When he turned back, he wore a forced casual smile. “And what kind of groom would I be? Temporary? Part-time?”
I laughed. “Lifelong. Full-time.”
His eyes lit with unrestrained joy. “Yes. Yes!”
As if afraid I’d change my mind, he pulled me into his car and told the driver, “Get us to the County Clerk’s Office as fast as you can!”
I looked at him in surprise. “Do you even have your documents with you?”
Daniel nodded seriously. “I’m always ready to marry you.”
At the County Clerk’s Office, Daniel Walker finally let out a sigh of relief only after we had completed the registration and received our marriage certificate.
The entire way there, he had been worried I might change my mind.
As we stepped outside, I looked at the burgundy-covered certificate in my hands, a wave of emotion washing over me.
“My father liked you a lot,” I whispered. “He mentioned you to me several times. If only he could see this.”
Daniel’s voice was low. “No word from Mr. Bennett yet?”
I nodded faintly. “It’s been three years since he went missing.”
Three years ago, my mother, Julia Bennett, died in a car accident overseas.
My father, Richard Bennett, went abroad to investigate, but then mysteriously disappeared. We never heard from him again.
Out of concern that, as a young woman, I might be mistreated or misled, Robert Collins had invited me to live with the Collins family while waiting for news of my father.
I never expected that wait to stretch into three years. And in that time, I had nearly become a Collins daughter-in-law.
Just then, a bespectacled young man hurried past and accidentally bumped into Daniel, spilling coffee all over his suit.
The young man was flustered, stammering apologies.
Daniel, in high spirits after our marriage, smiled. “It’s fine.”
He turned to me. “Wait here a moment, I’ll clean this up in the restroom.”
I nodded.
But no sooner had Daniel rushed off than a group of men closed in around me.
Startled, I tried to step aside, but they lunged, seizing my arm.
I opened my mouth to call out, but one of them quickly covered it with his hand.
I recognized one of them immediately—it was Eric Collins’ bodyguard.
He made a quick call. “Mr. Collins, we’ve found Miss Bennett. We’re bringing her to the wedding venue now.”
Eric’s cold voice came through the phone: “Hurry.”
The next second, I was shoved into a car.
Half an hour later, I was dragged into the hotel banquet hall where Eric was waiting.