The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

The Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn Chapter 106

~DAMON~

The guests were already arriving, but there was still no sign of Clarissa. I kept looking at the door,

hoping to see her, but disappointment kept on hitting me when I saw everyone except her.

I knew I didn’t leave things on good terms between us. I couldn’t sleep last night. She was all I could

think about. Getting engaged to Anya hadn’t even crossed my mind once. Clarissa had taken over my

thoughts, and I knew it would be that way for a long, long time. Nothing could erase her from my mind,

not even myself.

I couldn’t get her words out of my head. She thought that I had no feelings for her. She thought that I

wanted to be with Anya and not her. She doesn’t realize how wrong she is.

I wanted to correct her. I wanted to tell her the truth, but I knew that if I did, she wouldn’t stop trying to

change things between us. I had to let her believe it if I wanted her to forget about us being a

possibility.

It still bothered me that I had to hurt her in order to keep her safe. Clarissa hasn’t been thrown into our

world the way that my family has been in the past. She doesn’t understand how hostile the world was

when they got an opportunity to bring an influential family like ours to the ground. I didn’t want her to

take the fall for the rest of us.

“You should be happy,” Atticus says as he joins my side. “But you look anything but that. It’s your

engagement party to Anya. At one point in your life, you wanted this more than anything else. There

was a point where both Dante and I wished that we were in your position today. Of course, that’s before

I realized my true feelings for Autumn.”

I sigh, “you always know how to read me like an open book. I don’t even know how to feel right now.

I’m confused by my feelings.”

He chuckles, “are you sure this is what you want, Damon? I know we’ve had our differences, but I

would hate to see you go down the wrong path.”

I inhale sharply at his question. This wasn’t about me or what I wanted. This was about protecting

Clarissa from what she thought she wanted. I didn’t care what I had to do as long as I knew she would

be safe from any harm, whether it be physical or emotional.

“I know this is what I must do,” I answer him truthfully. “I have to do this.”

He raises one brow at me, “ah,” he whispers, “this is what you must do. Tell me again, why do you think

this is what you have to do?”

I knew he would read between the lines. I knew that he would understand that this wedding wasn’t

happening because I wanted it to happen but for a completely different reason.

That was one answer that I couldn’t give him. I couldn’t explain it without telling him everything that had

happened between Clarissa and me in the past couple of days. I couldn’t explain to him what I meant

without telling him that I had feelings for someone that he considered his sister, something that I was

also supposed to do.

Anya walks into the room then, and there are gasps throughout it as everyone sees her dress. Judging

by the thrilled look on her face, she was overjoyed by their reactions. Anya always loved being the

center of attention. She loved to be the best dressed and have the nicest jewels amongst those around

her.

The opposite of Clarissa.

While Anya loved attention, Clarissa would feel uncomfortable under all the stares. What was I doing?

Why the hell was I even comparing the two of them? They were two completely different women. Both

were amazing in their own ways.

“Have you seen Clarissa?” I ask him. I needed an answer before Anya came any closer to us. If she

heard me asking about Clarissa, she would become angry, and I didn’t want to ruin her night due to my

own problems. I’d already done plenty to hurt her feelings, and I promised her to try not to do anything

to betray her again.

Anya never found out who the girl was that I had feelings for. If she realized how crazy I acted for

Clarissa, it would be a clear indication, and I didn’t want that to happen. If it did, it would cause more

problems for all three of us.

“Autumn left a few minutes ago to bring her out of her room.” He informs me. “As you already know,

Clarissa, just like Dante, is not reacting well to this engagement party. I’m afraid we may not be able to

persuade her to join the rest of us.”

Dante was also not here. He’d chosen to skip the party, and I wasn’t about to force him to watch

something like this. I shouldn’t force Clarissa either; if this were something that would hurt her, it would

be better that she wasn’t around to see it. Though, I just wished that I could see her, just once. I wanted

to gaze at her as much as possible before I placed a ring on Anya’s finger. My selfish heart wanted to

see her as much as she would let me.

“I can’t find her.” A familiar voice says.

I spun around to see Autumn behind us.

She was talking about Clarissa, no doubt. But why couldn’t she find her? Wasn’t she supposed to be in

her room?

“What do you mean you can’t find her?” I demand. “Where is Clarissa?”

“I’ve looked everywhere for her.” She informs me. “Her dress isn’t in the room, which means that she

did get dressed to attend the party. However, she isn’t here. I’ve searched the entire mansion. Clarissa

is not here.”

I can hear the panic in her voice. Suddenly, I felt dizzy; everything in the room was beginning to spin. I

couldn’t think properly now that I knew Clarissa was not in the mansion.

I knew what she was like. I knew what she was capable of doing when she was hurt.

f**k! I should have expected this from her. I should have known that she would have done something

like this. I should have asked the guards to keep an eye on her. To prevent her from leaving and doing

something reckless.

I loosened my tie and examined all the faces in the room that were visible to me. I was still hoping that

she was somewhere in the crowd, even though I already knew she wasn’t there. I would know, after all,

I was searching all of the faces earlier looking for her.

She wasn’t here.

Where the f**k was she then? Where did she run off to?

“Continue to search inside,” I order them. “I will ask the guards if they saw anything that could help us

find her. If she isn’t in the mansion, it only means she’s left. She isn’t home.”

I had to hope that, for once, Clarissa didn’t do anything crazy that could put her life in danger. Anya

spots me walking through the crowd, and she immediately pushes her way toward me. She thinks that

I’m coming for her, but she doesn’t realize that I am trying to leave the party.