Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Jackson was the first one to react. He shot up from his seat and practically yelled, "No way!" His voice cracked from the shock.

"What the hell is this? Am I seeing things? Dylan, pinch me or something—am I dreaming?!"

But while Jackson was freaking out, Richard's face just went dark. He could tell right away this was bad. Really bad.

Jackson grabbed the marriage certificate and flipped it open. The moment he saw the name, he cursed again, even louder.

"Clara?! Clara?!! You married Clara?! When did that happen?! No freaking way! I must be seeing things. Hang on, you've always liked her, right? So if you were going to marry anyone, of course it'd be Clara. So you went behind everyone's back, kept it from the whole Ferguson family, and just went and got married to Clara without telling a soul?!"

He'd barely finished when Nicholas, who'd just taken a sip of his drink, totally lost it and spat whiskey all over the table.

"What did you just say?"

The look in his eyes was pure disbelief, like he literally couldn't process what he'd just heard.

Wait, who likes Clara?

Dylan likes Clara?

Was he hearing things? There was no way this could be real.

Nicholas grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth, still staring. "Jackson, say that again?"

Jackson was just as rattled. He stared at the marriage certificate for a full minute, making absolutely sure he wasn't hallucinating. When he finally accepted it was real, he put it down with hands that were still shaking, reached for a cigarette, but then thought better of it.

"Dylan, if Walter finds out about this, you know you're dead, right?"

Dead was putting it lightly. The whole Ferguson family would probably explode.

As soon as the certificate hit the coffee table, Nicholas grabbed it for himself. He stared at the names like if he looked hard enough, they'd change. But they didn't.noveldrama

So he hadn't imagined it after all.

He turned the certificate over and over, looking for any sign it was fake. At last, he just blurted out, "This has to be a joke, right? You're messing with us?"

But everyone knew Dylan wasn't the type to joke about something like this.

Nicholas slapped the certificate back down, and for a second, he actually looked kind of relieved. "I get it. You just want to tie Clara down, make her miserable forever. This is your way of getting back at her. Damn, Dylan, you don't mess around."

Jackson couldn't help but wince at that. He rubbed his forehead, wondering how

the hell all of this had ended up exposing his own feelings for Scarlette.

The marriage certificate just sat there on the table, bright red and impossible to ignore.

Richard was the first to move. He pulled out a card-God knows how much money was on it, he'd never bothered to check—and set it right on top of the certificate.

"Congrats," he said, like it was just another business deal.

Translation: here's your wedding gift.

Jackson stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "Wait, that's it? You're just... cool with this? Richard, aren't you even a little worried?"

Walter was still out there throwing parties to pick out a daughter-in-law, and Dylan had already gone and gotten married behind everyone's backs. Had he even considered the fallout?

Jackson narrowed his eyes, then asked, “By the way, did Clara even say yes?"

Wasn't there a rumor just a few days ago that Clara was seeing some

male model? She'd even seemed pretty crazy about the guy. And now

she was suddenly married to Dylan?

Did she actually agree to this?

It wasn't that Jackson doubted Dylan's appeal. It was just that Clara was different

from other women.

He couldn't really say why, but if there was anyone out there who could actually turn Dylan down, it' be her. At least, every time he'd seen them together, there was never that look in her eyes. She never seemed the least bit smitten with Dylan.