Flash Marriage To The Hidden Billionaire

The heavy silver fork slammed against the porcelain plate.

The sharp, metallic screech sliced through the low murmurs of the Cook estate dining room.

Hazel's spine snapped straight against the high back of her mahogany chair.

Mildred sat at the head of the table, dabbing her wrinkled mouth with a linen napkin. Her cold eyes locked onto Hazel.

"The arrangements are finalized," Mildred announced, her voice dripping with the kind of charity reserved for stray dogs. "You will marry Rudy Petrov next month. He is fifty, wealthy, and willing to overlook your lack of pedigree."

A violent wave of nausea surged up Hazel's throat. Acid burned her esophagus.

She gripped the edge of her cloth napkin under the table. Her knuckles turned bone-white.

"No." Hazel pushed her chair back.

The wooden legs scraped violently against the polished hardwood floor.

Her chest heaved, struggling to pull oxygen into her tight lungs. "I am not a piece of property you can trade to a real estate developer."

Her stepfather, Benton, slammed his meaty palm flat on the table.

The crystal wine glasses rattled. Red liquid sloshed over the rims.

"Watch your tone, Hazel," Benton warned, his face flushing dark red.

Hazel's gaze turned to ice. She stared at the man who had made her life a living hell for a decade.

Beside her, Janice, her mother, reached out with a trembling hand.

Janice's eyes were rimmed with red. She tugged weakly at the hem of Hazel's dress.

"Please, Hazel," Janice whispered, her voice cracking. "Just listen to them."

The weak, suffocating touch of her mother's fingers made Hazel's stomach twist into a painful knot. It was the touch of a prisoner begging another prisoner to love their chains.

Mildred let out a dry, rattling laugh.

"Defy me," Mildred sneered, leaning forward, "and I will cut off the funding for your mother's medical account tomorrow morning."

The words hit Hazel like a physical punch to the gut. The air rushed out of her lungs.

Her mother's anti-anxiety medications and therapy were the only things keeping Janice tethered to reality. Mildred knew exactly where to slide the knife.

Pushed to the absolute edge of the cliff, Hazel's mouth opened before her brain could catch up.

"You can't marry me off to Rudy," Hazel blurted out, her voice shaking but loud. "I already have a fiancé."

Dead silence fell over the dining room.

The only sound was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway.

Mildred narrowed her eyes. Her gaze swept over Hazel like a police searchlight, hunting for the lie.

"Is that so?" Mildred said, her tone lethal. "Then you will bring him here tomorrow. If you don't, you belong to Rudy."

Hazel forced her jaw to unclench. "Fine."

She didn't wait for Benton to yell again. She turned on her heel and practically ran out of the suffocating room.

The mocking laughter of her relatives echoed against the high ceilings, chasing her out.

Hazel sprinted up the grand spiral staircase.

Her