The Don's Unwanted Bride

CHAPTER 18

Alyssa’s POV

My heart was pounding like it wanted to escape my chest, thundering louder with every step Donovan took.

His grip on my wrist was iron-clad, dragging me down the dim hallway like I was some kind of fugitive, well, technically, I was.

The cold floor beneath my bare feet made me shiver, but it was nothing compared to the icy dread sinking deeper into my bones.

I should’ve left the moment I figured it out that Hayden wasn’t just some powerful, intimidating man with a dark aura. No. He was in the Mafia.

Real, dangerous, blood-on-his-hands Mafia. But I stayed. Like an idiot. I let him touch me, kiss me—God, I let him in. And now I was going to pay for it.

Donovan shoved open the door and practically tossed me inside.

“Watch it, asshole,” I hissed, falling hard on my knees.

The door slammed behind me with a chilling finality. Silence echoed before I dared look up.

Hayden stood across the room, his hands shoved in his pants pocket like he had all the time in the world. His shirt was still unbuttoned at the top, slightly wrinkled, probably from our little entanglement earlier, but his face was stone cold.

Gone was the man who held me in bed less than an hour ago. Gone was the tenderness, the burning kisses, the whispered promises.

I almost laughed. What a joke. What a complete idiot I had been.

He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just stared.

“You know,” he said calmly, his voice a sharp contrast to the tension slicing through the room, “Next time, if you drag her like that again, Donovan, I’ll cut your balls off.”

I blinked.

Really? That’s where he draws the line?

Donovan muttered something unintelligible from the other side of the door.

Hayden’s gaze snapped to mine, the storm brewing in his dark eyes unreadable.

“Get up.”

I didn’t move.

“I said, get up, Alyssa.”

Still nothing from me. My heart raced faster. I expected rage. Maybe a slap. Or worse. I expected him to scream, to call me a traitor. To punish me for sneaking out like a damn criminal. After all, I'd run out on him. At our wedding, no less.

He surprised me.

With a sigh, he walked to the door and opened it. “Leave us.”

Donovan hesitated. “But—”

“Leave.”

The door shut again. Now it was just us.

A cold, suffocating silence wrapped around me like a noose. I stayed frozen on the floor, still on my knees, but now watching him more intently.

He took slow, deliberate steps toward me and stopped just a few feet away. “Why did you run?”

I shrugged. “Why do you think so?”

“I’m not in the mood for games.”

“Neither am I.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You were eavesdropping.”

I didn’t answer. No point denying it. He knew.

I lifted my chin slightly, daring him. “What? You gonna hit me now? Lock me in a basement? Have your guys tie me to a chair and interrogate me until I break?”

His jaw tightened. “Do you think I’m that kind of man?”

“Are you not?”

He stared hard at me, like he was trying to read a language he didn’t understand. I stood slowly, brushing dirt off my knees, and folded my arms.

“Let me go, Hayden,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to marry you.”

“Why?”

I frowned. “Seriously?”

He stepped closer. “Yes. Give me a reason.”

I swallowed. “Because my father chose you. Because this is all just a power game for both of you. Because I don’t want to be a pawn in some Mafia wedding arrangement. Because—because you lied. You let me fall into this trap, knowing who you were, what you were—”

“I never lied to you,” he cut me off.

I laughed bitterly. “Oh please.”

“I never told you I was innocent. You assumed that all on your own.”

“You didn’t correct me either,” I snapped. “You watched me let my guard down, watched me trust you—”

“I watched you run away like a coward instead of confronting the truth.”

His words cut deeper than I expected. I flinched.

“I expected more from you, Alyssa.”

“Yeah? Well, I expected less from you.”

The room fell silent again, thick with tension.

Then Hayden said something that made my blood run cold.

“What if I’m the one choosing you this time?”

I blinked, stunned. “What?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Get ready. Your father’s on a plane as we speak. He’ll be in LA in a few hours.”

Panic jolted through me.

“What?” My voice cracked. “Why? What are you—”

“It’s time for you to choose,” he said, walking around me in slow, measured steps. “He has another suitor lined up for you, and I’m not going to stop him.”

My heart dropped. “Another… suitor?”

Hayden nodded. “So when he arrives, you’ll have two options. Him. Or me.”

I stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Are you insane?”

The room went still again. All I could hear was the thud of my heart and the ticking of a nearby clock.

My father was coming.

And I was going to be forced to choose between the devil I knew and the one I didn’t.