Secrets And Sins Part 3: Happy ever after

Chapter 13

***Surprise update as a thank you for all of your support...I hope it lives up to expectations. Don't forget to let me know what you think! Happy reading :)***

~Beatrice~

"Soooo...on a scale of one to ten, how awkward is this gonna be?"

"Do you want the truth?" Beatrice asked, buttoning up her shirt as she looked at her own pale, worried face in the mirror.

She was still reeling from earlier today.

She couldn't believe this was happening, she really couldn't, and yet here she was dressed in a white long-sleeve dress shirt, tucked into neatly ironed black slacks. It was the most formal outfit Beatrice could organize, short notice, for what promised to be the tensest dinner party of her life.

Why the hell had she agreed to this again?

"She's engaged."

In the midst of her toxic spiral of shame, Beatrice jerked her head up.

"To me."

There was a stunned silence.

Staring at Ava, who was looking back at her with equal parts guilt and defiance, Beatrice wasn't sure how she felt at this point, other than being pretty sure her body was going into shock. It was like some sort of crazy dream, or nightmare, depending on what happened next.

Her father cleared his throat, and Beatrice reluctantly tore her gaze away from Ava to look at him.

"Is this...is this true, Con...Beatrice?" He asked quietly.

Beatrice weighed her answer. Philip Sinclair didn't seem angry, which was surprising, instead he appeared taken aback, and maybe a little disappointed. She didn't like that edge of disappointment; it sunk heavily to the bottom of her stomach, rotting there.

Fingers slipped into the gaps between her knuckles, linking their hands properly. Beatrice glanced back at her fiancé to see Ava offer her a small, supportive smile, reminding the sister warrior she was here for her.

"Yes." Despite the acid-like turmoil roiling through her gut, Beatrice's voice was strong, "Ava is going to be my wife."

Her mother let out a noise like a wounded animal and Beatrice finally turned her gaze in her direction after avoiding it since Ava's declaration.

To say Olivia Sinclair had taken the news poorly would be an understatement. Unlike her husband, Beatrice's mother was flushed red with anger, her sharp eyes darted between Ava and Beatrice, and their linked hands, which rested somewhat pointedly on the will of the late Constance Sinclair.

"We got engaged just over two months ago..." She went on, attempting to fill the tense silence that had settled heavily around the table, "I love her."

Olivia snorted incredulously, "You can't be serious..."

Beatrice was just about bowled over by the flood of rage and power that blazed through her veins in a potent cocktail. Her vision tunneled; she couldn't hear anything but the rushing in her ears. She barely registered Ava pulling her to her feet and excusing them from the dining room.

Her fiancé dragged her out into the hall and into the first room with a lockable door she could find, which just so happened to be the ground floor bathroom.

And then Beatrice was engulfed in Ava.

"Bea, I know it's hard baby, but you need to pull it back, get control." She breathed the words directly into Beatrice's ear, her arms wrapped around Beatrice in an almost crushing hug.