Alex stood in front of me, his gaze dropping to the bandage slung around my neck. He stared at it for a few seconds.
He didn't ask if I was in pain.
His voice came out cold：“Jocelyn, using a marriage arrangement to force my hand is beneath you. Tell your father to retract the announcement.”
I looked up at this man I had loved for three years.
The wound on my shoulder was still burning.
This injury had finally made everything clear. The difference between how we were treated was night and day.
Letitia got a scratch, and four men stayed by her side all night.
I had a dislocated bone, and I sat alone in the ER waiting room at 2 a.m.
“Alex, what makes you think this has anything to do with you?”
“Has anything to do with me?” He let out a disbelieving laugh and seized my chin, fingers digging in.“Everyone in Harbor City knows you're mine. And now you're telling some random man you'll marry him? What does that make me?”
The warning in his eyes was barely contained.“Don't test me. Cancel the arrangement, and I'll pretend none of this happened.”
“And if I don't?”
His grip tightened sharply.
“Jocelyn, don't push it. If you don't want to lose the Harding family's backing, go home and do as you're told.”
“Then let's end this, Alex. I don't need the Harding family's backing anymore.”
Dead silence.
Alex stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
He knew me. He'd even taught me my negotiation tactics himself.
He had always believed that without him, I couldn't hold the Henson empire together.
“Jocelyn, I taught you those skills so you could use them on outsiders. Now you're turning them on me? How are you any different from the scheming climbers you accused Letitia of being?”
I almost laughed.
The difference was that I had genuinely believed he was my only safe harbor.
I stepped back, pulling free of his fingers.
“From now on, my affairs are none of your concern, Mr. Harding.”
“Jocelyn.”
His voice cut through the air behind me, cold and sharp.“Walk out that door today, and when you come crawling back, remember how Letitia was on her knees last night begging me to forgive her!”
I didn't look back.
I got into the car. My phone screen lit up in the darkness.
A text from my father. Ice-cold in tone：
“The list is finalized. Be there in three days.”
He wanted to corner me.
I turned off the screen and looked out the window toward the Henson manor.
They were hanging decorations through the night over there.
And my groom was still asleep on the other side of Harbor City.
Soon enough, everyone would find out exactly who Jocelyn Henson was marrying.
