Page 111 of Her Reluctant Wife: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

didn’t recognize herself.

“No,” she protested, even though her throat was so thick she

could barely speak. “I tried to walk out the door. I’d found the

necklace and I took it. I wanted to show it to my dad, but I

never got a chance. When I got to the hospital, he’d already

gone into a coma. I told him that I had it back. That you’d

given it to me. That I was going to be fine. I thought I wasn’t

going to get to say a proper goodbye, and I needed to lash out

because I was going to die otherwise.” Giana couldn’t have

winced. She was squinting, narrowing her eyes. That’s all it

was. “When you called, I was so angry. I agreed to the

marriage because I wanted to hurt you, but overnight I cooled

off and I came to break things off and return the necklace. I

wanted to get in and get out, but when I got here, the JP was

already here. I wouldn’t have had a chance to put it back

otherwise. I swore I thought we could just get an annulment.

That I could just leave, and you’d be fine.”

“The kind of fine that happens after you trick someone into

marrying you legally?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t think you are.” Giana crossed her arms and pursed

her lips. Instead of diminishing the rage simmering below the

surface, Coralyn only seemed to be adding to it the more she

tried to deflate it. “No, there was something else. Something

; besides the necklace. You’re going to tell me what it was. Was

it the money? The power? The control? Or were you still on

your revenge trip? You cursed me and you wanted to follow

through with it.”

“Yes, I did. I did all of those things and thought all of them,