Chapter 9
Garrett’s mother did not appear.
No face stepped from the SUV.
No voice came through the rain.
But everyone felt her presence the moment Coraline said the word.
Mother.
The guests did not know what it meant.
Not fully.
They knew only that Garrett Hail, who had dropped a wedding ring without trembling, went colder at the mention.
Mave felt him change beneath her hand.
“Don’t chase her,” she whispered.
He looked at her.
“She took you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You’re afraid to say it.”
“That’s different.”
Posie began to cry again, overwhelmed by the rain, lights, voices, and tension. Mave rocked her, whispering against her wet hair.
Garrett lowered his voice.
“Posie.”
The child looked at him through tears.
“We’re not letting go.”
She sniffed.
“Promise?”
Garrett’s face broke for one second.
Not visibly to the crowd.
Only to Mave.
“Yes.”
Mave closed her eyes.
A promise from Garrett Hail was not a small thing. It could open doors, close streets, ruin men, save cities, bury secrets.
Or destroy the woman who accepted it.
Coraline stepped backward toward the cathedral entrance, but Wesley shifted just enough to notice.
She stopped.
Her eyes moved to the convoy.
Then to Garrett.
“You think this makes you noble?” she asked.
Garrett did not answer.
“You left me at the altar for a woman who already ran from you once.”
Mave flinched.
Garrett’s voice sharpened.
“She did not run.”
Coraline’s expression flashed.
She had pushed too far.
Garrett saw it.
Mave saw it.
The witnesses saw enough.
The lead SUV’s door opened fully.
Still no one stepped into view.
Just the dark interior.
A command without a speaker.
Wesley moved forward another step.
The bodyguards closed around Mave and Posie.
Garrett pulled them closer to his chest, shielding the child’s face from the headlights.
Mave whispered, “Your mother will never let us leave alive.”
Garrett looked toward the open SUV door.
His answer was quiet.
May you like
“Then she should have kept me believing you left.”
Read Chapter 10 👉 Because the convoy had not revealed who controlled it, but Garrett had already chosen the woman and child it came to surround.
