Her Cruel Prank, His Deadly Vengeance

Barnaby's voice carried through the door, loud and full of itself, and something in me gave way. I kicked the door open and stormed in.

The moment they saw me, every grin froze.

The whole room went silent. The air turned heavy, suffocating.

Only Barnaby seemed unbothered by my rage. He leaned back toward Leah with a smirk, daring me to do something.

Leah's hand paused around her glass. She glanced back at him, then turned to face me.

Her tone was calm, unhurried, as if none of this had anything to do with her.

"So you've finished with your mother's arrangements?"

I didn't answer. I just glared at them, shaking with fury.

Leah sighed. The others exchanged looks.

All of them trying to figure out whether I'd overheard their little secret.

"Cedric, did you hear what we were talking about just now?"

"I did."

"So my mother didn't fall down the stairs by accident. She died because Barnaby scared her to death with his—"

I didn't get to finish. Barnaby shot up and jabbed a finger at me, cursing.

"Hold on. What do you mean I scared your old lady to death?"

"She's the one whose head didn't work right. Couldn't even tell a joke from the truth."

"Like you've never played a joke on anyone. Look, she fell and died, that's on her. Don't go pinning it on me."

"Who plays a joke about someone's life on their wedding day just to scare them? Who sent me off so my mother couldn't find me, then took my phone so no call could get through?"

"My mother had a heart condition. She couldn't take a scare like that!"

Nobody dared say a word against my rage.

Only Barnaby had the nerve to stand up and hurl a glass off the coffee table at me. I dodged and lunged at him as fast as I could.

We grappled, and it was obvious he was no match for me. He was losing.

But he had his friends. They pulled me off under the pretense of breaking up the fight, when really they had me pinned so I couldn't move, giving Barnaby his chance to hit back.

Leah, blind to all of it, rounded on me and shouted.

"Enough!"

"How long are you going to keep making a scene?"

Was I the one making a scene? I was demanding justice for my own mother. And she, my fiancee, not only refused to stand by me, she took Barnaby's side.

Right. I'd nearly forgotten how she'd cheated on me.

While I was busy burying my mother, she was in bed with Barnaby.

No wonder she was covering for him.

"Leah, after everything, you won't even apologize to me. Instead you help him dodge what he did."

I shook off the hands holding me and swept my eyes across every ugly face in the room.

Maybe something in my grief got to Leah, because she told Barnaby to apologize to me.

He couldn't very well defy her, so he shot me a grudging, sullen look.

"Hey. Sorry, all right?"

"There. I apologized. Do me a favor and show me some respect from now on."

Only then did Leah smile again as she looked at him. "And you're not to go around pulling stunts like that anymore."

Then she turned to me.

"Barnaby's still young, a little too proud for his own good. Just let it go."

"Besides, he's already apologized to you!"

Every word dripped with her favoritism, each one a soft blade wrapped in silk.

Turning deliberate cruelty into the excuse of youth, and asking the victim to just accept it.

My nails dug into my flesh. It should have hurt, but I felt nothing at all.

"That so-called apology was nothing but contempt. I won't accept it."

"If killing someone can be settled with a simple apology, then I wouldn't mind ending his line for good."

I dropped the words and straightened my collar.

"If he doesn't realize what he's done, I don't mind handling it my own way."

At the doorway, I stopped.

"There's no need to hold any wedding between us. It's over here."

I pulled the door open and walked out. Behind me, Leah's furious scream came after me.