My Enemy's Daughter (Edited)

chapter 46

Fiona's POV

“What?” The word barely escaped my lips, but the disbelief in my voice was unmistakable.

“You heard me,” Samuel repeated, his smile deepening in a way that sent a chill down my spine. This wasn’t the man who had lovingly stood beside me at the altar. The warmth I thought I’d seen in his eyes had vanished, replaced with something sinister, as if the real Samuel had been hiding in plain sight all along.

I stammered, “W-What are you talking about?” My mind scrambled for explanations. It felt like the ground had disappeared beneath me.

Samuel let out a cruel laugh, pacing the room as if he were finally freed from the shackles of pretense. “You think I just forgave you? For everything? For the lies, for making me believe you were some sort of saint? You're no better than your ruthless father.”

His words felt like venom, seeping into my skin. I blinked, utterly lost. “I never lied to you, Samuel. I—”

“Stop!” he snapped, cutting me off with a glare that froze my words. “You think I'm too blind to see? You’re just like him. Every time I looked at you, I saw Jake Bruckner’s daughter. A manipulator, a schemer. Did you honestly believe I’d worship the ground you walked on?”

I took a step back, clutching the bedpost for support. “What are you talking about? What did I do?”

“Listen, Fiona. Honestly, I was prepared to forget you existed but you became useful to my plan, Fiona. That’s it. You’re crucial to my plans. And all I had to do was play nice with a love-starved child like you.” His laugh was cold, mocking. “You should have seen how pathetic you looked, believing I’d change for you.”

My breath caught in my throat as his words sunk in. He never loved me. It was all an act. “So this—everything—was just to get to my father? To destroy him?”

His eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Oh, not just him. Every other rotten person around him. You fall into that category Fiona and now I have everything I need to ruin you both.”

I shook my head, taking shaky steps away from him. “You didn’t need to marry me, Samuel. You didn’t need to drag me through all this pain.”

Samuel’s grin widened, as if my hurt was nothing more than amusement for him. “Oh, but where’s the fun in that? You, of all people, should’ve known better. But you were so easy to manipulate.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I backed up to the door. “This marriage is over. I’m not staying here. I won’t let you humiliate me like this.” I reached for the doorknob, but in an instant, his hand shot out, grabbing my arm and pulling me back toward him.

“You’re not going anywhere.” His voice dropped to a low, menacing whisper. “You signed your life away the moment you put your name on those wedding papers. I made sure you signed everything I needed.”

I struggled against his grip, but his hold was firm. “Let me go, Samuel!”

He pushed me back onto the bed with a force that left me gasping. “Try to leave, and you’ll be shot before you make it past the gates. The factory workers—do you remember them? They won’t hesitate to follow my orders. And who knows, maybe one of them has bad aim.” He chuckled, a twisted smile curling on his lips.

I froze in shock. The threat was real. I could see it in his eyes. “Why are you doing this? Why go this far?”

“Because I hate you. I hate your father. And I hate everything you stand for.” He leaned closer, his face inches from mine. “You’re not useful to me anymore, because now I have all your rights. Everything you own, even the things you didn't know was yours—it belongs to me now.”

I stared up at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “You can’t do this,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “You won’t get away with it.”

Samuel straightened up, turning toward the door. “I already have.” He paused at the doorway, glancing back at me. “Don’t bother trying to call anyone. The phones are dead. You’re stuck here, Fiona.”

And then he left, closing the door behind him, leaving me alone in the room that was supposed to be our honeymoon suite.

For a moment, I just sat there, frozen in disbelief. My mind couldn’t process it all. How had I let this happen? How had I been so blind, so naive? The tears came without warning, hot and fast, spilling down my cheeks. I screamed into the silence, into the horror of what my life had become in just a matter of hours.

I had walked into a trap, and I never even saw it coming.

Curling up on the bed, I cried harder than I ever had before. I prayed, my words incoherent, desperate, begging for something, for anything to save me from this nightmare. My heart ached with the betrayal, with the shattering of everything I had believed in.

And then, in the midst of my sobs, I heard it. A voice, soft but clear, whispered in my spirit, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.”

It wasn’t loud, but it was enough. Enough to remind me that I wasn’t alone, even in this dark, suffocating place. I clung to that voice, to that comfort, as if it were my lifeline. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew I had to hold on. I had to believe that there was still hope, that somehow, I would find a way out.

Exhausted from the crying, from the fear, I crawled into the center of the bed and curled into myself, the tears still slipping from my eyes. I drifted off into an uneasy sleep, my heart heavy with sorrow but holding onto that small, quiet voice that promised I wasn’t alone.