Chapter 6 Second Thought

♤YASMIN♤

A banging headache wakes me the next morning. I wince, holding my head as I struggle to sit up against the headboard.

The room spins for a moment, and I squeeze my eyes shut until it stops.

I look around, my brain completely blank for a moment. The room is unfamiliar, but then I remember that I am currently in Jonathan's place, not mine.

The door creaks and I look up. Jonathan walks in with a tray in his hand.

"You are awake," he says softly.

"Yes," I answer, still confused about everything. The last thing I remember is standing on the balcony, then the poisoned wine. "How did I get here?"

He settles the tray on the bed beside me. It holds a cup of what looks like tea, steam curling up from the surface, and a small plate of crackers.

"I did not know yesterday bothered you that much that you had to drink yourself into a stupor," he says.

I blink. What?

"I found you on the balcony last night completely knocked out," he continues.

I glare at him, still confused as hell. I try to flash back to the scene from last night, but my head suddenly bangs hard and I groan in pain, pressing my palm against my temple.

Gosh, what the heck happened to me?

"You good?" Jonathan asks, concern flickering across his face as he lifts the cup to my mouth level.

"Here, take this. It is going to help with the hangover."

I nod, then lean in to take a sip. The tea is warm and sweet, honey and something herbal, and it soothes my throat on the way down. But my mind is racing, fragments of memory rushing back.

The scene with Beauty plays in my head, then the part where I almost fell. I remember strong arms catching me before I hit the ground.

Sebastian.

I remember hearing his voice. The deep rasp of it feels familiar in a way that makes no sense because I only met him yesterday. But just thinking about it now makes my body shiver, goosebumps rising on my arms despite the warmth of the room.

What happened last night? Why does the thought of him make me feel so strange?

I try to push deeper into the memory, but the more I try to remember, the more my head throbs.

Was I truly drunk? Did Beauty actually poison me? Wasn't there someone with me?

The questions circle in my head, and I have no answers.

But one thing is becoming painfully clear. There is a lot going on with the Cross family, and I am not sure I want to be part of it anymore.

I thought being with Jonathan would make life easier for me, simple and stable the way my aunt wanted. But it is only my first day knowing his family, just a few of them, and I already feel like I am going crazy.

"Better now?" Jonathan asks.

I take a last sip, then smile and nod. "Yeah. Thanks."

Jonathan sets the cup back on the tray and places it on the nightstand. He studies my face for a long moment, his eyes searching for something I cannot name, and then he gently takes my hands.

His thumbs trace small circles over my knuckles, a gesture that usually calms me, but today it feels like a leash.

"I know that smile, Yas," he says quietly. "You always have it when something is bothering you. Talk to me."

I tear my eyes away from his, then slowly pull my hand away. I swallow hard, my chest pounding as I force the words out.

"I am not sure I am ready, Jon.”

He stiffens. The air in the room changes suddenly.

"Ready for what?" he asks, though I can see in his eyes that he already knows.

"To marry you." I blurt it out before I can stop myself, and once the words are out, I cannot take them back.

"I think it is too fast. I need time to adjust to this..." I throw my hands in the air, gesturing at everything.

"...Whole thing."

He stares at me in silence for a long beat. His jaw tightens, then relaxes, then tightens again. When he finally speaks, his voice is flat.

"They won."

I arch a brow in confusion.

"Their motive was to scare you away, and they succeeded," he says.

He rubs his face with both hands, as if trying to hide something, pain or anger or both.

"God, Yasmin. Being with me is not easy. I am a billionaire. Every woman wants to attach herself to me. Did you think such a man would be easy to be with?"

"That is it," I say, my voice rising. "I do not want a man who is so complicated."

"I am complicated!" he yells, and I flinch back against the headboard, my heart slamming against my ribs.

His face is red, his eyes wide, and for a moment he looks like a stranger.

The silence that follows is deafening.

He seems to catch himself, his shoulders sagging slightly, but the damage is already done.

"You knew this," he says, quieter now.

"You accepted my proposal, which means you have already figured everything out. So do not you dare think you can back out now. Not now. Not ever."

He rises angrily from the bed, grabbing a shirt from the back of a chair and pulling it over his head with sharp, jerky movements.

"Meet me downstairs," he says without looking at me. "I am taking you back home."

♤♤♤

Minutes later, I make my way down the grand staircase, and the moment I step into view, every head turns.

Beauty is lounging in a corner, dressed in a casual sundress. She smirks when she sees me, her eyes glittering with something I cannot read.

I look away quickly, my skin crawling.

Scheming bitch.

Daniel is there too, leaning against the fireplace mantel, pressing his phone with a bored expression on his handsome face. He does not even bother to hide his disdain, his eyes raking over me like I am something unpleasant he stepped in.

Jonathan stands in the center of the living room, waiting for me. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, he speaks, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yasmin is returning back to her home, thanks to your warm reception."

Daniel shrugs. "Yeah, of course. I expected that."

"Considering someone thought a poisoned drink was the perfect welcome gift,” a voice says from behind me, freezing me to ice.