Gage and Sadie

Chapter 1: Sadie

"-- did what I had to, Galen. I got married."

"She's a beautiful girl."

"I did what I had to," my husband's voice repeated in a low and irritated – and slightly slurred – tone I'd not heard directed at me yet. "Her looks don't really matter to me one way or the other."

"You chose well," his brother assured him, almost soothingly as if he expected Gage to explode at any moment.

"It didn't matter who I chose. I had to find someone young and desperate enough not to question being rushed into marriage, naïve enough not to doubt the fairytale mirage, and alone enough not to have any money-grubbing relatives."

"Well, maybe, in time, you'll start to have feelings for her –"

"That's not going to happen. All my feelings died with Olivia. I'm barely able to tolerate this girl, but I don't plan on being around much so it doesn't really matter. I'll be busy with the company and with women who know how to fuck."

"Gage, if she finds out you married her to maintain control of the company, she could annul your ass and then –"

"No annulment, brother. I fucked her on our wedding night. We're well and truly married. Cheers to me for taking one for the team. I saved the family business and all of you can continue to live your lives in luxury."

"You can't just ignore her. She's your wife!"

"She's not my wife," he snarled at his brother. "Livvy's the only wife I'll ever have. Sadie's just some girl I'm married to for the next two years until I can divorce her."

"She's a nice girl –"

"She thought we connected when I fucked her. It was laughable. She was holding on for dear life and I had my eyes shut, hoping she wouldn't talk so I could pretend she was Livvy. She's got to be the most boring girl in existence – like a fucking mouse, all meek and timid. She turns my stomach."

Pressing myself against the door outside the room they were speaking in, I flattened my hand to my mouth, willing myself not to throw up at the vile words spewing from my new husband's drunken mouth, if the slurring was any indication. Hot tears cascaded from my eyes and down my cheeks as the beautiful life I'd envisioned shattered, revealing a horribly stark future of bleakness.

I hadn't found love.

Love that, as a foster child, I'd been desperate for.

Too desperate, as he'd said.

I'd believed him, with everything in me, never questioning why a man of his wealth and looks and intelligence would be interested in someone eight years younger. He'd seemed so sincere, so loving, so interested in me. His gentle tenderness never failed to melt me and tie my heart to his with tighter and tighter strings. It'd been a whirlwind romance, and even though it was fast, I'd never once questioned it.

I could hear them still talking but my protective instincts kicked in. I needed a plan, and I needed one right now. Once I felt I had control of my body, I quietly made my way up to our...his...bedroom and pulled out my suitcases. Just two. I was taking only my clothes that I'd had prior to our marriage. Thankfully, I hadn't started knocking items off my to-do list yet, number one item being to decline the resident assistant position I'd accepted to pay for my housing while completing my second, and final year, of graduate studies. I already was a graduate assistant, so that covered tuition and a small stipend. Since I'd be living on campus, I wouldn't need a car, and the small weekly stipend I received would cover necessities.

Until the dorms opened for RAs in two weeks before school began, I could couch surf with friends, a night or two with each of them.

My packing went quickly, given that I was going more for speed than finesse. I called Whitney, best friend extraordinaire and fellow graduate student, and asked her to come pick me up from the mansion.