waiting photographer. They looked like they believed in forever.
Bzzz.
[Matthew Koch: Just a reminder for tonight. Saffron & Silk Asian Cuisine. Seven o'clock. Don't be late. I'm looking forward to our... conversation.]
She stared at the screen, a hysterical laugh forming in her chest. Conversation. She hadn't even processed that when:
Bzzz.
[Keenan: Babe, are you here yet? I'm waiting inside. Call me the second you park.]
The word 'Babe' hit her like a physical blow. Brianna's face contorted into shame. A low, guttural sound of pure disgust escaped her throat, and she slammed her forehead against the steering wheel.
Thud. Thud.
She began to crash out in the vacuum of the car. She hit the steering wheel, screaming insanely, although the sound stayed trapped within the soundproof luxury car.
Her chest rose and fell as she looked at the Bureau entrance, mourning the last shred of her dignity.
Looking through the rear mirror, Brianna smoothened her hair. She wiped the smudge of ruined crimson lipstick from the corner of her mouth. Then she walked in.
The process was cold. When the clerk pointed out her existing marriage record, Brianna had told her: "The records will be updated by tomorrow. Process the file now."
But as the new certificate was pushed toward Brianna, awaiting the signature that would bind her to the boy sitting next to her, she hesitated.
Keenan noticed and he leaned in. "When we're married, I'll let you moan as much as you want. I'll even cry with you. Won't that be better than being alone in that big, cold bed?"
He took her hand, his grip 'precious' and stifling, and let out a small, wet laugh against her skin. "I'll be a much better master than my uncle ever was. At least I won't ignore you."
An icy surge of nausea flooded Brianna's system. She looked at him, and for a split second, the veil dropped. She wasn't looking at a lovesick boy. She was looking at a smaller, more desperate version of the devil she had pushed off a balcony.
She felt the bile rise in her throat. She was just about to slap the "good boy" smile off his face when her phone rang in her bag.
"I have to take this."
The moment she stepped outside the Civil Affairs office, her phone was brought to her ear.
"Am I speaking to Dr. Brianna Colburn?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"This is St. Jude's Medical Consultant..."
Brianna trailed off. She already knew; Lucian needed a family member signing him off for the cremation...
Meanwhile, Keenan was worried about Brianna. She had taken too long on her call and he went to check on her. He found her frozen, staring into nothing in particular.
"Babe, what's up? Are you okay?"
When she didn't reply, Keenan reached out to her, cupping her sides with one of his hands. He felt her trembling, but he mistook it for surrender. "Talk to me."
Brianna didn't pull away this time. She didn't even seem to feel his touch. Her eyes were fixed on the horizon, mumbling.
"The devil is awake."