Chapter Seven
She should have known her parents had another agenda when they invited her to dinner. No one changed their mind that quickly. When she got the call early in the morning, she’d been excited to have dinner with her family. Her mum had mentioned Richard and Scarlet making an appearance. What she’d found instead were malicious stares with Charles waiting for her.
In no time at all, he had her alone. His touches repulsed her. She wanted Tony to rescue her.
Don’t be stupid. Richard has probably started the divorce proceedings, and your so-called husband won’t want anything to do with you.
“Can’t you see how right we are for each other?” Charles asked. He knelt down in front of her, his hands running from her knee, under her skirt. She stopped him from moving further up her knee.
“We weren’t right for each other. I would have made you miserable, and you would have made miserable. Can’t you see that? We’re better this way,” she said.
“And you make Tony Hunt happy?” Opal heard the taunt in his voice. The statement cut her deep. She watched as he walked over to her father’s desk and picked up the magazine with the comparison between her and another woman. “This is making you happy? Seeing the woman you could never be?”
“I don’t have to listen to this.” She made to stand, but Charles placed a firm hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. A cry escaped her as her ass hit the handle of the chair. She slipped down. A painful throb in her left ass cheek made her wince.
“You do have to listen. Do you think Tony is going to come and save you now?”
“Why do you want me, Charles? You had your own mistress at the time, and you didn’t want anything to do with me. What’s changed?” she asked.
“You were promised to me, Opal. You were supposed to be my wife.” She didn’t like the tone of his voice, the almost hysterical need she saw on his face. There was more to this than she’d ever thought.
“What’s going on?” she asked. Charles hadn’t looked upset on the day she’d announced she wouldn’t be marrying him. What had changed in the last two years?
Opal stared at Charles as he circled her dad’s study. She wished she’d ignored the invitation to have dinner with her parents. The moment she walked through the door she’d been unable to leave. She hated it. Her old groom was circling her as if she was some prey he wanted to take a bite from.
“You humiliated me, Opal. But I’ve been talking to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, and we’ve decided it will be good for us to brush it all aside and start again.”
“No. That’s not going to happen. You tell me now why you suddenly want me?” She stood up and faced him. “Don’t you fucking touch me,” she said as he went to push her back down again.
“It was all right for you. You’ve got a rich husband to keep you,” he said.
“You’ve got rich parents and an entire empire waiting for you. Why me?” she screamed.
“Because we thought it was a joke. We all thought Tony would dump you as soon as he could. Seeing you around with him, he’s not going to drop you. My parents have disowned me until I bring you back as my wife,” Charles said.
Opal would have laughed. Tony had practically dumped her the day after their marriage. If only his family knew. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“Unless you marry me, I’ve got to work from the ground up at my dad’s company. I refuse to start that low. I’ve fucked half the women on that floor, and most of them I’ve treated like shit because I’m better than them,” he said.
She glanced at him then at the floor. “I don’t want to marry you.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to marry you.”
“You don’t have a choice. You’ll do as you’re told. You’re a woman, and no one listens to women anyway.”
“Are you even hearing yourself? I’m married to Tony, and I wouldn’t leave him for you.” Coming to her parents’ was a huge mistake. The moment she left she would never return. From this day forward she wouldn’t depend on anyone but herself. She cut off her other thoughts about Tony. The only person she would want to be held by was the one man who didn’t want anything to do with her.
“But the arrangements have already been made.” His hands landed on her shoulder and pushed her back down into the chair.
She closed her eyes and prayed for herself to wake up at home in her own bed. When she opened her eyes, she wanted to scream and cry out. The unfairness of her predicament was killing her.
“You will be mine, Opal,” Charles said as he leaned down, his face right next to hers.
There was some commotion outside. Shouting, slamming, and then the door to the study was thrown open. She turned, and never had she been so grateful to see Tony before. He stood in the doorway looking every inch of the menacing man he was.
“Step the fuck away from my wife,” he growled.