The drive to town was silent except for the sound of tires on gravel, then asphalt. Mom sat in the passenger seat, her hands twisted together in her lap. Dad’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Heather reached over from the backseat and squeezed my shoulder once, but I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge the gesture.
Hell Creek’s courthouse was a modest brick building on Main Street, sandwiched between the feed store and the old library. I’d driven past it a thousand times without giving it much thought. Now it loomed in front of me like a prison.
Dante’s black SUV was already parked out front.
My stomach dropped.
“We can still turn around,” Dad said suddenly, his voice rough. “We can run. All of us. Just get in the truck and drive until?—”
“Until what?” I cut him off. “Until they find us? Until they kill Heather or Mom to make a point?” I shook my head. “No. This is happening. Let’s just get it over with.”
I climbed out of the truck before anyone could argue, my legs feeling unsteady beneath me. The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of pine from the mountains and coffee from the diner down the street. Normal smells. A normal day for everyone in Hell Creek except me.
The courthouse door opened, and Dante stepped out.
He was dressed in a perfectly tailored charcoal suit, no tie, the top button of his white shirt undone. He looked like he’d stepped out of some magazine spread about wealthy criminals. Dark hair perfectly styled, that sharp jawline clean-shaven, those predatory eyes finding mine immediately.
“Nick,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue like he owned it. “You look...” His gaze traveled down my body and back up, taking in my simple button-down shirt and dress pants. “Presentable.”
“Let’s just do this,” I said through gritted teeth.
Something flickered across his face—amusement, maybe, or satisfaction. He gestured toward the door. “After you,baby.”
The word made my skin crawl.
Inside, the courthouse was cool and quiet. Our footsteps echoed on the old tile floors as we made our way to the clerk’s office. A heavyset woman with graying hair looked up from her desk, her expression carefully neutral when she saw Dante.
“Mr. Valenti,” she said. “Everything’s ready for you.”
Of course it was. Money talked, even in Hell Creek.
Angelo, Dante’s personal thug, was there too, leaning against the wall near the office. I’d seen him wandering around the property with his slacks tucked into cowboy boots like some big city clown trying to play cowboy. He straightened when he saw us, nodding to Dante. He was the one who’d be watching to make sure I didn’t try to run.
The ceremony itself was mercifully brief. A judge I didn’t recognize, probably imported from another county and paid offto keep quiet, stood behind a desk and read from a card in a bored monotone. The words washed over me without meaning. Love, honor, cherish. Sickness and health. Till death do us part.
All lies. This wasn’t a marriage. It was a transaction.
“Do you, Nicholas James Wesley, take Dante Michael Valenti to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
The room went silent. Everyone was looking at me. My family, their faces pale and stricken. Angelo, his expression blank. The judge, impatient. And Dante, those dark eyes fixed on mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.
This was it. My last chance to say no, to walk away, to choose myself over everything else.
But I thought about the ranch. About Mom and Dad growing old on the land they loved. About Heather, safe and free to live her own life.
“I do,” I heard myself say.
Dante’s lips curved into a small, satisfied smile.
“And do you, Dante Michael Valenti, take Nicholas James Wesley to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” he said without hesitation, his voice smooth and confident.
“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Montana, I now pronounce you married. You may kiss.”
My heart stopped.
Dante stepped closer, and I instinctively took a step back. His hand came up, fingers curling around the back of my neck, firm and possessive. He pulled me toward him, and I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but stand there as his lips pressed against mine.
