The Wedding Game That Cost Him Everything Chapter 03
Isolde’s heart stopped. She spun and ran for the exit.
She shoved Sloane, hard enough to make her stagger.
She had just stepped into the elevator when Tucker hauled her back out.
“Apologize to Sloane.”
His grip was bruising. He pointed to Sloane’s unmarked arm.
A cry of pain escaped Isolde, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
Tucker went still.
Following her gaze, he finally noticed her injured hand.
Her arm hung uselessly at her side. In the chaos of the wedding, her already sprained wrist had been dislocated.
Tucker’s breath hitched. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Tucker, do you know what’s most important to a surgeon?”
He said nothing, but his lips paled.
Once, a patient’s family member had lost control and nearly hurt her.
Tucker had rushed over and taken the blow for her.
Back then, he’d said, “As long as you’re okay. A surgeon’s hands are everything.”
After they got together, he had taken on almost all the chores at home.
If he could do something for her, he wouldn’t let her lift a finger.
Because a surgeon’s hands were important, and they had to be protected.
He had even said, “Isolde, I’ll treat you like this for the rest of my life. I’m going to make you never want to leave me.”
At the time, she had believed him.
Their relationship wasn’t transactional.
Even knowing Tucker was the heir to the Moretti Family, even knowing his world was far from clean, she had still agreed to his third proposal because she loved him.
Until three months ago, when Sloane came back from overseas.
That was when her life began to unravel.
Sloane called every act of cruelty a test. Each time Tucker acquiesced, he lent her the power of his position.
Sloane waved a hand. “Forget it. I’m not going to hold it against her.”
Isolde turned and stepped into the elevator.
Tucker and Sloane followed her inside.
“The dress is already pieced back together,” Tucker said. “Finish the ceremony, then we’ll go get them. Your parents aren’t there anyway.”
Isolde’s parents had died in a car crash the year she met Tucker.
She looked at him. “You know I have no Family, and no parents left to make you answer for this.”
Tucker lowered his gaze and didn’t answer.
He canceled the parking garage floor he had pressed and changed it to the wedding hall.
Isolde pressed the button for the parking garage again.
“After you and Sloane let those hired witnesses put their hands on me, you still think I’ll marry you?”
Tucker’s head snapped up.
“You know those people were hired? Who told you that?”
He held her gaze for several seconds, then closed his eyes.
“My family refused to attend. I just didn’t want you to have no witnesses at your wedding.”
Sloane smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“He went to war with the entire Moretti Family for you.”
Isolde was quiet for a long time.
This relationship, which no one supported, had made it to the wedding day only because Tucker really had fought for it.
Even she had hesitated.
She had wavered for a long time before finally accepting his ring on the third proposal.
It was the first time she had ever heard Tucker’s voice catch.
“Isolde, I’m not letting you get away this time.”
That day, he had held her hand and refused to let go.
“Tucker, send someone to bring my family and friends back safely.”
“And I’ll consider forgiving you.”
“No,” Sloane cut in at once. “I made a bet with him. If they row back themselves, I win. If he sends a rescue boat, he wins.”
“If you make him send people now, that’s cheating. It’s no fun.”
Leaning against Tucker’s shoulder, she looked up at Isolde.
Sloane was the daughter of the Ferraro Family head. The two Families had been allies for years. In the absence of Tucker’s father, one word from her was enough to make the outer circle pull the boats and guards from the island.
“You need a little sportsmanship. Just like with Price the Vows—he paid for those, too. It’s not like you lost anything.”
Then she muttered another sentence.
“You called it harassment. I thought you’d at least be different from the last one. Able to take a joke.”
“If you knew that a few days ago, he and I spent a whole night sleeping in each other’s arms playing a ‘no sex’ game—”
“That’s enough,” Tucker cut her off.
Sloane snorted and said no more.
“Sloane knows the line,” Tucker said. “You should have a little more faith in your friends, too.”
When he said it, he avoided Isolde’s eyes.
She looked at him and gave up all hope.