Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 251

ARABELLA’S POV

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I sucked in a sharp breath, staring at him in disbelief. “You’re engaged, Alvise…”

“I’m not engaged,” he shot back. “I’m certain you were there when I called off the engagement”

I furrowed my brows, so confused that it felt like I’d forgotten how to think. “Is this why you called it off?/ So you could marry me?”

His eyes hardened, his grip on my hair tightening slightly. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. This was neverthe reason.”

“Then what is it?” I snapped, tired of the endless back and forth. “You don’t even like me, and now you want to marry me?”

Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone the moment it appeared, and he scraped his tongue over his teeth. “I’ll advise you to save your strength because nothing you say is going to change my decision.”

“You can’t force me to marry you,” I said with conviction. “I am not consenting to this marriage.”

I mean, how could I? There were feelings twisting and twirling within me that I couldn’t even understand.

For the longest time, all I’d ever wanted was to be with Alvise, and deep down, a part of me still longed for that… but this marriage wasn’t what I wanted.

I couldn’t stomach the fact that he was trying to force me to marry him, and the worst part? I could see that he didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to marry me.

So why?

I didn’t know him. I never did. And I refused to marry a man I didn’t know.

“Are you done?” Alvise asked, his face stoic, his eyes completely emotionless.

I stared at him blankly, not saying a word, and then he released his grip on my hair. “If you’re done, then let’s go. The magistrate has been waiting for a while.”

My heartbeat quickened, and I shook my head. “No, Alvise, you can’t do this. I have the right to choose who I marry. You can’t take that right from me.”

His jaw tightened. “I have my reasons for doing this, Arabella.”

“Then just say it! You’ve been saying that all this while, but you’re not telling me anything.”

“Because I don’t have to,” he snapped, his voice so harsh that I gasped and pressed my back against the seat, goosebumps rising across my skin.

His eyes flicked toward my trembling fingers, and he looked away. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You do not want to marry me,” I repeated, tears welling in my eyes. “Two days ago, you were still engaged. Your family doesn’t like me, and you… you can’t even stand to look at me most times. Why do you want to

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put me through so much misery by doing this?”

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words made him turn, and his eyes found mine. But for the first time, I saw a flicker of emotion in them. One I could read.

Regret.

And then he poked his inner cheek with his tongue, unlocked the car, and stepped out.

In a split second, someone opened my door, and then they gently pulled me out.

I didn’t need to look at the face to know it was a guard.

Without glancing back, Alvise walked ahead, his strides confident, one hand slipped into his pocket, like this was a completely normal day and I wasn’t currently being forced to marry him.

Despite my attempts to struggle, the guard pulled me forward, his hold on my wrist firm and strong.

We stopped at the entrance of the building, and I jumped in surprise when two women rushed forward to grab my hands.

“Hi! Are you the bride? You look so pretty!” one of them said, looking me up and down.

I frowned, looking past them to see Alvise watching us. “What’s going on?” I muttered.

He ignored me and fixed his attention on the women. “Do not talk to her,” he instructed. “And get her ready fast. There’s no time to waste.” He ordered, and then he turned around and disappeared into the building.

He was leaving me with strangers?

I wanted to go after him, but my feet stayed glued to the floor.

I didn’t want anything to do with him. He was forcing me into this, so he was the last person’s company I needed to seek.

“Let’s go get you ready,” the youngest of the two women said, her brown eyes glinting with excitement as she pulled me into the building, then into a room at the far end of the hall.

“Don’t stress her out! Stop pulling her so fast,” the other woman, whom I assumed to be her mother because of their resemblance, scolded, her accent more prominent than her daughter’s.

My brain didn’t have time to register anything after that.

The mother attacked my hair, undoing my ponytail and immediately getting to work on styling it. The daughter, on the other hand, pulled off my coat and jumpsuit, then forced me into a short white corseted dress covered in delicate beads.

“This is quite a serious wound, dear,” the older woman said, looking at me with pity in her eyes. “How do we cover it? Your dress is sleeveless.”

I refused to respond to her, but her daughter did. “We can just cover it with a voluminous satin sleeve, mother!”

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“Right! Go bring it!” her mother said, her eyes lighting up. “You make such a pretty bride, dear.”

didn’t respond

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I was being rude by not answering, but I just couldn’t. This wasn’t a happy day for me, and I couldn’t even bring myself to pretend to be happy.

The girl returned with the sleeves, and after fitting them over my arms, she applied light makeup to my face and then forced some jewelry onto my hands, ears, and neck.

“We’re done!” they announced, their eyes glinting with pride as they stared at me.

Finally, I let my gaze travel to the mirror and looked at my reflection.

My heart skipped its next beat, and everything stilled.

I looked like a bride… an actual bride.

For a split second, I wondered how different it would have been if I wasn’t being forced.

I looked beautiful.

Even I couldn’t deny that.

And if anyone were to see me, they’d think I was a willing bride who had put a lot of effort into getting

married.

I looked away and sighed, standing up as I glanced at the women looking at me with awe in their eyes. They’d put in a lot of effort to get me ready.

Too bad their efforts would be wasted.

I was going to escape.

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Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

Not Fooling Anyone