Chapter Four

Ava's pov

Brent knew just how much I wanted my mother to regain consciousness. Heck, everyone in the pack knew just how obsessed I was with finding a cure for her health.

And Brent's offer? It would be the fastest and perfect way to help her without keeping her in pain for any longer.

I just….

I just couldn't bring myself to accept a man Brent would choose.

“Think about it, Ava. If you agree to my offer, I'll accept the rejection right here, right now and we can get things started right away.” He added, drawing closer to me.

I pulled back before his betraying body would touch me even for a second.

“You won't get a better offer from anyone else, Ava.”

Of course, she had to chip in.

“She's your daughter for crying out loud, Grandma and I'm your granddaughter, why can't you be on our side for once, huh?” I yelled at her, suddenly losing my patience.

Grandma Ava's scoffed and threw her face off, leaving me to face Brent on my own.

My hands slowly wrapped around my mother's lifeless hands and squeezed them tight.

Tears fell from my eyes on to her body. For the first time, I wished she wasn't my mother.

Maybe she won't have to go through so much pain.

“I don't have all day, Ava. I'm a busy man and I need to know what you think before I leave.”

I sucked in my breath, swallowing the cries in my chest.

The problem wasn't getting married anymore, I would get married to a frog for my mother if I had to.

However, my father wasn't a man to be trusted.

My father would never keep to his promise.

But did I have a choice?

“What's it going to be, Ava? The clock is ticking.”

“It's not the end of the world.”

“It's just marriage, not the end of the world.” I muttered under my breath as I rode in Brent, rather, my father's car to wherever he was taking me.

It was just the two of us in the black, stuffy SUV but none of that was my business.

The only thing I cared about was how long it would take before my mother recovered from her coma, now that my father had officially accepted her rejection.

My eyes stared outside the window as the car breezed past the main city and slowly headed towards a thick forest. I darted my eyes at my father when we started going deep into the forest.

“What's this? Where are you taking me?” I questioned, instantly clutching the seatbelt. My eyes darted between the huge trees that covered the place and the face of the man who was driving.

He didn't mutter a word of response and my patience started to wane.

“Answer me, Brent. Where are you taking me?” I raised my voice a pitch louder this time.

He still didn't say a word.

Now, I was starting to lose my mind because the trees kept getting taller and the route, darker. I glanced at the road behind us only to find a dark trail of trees.

Fear seized my body immediately. My eyes flickered with panic.

“I should never have trusted this piece of shit.” I thought to myself with fear stabbing through my heart.

Since Brent wouldn't respond, I decided to switch up and do something crazy.

My hands grabbed the steering wheel and without thinking, I swerved it out of Brent's hand, almost crashing into a huge, mahogany tree.

His eyes widened with shock.

“Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you?” He screamed, fighting me for the wheel.

But I was ready to kill myself rather than lose my life to whatever psychotic plan he had.

“I thought you didn't want to talk. Let's crash into a tree now and see if you won't talk.” I smirked without fear and swerved the car in another crazy turn.

He punched my arms and tried wrestling the wheel out of my hands but I was more determined.

“Fuck, you're just as crazy as your mother. I'll tell you where we're heading to if you stop this madness.” He yelked, clutching his seatbelt since the car kept swerving around without control.

For the first time, I finally saw the advantage of not learning to drive because how would I have been able to scare the life out of this man if I was a good driver?

“Tell me now or I'll crash the car into a ditch or that huge tree.” I threatened.

“Fine. Fine!” He screamed. “You'll know when we get there, I'm not kidnapping you, I promise. Let's just get there alive first.”

I stared at the huge tree ahead of us and panic rushed through my body. My glasses fell off my face and I instantly released the steering just as we were about to crash into the tree.

Fortunately, Brent caught it fast and swerved because we'd crash head long into it.

For the next few minutes that followed that brief show of madness, neither of us said a word. I used that chance to catch my breath and at that point, wonder if I was really getting kidnapped by my own father.

What type of father would lie to his daughter just to kidnap her?

“You really are just as crazy as your mother.” His voice broke the silence in the car. I snorted without a response because I couldn't afford to say another word.

Brent kept stealing glances at my face while I remained glued to the side of the car.

“Look, I'm not kidnapping you, okay? I'm only taking you to the man you're getting married to. And he's not a poor man, if you're worried about that. You'll have more than enough money to take care of your mother.” He rambled aimlessly.

Of course, that was all that mattered to him.

Money. Money. Money.

“How much did you get paid to sell into this marriage?” I finally opened up.

“What?”

“Oh, quit the act, father. I know you're doing this for your selfish gain. There's no way you'll ever do something nice for me.” I scoffed.

He shook his head for a second, as though considering his options but I already knew what the answer was.

I just needed the confirmation to know that I truly wasn't loved at home.

“I'm not doing this for money. You'll find out when you get there.” He responded with a tone of finality.

Sure enough, the car came to a halt in front of a tall gate. When I say tall, I mean, huge and gigantic. The gate was coated in black paint with forest vines draped all over it.

I didn't even the gate until a few seconds later when the vines suddenly pulled away and the gates opened up to us.

Brent drove into the gate and my jaw dropped instantly.

My eyes caught the most beautiful and breathtaking mansion I'd ever seen in my entire life.

The mansion was just as huge as the gate and draped in black paint all through. The chimney pointed towards the sky and released thick, black, foggy smoke consistently.