THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (best big ereader txt) 📗

Cradling them to my chest, I read his handwriting and the date stamped in the corner of the one on top. Setting them on the desk carefully, I let my fingertips drag over the worn envelopes as I looked them over. Bowen wrote me countless times and every letter was returned to the sender.

They were just as damaged from their journey as we were.

My head was spinning when I saw the polaroids of the girls out of the corner of my eye and knew there was still more truths to uncover. “Who are these girls then? Why do they look like me?”

Bowen stopped reaching for more papers when he stood so still, I wondered if this truth was different—painful, instead of the kind you want to hear.

“I was looking for you, Eve. When they wouldn’t agree to a price or terms I thought the worst… I thought they were preparing to throw you into something worse.” I could see whatever armor he normally wore that protected his feelings from the world, melt right before me.

He thought I was going to show up in a lineup of girls being sold?

I knew I was always a burden, but being a paycheck and unwanted altogether was new.

Shaking my head, my nails dug even deeper into my palms with frustration. “I don’t understand. Your mom said she was groomed too. Isn’t this normal, Bowen? Maybe mine was just worse because of Elias… This must just be how it is for women who are set to marry Horsemen.”

CeCe and I have been exchanging texts ever since my mother left after the wedding, and everything she typed seemed laced with clues that led to here. I thought she was trying to make me feel better, let me know things could be worse like it was for her but really she was helping me prepare for this moment like a true Queen. Bowen’s mom, CeCe confided in me that she was groomed and that her family was given a dowry to be his dad’s arranged wife.

His balled-up fist hit the built-in shelf with so much force, I winced inward at how it must have hurt. “This isn’t normal, Eve! Nothing you went through is normal. Elias and your mom sabotaging us isn’t normal. Paying for what’s already mine isn’t normal. Sending letters just for them to be returned, showing up in Denmark just to be turned away, rewriting endless contracts to be with you… none of it is normal. It’s purgatory.”

He began to step closer but slowly like I was a wild animal and if he flinched, I would hurt him.

Everything in my DNA worships him; hurting him only hurts me.

Whispering between us, he let the last truth escape. “You were always promised to Braeden. They just let us believe what we wanted, fairy tales and fables to keep us in the dark. When he died I had to take his place in every way as a Horseman, but he never told me all the ways this world was going to break us.”

My lip trembled so much I felt it vibrate through every limb. “You’re lying. You have to be lying.” My fists hit his chest, testing our boundaries and praying for lies when I knew better. Bowen’s cruelty was always rooted in truth no matter how much people believed he was made of loose morals.

My fists beat into him wildly, and he took every sloppy hit, steeling himself in place. I was aiming toward every part of him that resembled Braeden and what I wish was the lie out of all the truths.

“If you love me, why can’t you lie to me, Bowen? Just lie to me! We’ve been through too much already.” The floodgates broke in my eyes even more than they already had, and my hands slowed to crash against him messily like I could beat the pain away while I shook myself into a deep cry.

“Too many people lie to us, Eve. It’s time for the truth,” his voice was barely above a whisper and gripped every heartstring I had.

Sometimes I thought that was all that was left after they broke me.

Just one string left holding my heart inside my chest.

I couldn’t compute any of this. This was a nightmare born out of the one person who was always scaring my monsters away.

His hands finally grabbed my wrists, having enough of my brutal assault. With force, he shifted us around and pushed my body against a bookshelf, holding my wrists against the binding of the books. “That’s enough. We’re stronger than this… we survived too much…” I wasn’t positive he was

done speaking; his thoughts weren’t complete. But then I realized he wasn’t just convincing me; he was convincing himself too.

“Maybe we survived too much and now the good parts don’t feel as blessed. Maybe we’re just numb now.” I retorted as I gave up struggling against his thunder grip.

I took a step onto a stack of love stories acting like as a pedestal, and his lips pressed onto mine at the same time his hand pinned my leg to his hip. Almost meeting his eye level, I took some deep breaths realizing our nightmare of lives even matched.

His eyes darkened to a dreary kind of gray that was more overcast than a storm when he leaned into me. “You’ll never not feel like my savior, Eve. You’re the only one who makes me feel.”

Within this moment… It was like we were just two kids again, crazy enough to be in love before we knew what that meant. Every cruel intention, every wall, every last defense and act of quick, strong will had vanished between us.

My lips pressed to his before he took over, smoothing his hands down my arms, releasing them both from his grasp and placing them on his shoulders. Every ounce of