Chapter 22
“Marry me without any drama or she and her family dies,” Antonio’s words rang in her ear as she remained frozen in her spot.
What she had feared from the moment they arrived at the old age home had come to pass.
Antonio was using Meredith to get her to do his bidding. Turning, she found his gaze resting on the oblivious old lady, who was still busy tending to the flowers.
She knew the man standing beside her wasn’t a nice person, but after what he had just told her, she came to the conclusion that he was the devil in human form.
“Antonio, she’s an elderly woman who has nothing to do with what is going on between the two of us.” Zabelle knew that it would barely move Antonio, but it didn’t stop her from trying, as there was that tiny glimmer of hope.
“Wrong, she’s going to be the reason you marry me,” Antonio turned to look at her.
Meredith was the only person he could find to use as leverage against Zabelle, and he’d be damned if he didn’t milk it.
“Unless, you’re okay with being the reason she dies. I wouldn’t be surprised considering how you’re responsible for almost ruining her life,” he jabbed at her and Zabelle had to clench her fist to stop herself from hitting Antonio for opening up an old wound.
“So go ahead, try to get my parents to stop the wedding. The moment you do, she dies,” he promised Zabelle.
“And if you think for one second that I’ll go to jail or something, you’re more than welcome to scream for help right here and now,” he dared her.
There was no way Antonio would be this confident if he wasn’t sure of himself. She was trapped. Even if she ran away, he would just kill Meredith, after which he would come after her.
“Are you really willing to sacrifice yourself just to hurt me? Your mom thinks that we’re in a real relationship, how do you think she’ll react if she finds out about everything?” Zabelle tried to appeal to his emotions.
She wasn’t only going to be the one trapped in a loveless marriage, he was as well, and if that didn’t matter to him, what about his mother? Didn’t he care about playing with her feelings?
“My mom or anyone else will only find out about what is really going on underneath the surface if you let her find out,” Antonio stated. She was a fool to even think that such antics would work on him.
He then walked behind Zabelle and said. “Take a good look at her, Zabelle. If you spoil any of my plans, she dies and if I’m in a bad mood, I’ll go after her daughter.” He then kissed the side of her forehead, and she turned her head away in disgust.
“You have five minutes to catch up with her, I’ll be in the car,” he then told her, after which he walked away.
Zabelle didn’t make any attempt to move closer to Meredith, just like all the other times she had come to see her.
The elderly woman was her former homeschool teacher. The woman was her safe haven whenever her parents showed just how much they hated her.
Whenever they would starve her, Meredith was the one who would smuggle food for her. She was the only one who wished her happy birthdays and gave her Christmas gifts. The elderly woman was the mother she never had.
However, it was too good to be true as when her parents found out about the old woman helping her out, they set out to destroy Meredith for going against their strict instruction.
It started with her husband losing his job and everything went downhill from there. Then her only daughter fell ill and the
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Chapter 22
man, in order to treat his daughter, turned to a life of crime which led to him getting killed.
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However, he managed to pay for his daughter’s treatment just before he died. It was understandable when Meredith asked her never to show her face in front of her, as she regretted ever helping her.
Even though her parents never explicitly claimed responsibility for what had happened to Meredith’s husband, she knew they were behind it.
Feeling guilty for what had happened to her teacher because of her, as soon as she moved out of her parents‘ house, she anonymously started sending checks, so the family could use it
Whenever she visited, she would always stay at a distance from Meredith, so the woman wouldn’t get agitated on seeing her.
Zabelle still couldn’t help but wonder how Antonio had found out about her, and she sighed. She had already ruined the woman’s life once, she couldn’t allow it to happen again.
Taking one last look at Meredith, she then turned to leave. When she got back to the car, Antonio was on a phone call and she sat quietly. After about two minutes, he finished with his call and turned to face her.
“You took longer than five minutes,” he informed her.
“I didn’t have a watch to keep record of my time,” Zabelle retorted without looking at him.
“So what’s it going to be? Are you going to marry me or do I have to kill Meredith?” He inquired, wanting to know her answer. Well he already knew what her answer was going to be, but he wanted to hear it from her mouth.
“Il marry you,” Zabelle responded. “But I want to lay some…”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate,” Antonio dismissed before she could finish her words. With that, he started the car and drove off.
Now that she was getting married to him, she had so many questions about what was going to happen. She was sure that the marriage was going to be hell for her, but she had other questions.
Would she have to stay in the same room as him and most importantly, was he going to force her to sleep with him? She wondered.
If it was earlier, she would have said he would be too repulsed to do so but seeing as he was ready to lie to his mother and throw away his life by getting married to her, she didn’t think so anymore.
“What am I supposed to tell your mother if she asks us how we met?” Zabelle asked, halfway through the ride.
“I’ll take care of that. All you need to focus on is pretending to be the perfect fiancée,” Antonio told her.
Zabelle frowned when he took a turn that wasn’t leading back to his mansion, and she wondered where he was taking her to
this time.
Her question got answered about five minutes later when he stopped in front of a famous mall. “Stay in the car and don’t try to run,” he told her as he opened the car door.
“Actually, please run, I’ve been itching to shoot someone,” he said just before getting out of the car.
“Asshole!” Zabelle hissed under her breath as she watched him go into the mall.
‘Garcia,‘ she said the name of the mall, and her eyes widened when she realized that the mall was the same name as Antonio’s last name. Did that mean it belonged to his family? She wondered.
She really needed to get a phone for herself, she told herself when she saw that she wasn’t able to search for the answer to her question.
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Where am I going to get the money for that?!‘ she muttered under her breath when she remembered that she had left her purse at that stupid party and Antonio had disposed of all her things.
Asking Antonio was out of the question, which meant that she was stuck with nothing. She broke out of her thoughts when she saw Antonio walking back to the car and in his hand were two bags.
When he got into the car, he dumped the bags on her leg and immediately started the car. Zabelle looked inside it and her eyes widened when she saw a phone in one of the bags.
Just a minute ago, she was thinking of getting a phone, and now he got her one. Was he a mind reader? She asked herself as she glanced to look at him.
“Thank you,” she said to him.
Even though she hated the man sitting beside her, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t thank him for what he had got her, especially when the phone in her hands was an expensive one, one she would have never been able to afford.
Antonio didn’t respond to her, but she was sure he had heard her. That was his problem, she shrugged as she proceeded to check what was in the second bag.
Her heart immediately dipped when she saw a ring box and when she opened it, she found a ring in it.
The ring looked expensive, and her heart would have fluttered at the sight of it had it been Jeremy giving it to her, but that wasn’t the case.
“Put it on,” Antonio instructed her. He had had the ring made since he made the decision to marry her.
Getting her finger size wasn’t hard with her being in a coma and with her out of it, it was time she wore it. Inside the ring was a tracking device which he was sure would prove very useful to him in the future.
“N–now?” Zabelle stuttered. She wasn’t prepared to wear the ring, and she knew she would never ever prepare herself for it.
She slowly brought out the ring when Antonio turned to glare at her, and her hands shook as she put it on her ring finger. She had hoped it wouldn’t fit, but it did perfectly, and a tear slipped from her eyes as she looked at it.
Even though the ring was small, the implication of it wasn’t. Antonio was really ready to marry her.
