Daddy’s Timid Girl by Jess Winters

CHAPTER ONE

 

Chloe

The dress was itchy; a conservative monstrosity that reached all the way up my neck, covered my wrists, and constricted my legs in a mermaid skirt. Despite all the white lace and intricate beading, it felt more like a straight jacket than a wedding dress.

“Honey, are you just about ready?” Angela, my future mother-in-law, came into my room, holding a glass of red wine in one hand and a cigarette in another. She looked me up and down, sucking in the toxic smoke. “Why, don’t you look happy?” she drawled. “You should enjoy wearing dresses like this, right now. Once you pop out your first kid, formfitting dresses like this one will be a thing of the past.” She let out a nasal laugh that sounded more mocking than jovial.

I flinched. The last thing I wanted was kids. Despite being twenty, I felt mostly like a kid myself. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. But, I didn’t have a say in the matter – not anymore.

“Oh honey, lighten up! It’s your wedding day, after all!” Angela said. “You know, I’m not sure why my Eugene chose you, but I’m sure you’ll be a bride worthy of him; in time, of course.”

My eyes burned at her insult, but they didn’t tear up. I was already cried out.

Angela seemed to realize I wasn’t going to speak. “Don’t take too long,” she huffed. “Everyone’s starting to get restless out there.” She closed the door behind her, leaving me alone in the dressing room, once again.

I looked in the mirror, trying to find some semblance of me, but with my hair in a tight updo and my face covered with makeup, I even didn’t recognize myself. I hated looking like this. I hated all of this. But, this was my future. There was no way out of it, once I walked out of that door.

The door opened again.

“Oh go away!” I shouted and whirled around. But, it wasn’t Angela, this time. It was Henry, Eugene’s uncle. He was the only one in Eugene’s insufferable family who had ever been civil to me. Now he was assessing me with concern. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I thought you were Angela.”

“I react that way with my sister, too.” He gave a soft chuckle. His long black hair had been tamed into a ponytail, for once, and instead of his usual t-shirt and jeans, he was dressed in a black tux, which enhanced his good looks.

I was surprised he was even here. Eugene’s family was old money. Their oil empire had elevated them to power. However, unlike the rest of them, Henry had rejected that family legacy and had started a clean energy company instead as well as a non-profit wildlife conservation. Because of it, he was merely tolerated at family functions. “I didn’t think you were coming,” I said. “I thought you hated these things.”

“I do.” He strode over to me. “But, I heard none of your family was going to make it. I wanted you to know someone was going to be in your corner.”

A lump rose in my throat. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He rested his hands on my shoulders. “Chloe, please tell me why you’re doing this,” he whispered. “You look absolutely miserable. You don’t love Eugene.”

“I have to. My parents work for your family. They live on company grounds. They’ll lose everything—”

“That’s how he did it?” Henry’s eyes burned with anger. “He threatened your family?”

I swallowed and nodded.

He shook his head. “No. This isn’t happening.”

“It is. I have to do it.”

He reached up and tore the veil from my head. He tossed it to one side. “No. I’m not letting my idiot nephew trap you into this. I can protect you and your family. They can’t force you to do this.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“Chloe, I’m going to help you ditch your wedding. Now, do you want to come with me, or do you want to be trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of your life?”

I felt a glimmer of hope. Henry was powerful. He could protect my parents and me. He was our best chance at least. I nodded. “I’ll come with you.”

Henry grabbed my hand. “We’ll have to go quickly, before they spot us.” He pulled me out of the dressing room, and looked around the church. The coast was clear. “Come on,” he murmured as he pulled me out of the door and into the bright sunlight.

My stomach tightened with anxiety but with anticipation as well. I was free. I was actually free.

Henry led me to his car, an electric sports car he had designed himself.

“Get in,” he said. “We need to pick up your parents and get you all to my house first.”

“They’re at work.”

Henry’s lip curled. “Of course Eugene made them work, so they would miss your wedding.” As the car started up, a touchscreen on the dashboard flickered to life. He dialed a number as we pulled out of the church parking lot.

“Hello?” said a male voice.

“Jack. Listen to me, carefully. We have to move quickly.” He gave instructions to his assistant to get movers to my parents’ house to pack everything up. He ordered a driver to go get my parents from work.

He hung up a second later. “It’s going to be all right, Chloe. We have a head start. If we can get them moved off the property, before Eugene can act, then that will make it all that much easier.”

I nodded. He was right. Eugene wasn’t going to take this well, or give up without a fight. He didn’t understand the concept of ‘no’.

I shuddered. That had almost been my life. “Thank you,” I said.

He glanced at me before focusing back on the road. “You don’t have to thank me for this, my darling.”