Chapter 16 - The Ultimatum
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“What?” Caroline choked out, her voice a high-pitched, desperate squeak. “Nate, darling, you can't be serious! There are five hundred people downstairs! The mayor is here! You can't cancel a wedding over a misunderstanding with the help!”
“It is not a misunderstanding, Caroline,” Nathaniel replied, his voice dropping into a lethal, quiet register. He took a slow step toward her, forcing her to back up against the heavy oak dresser. “I know about the sedative. I know about the threats you made to Erin in the pavilion. I know about your uncle’s seat on the hospital board.”
Caroline’s breath hitched. She looked like a cornered animal, her eyes darting frantically around the room, realizing every single one of her secrets had been laid bare.
“And I know,” Nathaniel continued mercilessly, “about the six point five million dollars your father owes the O’Connor syndicate in South Boston.”
Caroline covered her mouth, a harsh, terrified sob tearing from her throat. The facade was completely gone. The elegant bride was replaced by a desperate, weeping woman facing absolute ruin.
“Please, Nathaniel, please,” Caroline begged, dropping to her knees on the hardwood floor, ruining the hem of her fifty-thousand-dollar Parisian gown. “If you don't marry me, they are going to kill my father. They’re going to take the house! I had to secure the money! I had to protect my family!”
“By attempting to murder a woman dying of cancer?” Nathaniel sneered, his disgust absolute. “By drugging my mother? You don't care about your family, Caroline. You care about your status. You care about yourself.”
He looked down at her groveling on the floor, feeling absolutely nothing but contempt.
“You have exactly ten minutes to pack whatever you brought into this house,” Nathaniel ordered coldly. “My security team will escort you off the property.”
“You can't do this to me in front of all these people!” Caroline shrieked, her panic turning back into furious, ugly entitlement. “The humiliation! You are ruining my life!”
“I am saving my own,” Nathaniel said simply.
He didn't look at her again. He turned his back on the weeping bride, walked over to Erin, and gently took her hand.
May you like
“Come with me,” Nathaniel said, his voice instantly softening as he looked at the maid who had changed his entire world.
He led Erin out of the bedroom, leaving the door wide open, and began the long walk down the grand staircase toward the sea of expectant, wealthy guests. It was time to burn the illusion to the ground.
