"Some people just love exploiting someone's gratitude. They'll never belong in polite company."
So that was it. He'd molded me into his idea of a perfect wife—all to fulfill an engagement his elders had arranged when he was a child.
I stumbled back a few steps, staring at the scene in front of me, unable to believe what I was seeing.
In that moment, I finally let go.
The respect I would never earn? I didn't want it anymore.
……
The air went silent for a few seconds, then the noise swelled again, laughter and chatter filling the room as if nothing had happened.
No one seemed to care about this little interruption.
The serving tray in my hands nearly slipped.
Was that how he saw me too? That I was an embarrassment to him?
My desperate gaze found Seth standing on the raised platform. I searched his face, praying for the answer I needed.
After a long pause, he responded with a lazy, careless drawl.
"It was all just an act. Only a fool would've taken it seriously."
Hearing his voice—flat, stripped of every last shred of emotion—detonate beside my ears, the pain in my chest nearly buckled my knees.
The instant I recognized who was heckling the loudest, a roar filled my skull.