The governor’s emergency detention order arrived just as I was stepping into my wedding dress, waiting for Connor Winthrop to pick me up.
Within minutes, my wedding had become a raid.
SWAT officers took every woman in the Worthington family into custody.
They told us my fiancé had identified my father and three brothers as conspirators in an assassination attempt on the governor, and that the prosecutor would seek the death penalty.
The rest of us were to be sent to a maximum-security prison as accomplices.
After my grandmother read the document, stamped with the governor’s seal, her hands began to shake uncontrollably. My mother tore off my veil, handing pieces of it to my sisters-in-law and the children to cover their mouths and noses.
“Stay together,” she whispered.
“Don’t let anyone take you off alone.”
That night, fire tore through the abandoned detention facility.
My grandmother collapsed beside a concrete pillar.
My mother died beneath a ventilation duct.
My sisters-in-law shielded the children with their bodies.
As I drew my last, smoke-choked breath, I heard two guards talking outside the door.
“Connor and the Worthington men really do spoil that girl rotten.”
“Blair was afraid Connor still wanted to marry this adopted one, afraid the family loved Willa more after raising her for twenty-six years. She cried and demanded they prove their loyalty, so they forged the governor’s order and threw all the women in here.”
The other guard laughed.
“Connor said as long as Willa signs the cancellation papers, they’ll let everyone out at dawn. The men are all still back at the Worthington house, drinking and trying to figure out how to make Blair happy.”
So there had been no attack on the governor.
My father and brothers had never been arrested.
Connor had never betrayed his own father.
They were all safe at home.
This was just a performance, all of it staged for Blair.
No one told us. The detention building had been shut down for years.
The fire alarms and sprinkler system were dead.
And now, not a single woman inside would ever walk out.
Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 08 She hadn’t slept all night, but not because she was worried. She had changed into a new, pale yellow dress and was wearing the silver hair clip Luke had brought back from Savannah. The moment the front door opened, she ran out. “Dad, did Willa sign?”
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 07 The night before, my father had still believed that in the end, she would understand. Now, she lay quietly in his arms. She would not argue. And she would not forgive him. I stood outside the police line and watched it all. The old me would
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 06 “I brought clean clothes. Just open your eyes and I’ll change you.” His hands shook more and more violently the longer he wiped. Lauren’s body had already gone rigid. When Rachel was carried out, both of her hands were still shielding her abdomen. The moment Luke
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 05 When Connor carried me out of the detention center, the grounds were swarming with reporters and fire trucks. Some people lifted their phones, thinking he was carrying out a rescued bride. He was carrying a corpse. The Worthington family had arrived in four cars. Now, that
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 04 My father swayed when he read the second line. “What death penalty?” “We were home all night.” James snatched the paper away, his hands shaking so badly the page rustled. “Who told them they were being secretly transferred?” One of the guards lowered his head. “The
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 03 At dawn, Connor went alone to my room in the north wing. The wedding lights were still strung across the yard. The seating chart on the window slapped against the glass in the sea wind. He pushed open the door and saw an unfinished photo album
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 02 Half an hour earlier, the cell door had opened. The men who came in weren’t guards bringing water. They were three strangers reeking of alcohol. They wore uniforms without badge numbers. The moment I saw the way they were looking at me, I stepped back. The
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 01 The governor’s emergency detention order arrived just as I was stepping into my wedding dress, waiting for Connor Winthrop to pick me up. Within minutes, my wedding had become a raid. SWAT officers took every woman in the Worthington family into custody. They told us my
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