Chapter 75 75. 24 Hours To Marry Jessica
Jessica scrambled to her feet, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her lipstick was smeared, her hair a mess from Don's grip.
Don groaned as he tucked himself back in. Then he stood.
He. Stood.
My breath caught in my throat. The last time I'd seen him, he'd been slumped in a wheelchair, talking about his condition, and now he straightened to his full height, fastened his belt with steady hands, and rolled his shoulders back like he'd just finished a workout.
"You can walk."
"Surprising what the right incentive can do for one's health." Don adjusted his cuffs like nothing about this was insane.
I looked between him and Jessica, my stomach twisting.
"Someone explain. Now."
Jessica smoothed her dress, face blank. "What does it look like, Lucien?"
The complete lack of shame punched straight through my chest. I closed the gap between us until our faces were inches apart.
"What the FUCK are you doing with my father?"
"Exactly what you saw." She didn't even blink. "I get him off. He gets me you. Simple transaction."
My hands balled into fists. "You're disgusting."
"Maybe." She shrugged. "But I'm getting what I want."
I grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the stairs. Her heels scraped the floor as she fought me.
"Let go of me!"
I didn't stop until we hit the foyer. I released her hard enough that she hit the side table behind her.
"Sleeping with an old fucking man?? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?!"
Jessica straightened, brushing invisible dust from her dress, and looked at me like she was bored. "Should I be?"
"You have a daughter. A four-year-old daughter who looks up to you." My anger intensified at the thought of Lily, and my voice just climbed even higher. "You have a brand, a reputation, a life, and you're throwing it all away for what? To trap me into something I'll never want?"
"Don't." Her voice sharpened. "Don't you dare bring Lily into this. You have no right to worry about my daughter."
"I have every right when we're talking about an innocent child who's going to suffer because her mother is too obsessed to see how fucked up this is." I stepped forward. "I warned you before, Jessica. If you ever did anything stupid that put Lily at risk, I'd call child protective services. I'd have her taken away from you."
The smile that crept across her face chilled me.
"Go ahead." She tilted her head. "Call them. I'll cut myself... and tell them everything. How you cornered me in my own home, how you grabbed me, how you threatened to take my daughter because I refused your sexual advances." She paused, her eyes gleaming.
"And when I show them the bruises you just gave me on my arm, when they see me crying and terrified, when they hear about your dark history, who do you think they'll believe? The helpless single mother protecting her child? Or the billionaire with a history of violence towards women?"
"You manipulative-" My vision tunneled. Rage shot through me. I pinned her to the wall by the throat before my mind caught up.
Her eyes widened. They still gleamed, but with satisfaction.
"Do it," she wheezed, still smiling. "Squeeze harder. Give me the evidence I need."
I released her instantly and stepped back, chest heaving. "You're sick."
Jessica rubbed her throat, checking the faint mark in the mirror.
"Not enough bruising yet. Shame, but we'll get there." She turned toward me. "And yes, I'm sick. I'm twisted. I'm obsessed. And you'll marry this obsessed bitch if you want Camila to breathe free air."
"I'd rather-"
"Rather what?" She laughed. "Rather let her spend the next twenty years in prison? Rather watch her waste away in a cell, knowing you could have prevented it with a simple 'I do'?
I know everything, Lucien. Don's been very generous with information. Ronan's ultimatum. The inheritance clause. The pre-approved bride list with my name conveniently at the top." Her smile stretched wider.
"I've been waiting for this moment you realize that when you signed those papers, you didn't win your father's empire. You locked yourself in a cage and swallowed the key."
My jaw clenched so hard I heard my teeth grind together.
"Yes." She circled me slowly, her heels echoing through the foyer. "Get angry. Lose your mind. Destroy some furniture if it makes you feel better. Because at the end of all that rage, you'll still be mine."
"Fuck you, Jessica! Fuck the day I met you! Fuck the day I let you into my life!"
"Let me clarify the terms since you seem confused."
She held up one finger. "No secret courthouse wedding. No private ceremony. No marriage contract signed in some lawyer's office."
A second finger. "You will propose to me in public, on your knees in front of cameras."
A third finger. "You'll kiss me like you mean it. You'll release a statement about how deeply you love me, how ready you are to build a family together."
A fourth finger. "You'll tell the world that Camila was nothing but a PR stunt."
Her thumb came up last. "And then we'll have a massive, televised wedding where all of New York watches you pledge yourself to me."
"You're out of your fucking mind."
"Probably." She examined her nails. "But I'm the psycho holding your girlfriend's fate in her hands. So you'll smile. You'll propose. You'll say the words. And you'll marry me in front of everyone who matters."
"Why?" I choked out. "Why destroy yourself for someone who will never love you?"
Her expression changed. Something ugly and broken flickered across her features before she locked it down.
"You dumped me like trash," she said quietly. "Made me believe we could have something, then acted shocked when I had feelings and actually wanted more.
If debasing myself with your dying father is what it takes to make you suffer the way you made me suffer? I'll do it. I'll do worse."
I stared at her, seeing clearly what I'd missed before. She wasn't just obsessed. She was destroyed, and she wanted to take me down with her.
"One more thing." Jessica's smile returned. "You know you can't reject the inheritance, right? And we both know Catherine Moretti isn't going to help you, because of course, no one knows where she is. So really, your only option is me."
I turned toward the door before I did something irreversible.
"I don't know how much time Ronan gave you," Jessica called after me, her voice light and mocking. "But I'll be waiting for that diamond ring. Don't keep me waiting too long." Her laughter echoed behind me.
"Tick tock, Lucien."
\---
Jessica's laughter was still ringing in my ears. Marry her, humiliate myself publicly and tell the world Camila meant nothing.
Or watch my girl go to prison.
I leaned my head back against the rest, breathing raggedly, before exploding, hitting the horn and letting the blare sustain for a long, angry second.
I'd never been this powerless in my entire life.
One day to figure out how to save Camila without destroying us both.
One day to find a way out of this cage I'd locked myself in.
One day before Ronan buried her forever... fuck!
"What am I missing?"
Ronan is never this perfect... where's the loophole?