All Chapters of MARRIAGE PACT: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Kai. He stood his ground. His big presence crowded the small room. His dark eyes sparked—anger, but also something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Maybe relief? Possession? Anger?But behind him, his men were holding the nurse and security guard without a move, effectively closing off any route of exit for them."Kai?" I tried whispering, so my voice would be soft, gentle, and quite unsure.A step closer, his eyes nailed into mine. "You think you can hide from me, Zara? You think I wouldn't find you?"My very blood went cold as something grasped onto each part of me in fear. This wasn't how this was supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to find me."How… how did you find me?" I stuttered backwards until my back hit the wall.His lips twisted into something wicked. “Now. Did you think Liam's family would keep you from me? From your husband? No one can separate us, sweetheart."I balled my fists. Psycho to some semblance of bravery, at least. "I don't belong to you, Kai.

An hour went by with me pacing up and down my office floor, thoughts churning of what I would do when finally I had Zara back within my grasp. Mine. And she needed reminding of the fact. My phone buzzed an hour later with a new message that I grasped eagerly and read with so much anticipation. "I found her," the words said. "She is being held with an old Lady in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. Attached is the address." A slow, dangerous smile spread across my face. Now Zara was so near, this close, so near to being back to where she belonged. Not a minute could be wasted, and I instinctively tugged at my jacket, began for the door, and texted Ethan, That he should meet me by the car. We were off to see Zara, and it was high time that she learned she couldn't get away with it. The sun dipped under the horizon as Ethan and I turned into the drive, dragging long shadows across the landscape. The tension stirred between us, focusing into a core, sharp edge in the vacuum of s

ZARA'S POVAt last, Kai had won his battle. I woke up to a smelling fresh linen foreign in my nostrils, with a throbbing head. The previous day's events crashed over me, and I opened my eyes to the soft morning light that seeped through heavy drapes. Slowly, I rose into a sitting position, around me surveying the room clearly. My mind had been so weak with the word opulent when I took in a grand four-poster bed, antique furniture, and lush carpeting. All that luxury in the world could not make this place look more less than a prison, a gilded cage meant to hold me. I began kicking my legs across the bed and then down onto a cold floor below me, anchoring myself into reality. I needed to get out. Groggily, I looked around the room for some exit, anything. But there wasn't as all doors and windows closed tight at their handles while I pulled at them frantically.The door into the hall was open a crack. For one fleet moment, hope pumped through my veins. Maybe I could slip out unseen

It was a little after mid-day, and I was pacing the floor. I tried to drive some of my thoughts from my brain when there was a knock on my door. My heart stopped a beat, and the door creaked open. and it was Madam Tess. Her visage was quite stifling; all the same, something seemed a hair off."Your father and sister are here to see you," she said quite formally.Blinking, my heart now thudding into my chest, but for an entirely different reason. Father and Lena really here? After everything that went on, after the humiliation I'd caused them, they really came?Madam Tess moved out of the way, gesturing to the room on the right. "They're waiting at the sitting room."I didn't speak a word for a moment, although my mind was running a mile a minute, wondering what they would say or think about me. Though it made it impossible to sidetrack my mind, I did press down a deep breath to square up my shoulder and walk out of the room behind her.I walked down the corridor, and in my mind, fear

"Good morning, Zara," I said as I opened the door for her to the dining room, and then I sat and stared at her breakfast. Her hands were wrapped around a cup of tea, but her eyes wouldn't flinch away from mine. "Morning," she muttered back, barely above a whisper.I sprawled in the chair across from her, watching the tension in her form, her shoulders making this painful bowing, like she could make herself small enough to go away. I hated it. Didn't that just explain she refused to look my way? After what she'd seen me do yesterday, I knew she was still so angry at me. It was her right to be, but still, I had to try. I had to make things right."C'mon, you need to eat something," I coaxed, softly. "You've hardly taken a bite out of that."Finally, she looked up; those eyes were cold—ice-like, just like the stare she had been giving me since she stormed into the study yesterday. "I'm not hungry."Well, that would have been an uphill task. That wasn't going to stop me, though. I had s