Chapter 5

Amery POV

A month later*****

It’s been a month into this disaster of a marriage, I still couldn’t believe I was married to him. Mr playboy. The stranger who had turned my life upside down in a single night, now my husband.

Nathan and I fought constantly—over small things, big things, and things that didn’t even matter. Today, it was about where to store the dishes. Yesterday, it was the laundry. 

“Do you ever pick up after yourself” I snapped, tossing one of Nathan’s ties over the bed. 

He just laid on the bed pressing his laptop and didn’t bother to look, “I told you not to touch my things” he said flatly, then continued. “I’ll deal with it when I’m done”.

His words and arrogance irritated me everyday. “You said the same thing yesterday and the day before, how is it so hard to put your stuff away?”

Nathan finally glanced up, his green eyes icy, “How hard is it for you to stop nagging me about every little thing? In case you’ve forgotten this is my house and I choose to do whatever I like in it.”

I threw my hands up, my frustration boiling over, “Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t realize asking you to act like a functional human being is nagging”.

Nathan shot back, “Well you signed up for this Amery, so deal with it!”.

His words stung but I was not ready to let him win. “I didn’t sign up for you. You tricked me into marrying you”.

Nathan let out a sly laugh, “Trick you?” He laughed again like he was mocking me as he closed his laptop, grabbed his car keys, jacket and headed for the door. 

I sat by the window, staring into the distance, wondering how my life had spiraled into this chaos. The flashback of my wedding day played vividly in my mind, haunting me.

The wedding day********

“Smile, Amery,” Christina whispered through gritted teeth as she walked me down the aisle. Her hand clamped on mine felt more like a shackle than support. She played the role of the perfect mother with such grace it made me sick but it was bearable since I already found my escape route from all her petty games.

As I walked closer to the altar, my heart raced. Something was wrong. That wasn’t Levin dressed in a white suit. The man standing there wasn’t the man I was promised to marry.

My steps faltered as I held the bouquet of flowers in my hands tightly and I glanced at Christina. She avoided my gaze. I turned to Jane, who smirked smugly as if she knew the secret all along.

By the time I reached the altar, I realized who it was—Mr playboy. It was the nickname I formed in my head since I didn’t know his real name. My one-night stand. My supposed brother in law.  

“What was he doing here? And why was he standing in place of Levin, his younger brother who I’m supposed to marry”.

“Surprised?” Nathan murmured when I reached him, a hint of amusement in his voice.

I turned to my in-laws, but no one looked surprised. They all knew. This was planned.

I felt like a pawn in their twisted chess game. The priest began the rituals, but my mind was elsewhere. The priest asked, “Mr Rogers, do you take Miss Amery Everson to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“Yes I do” he replied before the priest even finished the sentence.

Then it was my turn.

“Miss Amery Everson, do you take Mr Nathan Rogers to be  your lawfully wedded husband?”

I hesitated, my voice trembling as I said, “I do.”

The priest pronounced us husband and wife. “You may now kiss your bride”.

When Nathan kissed me, I expected a simple, polite peck. Instead, he pulled me close, his lips claiming mine with an intensity that made my skin tingle.

He leaned in, his breath warm against my ear. “Let’s have a wonderful night again,” he whispered, his voice dripping with mischief. “With more screams and satisfaction.”

Present day*******

My cheeks flushed with anger as I recalled his audacity. That night, he’d strutted into our room like he owned me.

He had walked into our shared room with a bottle of wine in his hands. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice trembling with anger and unease.

Nathan simply ignored my question and started unbuttoning his shirt, his movements slow and deliberate. 

“Relax, I missed you. And I’m just here to have a taste of you again” he’d said his tone dripping with amusement. 

He continued, “And I brought the wine to celebrate our victory. You should be thanking me, Amery. I saved you from the clutches of your conniving mother”.

“Saved me? How?” I’d spat glaring at him. “You switched places with your brother without telling me! How is that saving me?”

He shrugged, unbothered by my anger. “I gave you freedom, didn’t I? You’re out of her clutches now. You should be grateful.”

I’d clenched my fists, disgusted by his arrogance. “Grateful? You’ve trapped me in this nightmare!”

Nathan had taken a step closer, his smirk widening. “Trapped? Don’t be so dramatic. If you play your cards right, you might even enjoy it. I bet you did the last time.”

His audacity had been the last straw. I’d shoved him away and locked myself in the bathroom, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.

The weeks that followed had been a battle of wills. Nathan thrived on pushing my buttons, and I refused to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. But some days were harder than others.

Like tonight.

As I sat on the couch drinking coffee, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. I reached for it, hoping for a distraction from the chaos of my thoughts.

When I read the message, my blood ran cold.

The words on the screen blurred as a wave of panic and fury crashed over me.

“What the hell?” I muttered, my hands trembling.

I cursed under my breath, my mind racing as the implications of the message sank in.

“What nonsense! How low can they be?”

Then I heard a knock on the door, it was Mia, the caretaker.

“Miss Roger, this is for you” she said as she handed me a brown envelope.

I opened it and was shocked to see a wedding invitation card written Joel weds Atlas.

The invitation lay discarded on the coffee table, the embossed gold lettering catching the morning sunlight as though mocking me. My hands itched to tear it apart, to shred every piece until it became as broken as the trust I had placed in Joel and Atlas.

