I waste no time diving into her cunt, making her cry out beneath me.
Her sounds are beautiful and for a moment, everything feels right again. Deep inside her, making her moan and beg for me. Every noise is an ode to me.
I want her beside me every moment of every damn day.
She can’t hide from me.
And one day when the truth hunts her down, I’ll be here to soften the blow.
Halloween Night - One Year Earlier
I’M GIGGLING WHEN WE RETURN to the party.
It feels weird to be this happy, a strange feeling for me almost, but I’m on fire right now, electrified with this happiness flowing through me. Noah looks just as happy, a grin spreading across his lips. He looks at me every few seconds, as if he is checking to make sure that same grin is plastered across my face.
It is.
Every damn time.
My mother will cry tears of joy when she finds out about this engagement. She’ll have my wedding dress picked out by Monday. She’s probably been planning my wedding day since the day I was born. She adores Noah, finds him charming. She’ll be grateful that it’s him who put a ring on my finger, and not any of my exes.
She might be shallow, might think that money equates to how good a person is, but I won’t be the one to argue this with her. She can think whatever she wants about Noah, as long as she likes him.
My father on the other hand will probably be skeptical, he has been since the first date we went on. He was shocked when he learned his boss's son had asked me out. I think he wanted to keep us disconnected from his work life, wanted to keep the two things as separate as possible, and our relationship kind of messed that up.
He treated the Bancrofts as if they were a secret family, one he didn’t want the first family to know about. It was strange, because when he was with Edward they acted like they were best friends. You would have never thought that he was secretly hoping for their children to break up.
Break up might be dramatic, but still, he won’t be thrilled about the news of our engagement.
“Dad,” Noah calls out to Edward. “I want to make an announcement.”
Edward nods his head toward us, giving his silent agreement for Noah to continue on with his announcement.
Noah drags me toward the musicians, asking t
hem to pause the music. The main area of the Bancroft house is filled with party guests. All of the inner circle is here, each couple with their kids, plus a handful of others. Friends, family, significant others.
“Tonight,” Noah speaks loud and clear for the group. “I asked Mikaela to marry me,” He smiles at me remembering the moment. “And she said yes.”
There's cheering around us, congratulations. I’m being hugged left and right, my hand is being pulled, women gawking over the ring.
I catch sight of Edward, standing in the back of the room away from us, but I can still see the slight smile on his face. Mariam is next to him, but she doesn’t look as thrilled. Instead, she looks nervous. Scared even.
It’s a whirlwind of congratulations before Edward and Mariam come over to us. Edward hands us each a glass of champagne.
“Cheers,” he says. “Welcome to the family, Mikaela.”
I spend the next few days ignoring Noah, using space as a defense mechanism. I’m trying to hide in my room like a coward, attempting to read a book. I can’t focus though, my mind keeps going back to that afternoon with him, to my hands bound behind my back.
His story, the things he said to me, all of his words keep replaying in my mind.
He wasn’t wrong, I never thought about what he was going through, what it was like for him. In my mind, Noah is indestructible. I guess I always imagined him not flinching during the whole arrest, probably chuckling while they slapped the handcuffs on him and stuffed him into the back of a police cruiser.
Was he scared? Nervous? Did the arrest finally break the indestructible Noah Bancroft?
Auden infiltrates my dreams. Images of her looking sad, running from something, or to something, play on repeat. I can see the black drips of her mascara as tears run down her cheeks. I can place the dream, not sure if it’s a memory or my subconscious haunting me.
Noah keeps himself locked in his office. He’s still working for his father during this whole ordeal, in between meetings with his lawyer and pre-trial activities. Something only the rich can manage, being on trial and still running a Fortune 500 company.