Chapter 17
[ 501 words ]
Chapter 17:
“This game stops right now,” Caroline said, her voice trembling but her chin held high. “I want an annulment. Today. I want this marriage over.”
Jarrod stopped less than two feet away from her. He looked down at the crumpled paper in her shaking hands. A slow, dark smirk curved the corner of his mouth. It was a dangerous look.
He raised his uninjured left hand. He pinched the top corner of the certificate between his thumb and forefinger.
Caroline gripped the bottom edge tightly, refusing to let go. For a long, agonizing second, they engaged in a silent, physical tug-of-war over the thin piece of paper. The tension between them crackled like static electricity.
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“In the military,” Jarrod said, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly rasp that vibrated in her chest, “there is no ‘retreat’ option once an operation begins. Marriage is no different.”
“I am not one of your soldiers!” Caroline fired back, her eyes blazing. “I am not subject to military law! This was a fifteen-minute impulse decision because I was terrified, and you took advantage of it!”
Jarrod’s eyes darkened. He let go of the paper.
Before Caroline could react, his left hand shot out and gripped her shoulder. He stepped into her space, using his body weight to pin her flat against the locker.
Bang.
The thin metal buckled slightly under the impact, the loud noise jarring Caroline’s spine.
He lowered his head. His face was so close their noses almost brushed. She could feel the heat radiating off his skin. His hot, mint-scented breath washed over her lips as he exhaled.
“From the exact second that judge stamped this paper,” Jarrod said, his voice a lethal whisper, “you became Mrs. Romero. That is an unalterable fact.”
Caroline stared up into his eyes. They were completely consumed by a dark, possessive obsession that terrified her. Her brain short-circuited for a moment, overwhelmed by his sheer physical proximity.
She swallowed hard, trying to summon her logic. “You’re wrong. If I can prove to a court that this marriage was entered into without proper forethought, or under duress, it can be annulled.”
Jarrod let out a low, humorless chuckle. The sound held zero warmth.
“Do you really think,” he murmured, his thumb brushing against her collarbone, “that a Supreme Court Justice of Washington D.C. came into his office at dawn just to do me a favor?”
Caroline’s breath hitched.
“There isn’t a single lawyer in this city, or this country, who will take your case to overturn a document signed by him,” Jarrod stated, laying out the brutal reality. “You are bound to me, Caroline.”
A profound, suffocating despair washed over her. She wasn’t just fighting a physically overpowering man. She was fighting a massive, invisible web of political and legal power that she couldn’t even comprehend.
Her hands dropped to her sides. The certificate fluttered to the floor.
“Why?” she whispered, her voice breaking. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and vulnerable. “Why me? There are hundreds of socialites in Washington who would kill to marry you. Why force me?”
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