I sat on the edge of the couch, staring at the card with a bitter taste in my mouth. Joel and Atlas. The two people I thought would stand by me no matter what had been manipulating and betraying me for God knows how long.

I let out a short laugh, “They have the guts to send me an invitation to their wedding. They must really be mocking me!”

My chest tightened as flashes of old memories surfaced—the times Joel had comforted me after my fights with Atlas, swearing he wasn’t good enough for me, that I deserved better. The times Atlas had whispered promises of forever into my ear, his eyes filled with lies I had been too blind to see.

I clenched my fists. What was the point of dwelling on it?

I wanted to go to their wedding, to look them both in the eye and remind myself that I was more than the mess they had left behind. But there was no use. I was in California, far removed from the glamorous Los Angeles venue printed on the invitation.

Maybe it was better this way.

There was no point in dragging myself through more pain. They didn’t deserve my energy, let alone my presence.

Just as I was about to push the thoughts aside and busy myself with something—anything—Nathan stumbled into the room, reeking of alcohol.

“Well, look who’s up early,” he slurred, leaning heavily against the doorframe. His usually sharp green eyes were hazy, his shirt half-buttoned, and his tie hanging loose around his neck with stains of lipstick on his white shirt.

“Drunk at ten in the morning?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Classy.”

Nathan staggered to the couch, collapsing beside me with a dramatic groan. “You’re so uptight, Amery. Maybe you should try it sometime—letting loose, having fun.”

I wrinkled my nose as the smell of whiskey hit me full force. “Fun? Is that what you call whatever hole you crawled out of last night?”

He smirked, running a hand through his disheveled hair. “Jealous, are we?”

“Hardly,” I shot back, crossing my arms. “I have better things to do than keep track of your escapades.”

Nathan’s smirk faltered as his gaze landed on the wedding invitation still sitting on the table. He picked it up, his fingers tracing the edges. “Ah, the happy couple. Joel and Atlas, right?”

I snatched the card from his hand, glaring at him. “Don’t.”

He leaned back, his expression smug. “What? I’m just saying, it’s bold of them to send you an invite. Kind of like rubbing salt in the wound, don’t you think?”

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped, my voice rising.

Nathan’s eyes softened slightly, his tone less mocking. “You’re not actually thinking about going, are you?”

“I was,” I admitted, my voice quieter now. “But it’s pointless. I’m here, they’re there. It’s not worth it.”

Nathan studied me for a moment, his usual arrogance replaced by something that almost looked like concern. “You don’t have to prove anything to them, Amery. They’re not worth it.”

“I know that,” I said, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “But it’s not about them. It’s about me. I need to remind myself that I’m stronger than this, that I can face them and walk away with my head held high.”

Nathan let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “You really are something else, you know that?”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Take it however you want,” he said, standing up and stretching. “But if you want my advice—which, let’s be honest, you probably don’t—I’d say skip the wedding. They’re not worth your time, and you’re better off focusing on yourself.”

“And since when do you give good advice?” I asked, unable to hide the hint of sarcasm in my voice.

Nathan grinned, heading toward the kitchen. “Since I realized you’re the only entertainment I have in this house.”

I rolled my eyes, but his words lingered in my mind.

Maybe he was right. Maybe the best way to prove my strength was to move on completely, to leave Joel and Atlas in the past where they belonged.

But even as I told myself that, a part of me couldn’t shake the lingering anger and betrayal.

Later that evening, Nathan stumbled back into the living room, a glass of whiskey in his hand and a look of mischief on his face.

“What now?” I asked, glancing up from the book I had been trying—and failing—to read.

“I’ve got an idea,” he said, dropping onto the couch beside me.

“Should I be worried?”

“Probably,” he said with a smirk. “But hear me out. If you really want to go to this wedding, I’ll take you.”

I blinked, caught off guard. “You’d do that?”

“Sure,” he said, taking a sip of his drink. “Consider it my good deed of the year. Plus, it sounds like it could be fun—watching you put those two in their place.”

I hesitated, unsure if he was being serious or if this was just another one of his games. “Why would you want to do that?”

Nathan shrugged, his smirk turning into something almost genuine. “Let’s just say I know what it feels like to be betrayed by the people you thought you could trust and I want to have a little bit of fun”

His words hung in the air, heavier than I expected.

For a moment, I considered it. The idea of walking into that wedding with Nathan by my side was oddly tempting. But then I shook my head.

“No,” I said firmly. “I’m not going to let them ruin any more of my life. They don’t deserve the satisfaction of knowing they’ve hurt me.”

Nathan nodded, raising his glass in a mock toast. “To moving on, then.”

“To moving on,” I agreed, clinking my glass against his.

As the night wore on, I felt a strange sense of peace settle over me.

Maybe I didn’t need to face Joel and Atlas to prove my strength. Maybe it was enough to know that I could, and that I was choosing not to.

For the first time in weeks, I felt like I was taking control of my life again. And as much as I hated to admit it, Nathan’s unexpected support had played a part in that.

Perhaps there was more to him than I had given him credit for until I watched the news and was shocked to see my face plastered everywhere on the internet.

“What the hell! What is this ....”.