He stepped closer, his tone turning cruel. "Don’t be so unreasonable, Natalia. You and I are getting married—it’s a fact you can’t change. Stop embarrassing yourself. Who else would want you now, after everything? All you’re doing is pushing me further away."
I stared at him, my expression cold and indifferent. How could he be so blind, so confident in his twisted reasoning? "Really?" I said, my voice steady and unshaken. "Think whatever you want, Finley. But I’m canceling the engagement."
"The wedding dress, the hotel—whatever can be refunded, I’ll handle it. As for the rest, I’ll pay you back. But one thing’s for sure—I will never marry you."
Just as I finished speaking, I heard the door swing open behind me. Before I could turn around, a sharp slap landed across my face. The sting was immediate, and the force took my breath away.
It was my mother, Andrea Adams, glaring at me with fury in her eyes. "What on earth do you think you’re doing?" she screamed. "How dare you speak to Finley like that? How did I end up with a daughter like you!"
I clutched my cheek, feeling the heat and shock of the slap radiating through me. My eyes locked on hers, filled with disbelief at the intensity of her anger.
I could understand my mother’s reaction, as much as it hurt. After all, my relationship with Finley had been a point of contention for years. We’d been together since college, and she was against it from the start. It wasn’t just Finley’s humble beginnings she disapproved of—his rural background didn’t sit well with her ambitions for me—but she also doubted his potential. She couldn’t see a future where he’d amount to much.
But Finley proved her wrong. Through sheer determination, he climbed from being the boy my mother once sneered at to becoming a respected young doctor at the hospital. That transformation changed everything for her. Her disdain had turned to praise, and she’d fully embraced him as the son-in-law she never thought she wanted, practically fawning over him at every opportunity.
I knew, deep down, my mother’s support wasn’t about me. It was about securing her own future through me. As my father had passed away when I was young, it had always been just the two of us. She was far more concerned about whether I would marry well than about my happiness. I was her only daughter, and she saw my marriage as her lifeline.
Because her future depended on it.