SHE MARRIED THE BROTHER WHO HATED HER

Chapter 1: The Bride at the Inn

The church bells rang at noon, but Rose Whitmore felt as though she were attending her own funeral.

Dressed in an ivory gown borrowed from a distant cousin, she stood beside Thomas Blackwood, the man she was about to marry. His expression was cold, his jaw tight, and his dark eyes held no trace of affection.

“Do not mistake this marriage for love,” Thomas whispered as the priest opened his Bible. “I am marrying you to settle your father’s debt. Nothing more.”

Rose lowered her eyes.

“I never expected you to love me, Thomas.”

“Good. Because I never will.”

His words hurt more than she cared to admit, but she had no choice. Her father’s farm was drowning in debt, and the bank had threatened to seize their land within the week. Thomas had offered to pay everything—on one condition.

She must become his wife.

To the villagers, it was a strange bargain. To Rose, it was a sacrifice she had to make.

But there was another reason Thomas hated her.

Three years earlier, his younger brother, Daniel, had disappeared during a terrible storm. His horse had been found near the river, and a bloodstained piece of clothing had washed ashore days later. Everyone believed Daniel had drowned.

Everyone except Rose.

Daniel had been her closest friend since childhood. On the night he vanished, she had gone looking for him after receiving a desperate message. Yet when she returned alone, the village accused her of leading him into danger.

Thomas had never forgiven her.

“You were the last person to see my brother alive,” he had told her once. “Whatever happened to Daniel, I will never forget that you came home without him.”

Rose had tried to explain, but no one believed her. Now she was marrying the very man who blamed her for a crime she had never committed.

“I do,” Thomas answered when the priest asked whether he would take Rose as his lawful wife.

His voice was firm, almost angry.

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I do.”

The priest pronounced them husband and wife. Thomas slipped a simple gold ring onto her finger, then turned away before she could even look at him.

Their wedding celebration was held at the village inn, where a handful of guests sat beneath garlands of autumn leaves. Nobody seemed certain whether they should congratulate the bride or pity her.

Thomas barely spoke to Rose throughout the meal.

When she reached for a glass of water, he moved his hand away as if even the smallest touch between them disgusted him.

“You will live at Blackwood Manor,” he said quietly. “You will have everything you need, but do not expect me to pretend we are a happy couple.”

Rose looked down at her untouched plate.

“I understand.”

“Then we should have no problems.”

Before she could answer, the inn’s front door burst open.

A young man stumbled inside, soaked from the rain, his coat torn and his face pale with exhaustion. The room fell silent as he gripped the doorframe to keep himself upright.

The innkeeper stared at him.

Someone dropped a fork.

Then the stranger lifted his head.

“Thomas.”

The groom froze.

The color drained from his face. His chair scraped violently against the wooden floor as he stood, staring at the man before him as though he had seen a ghost.

“No,” Thomas whispered. “That’s impossible.”

Rose’s wineglass slipped from her fingers and shattered against the floor.

She knew that face.

She had dreamed of it every night for three years.

“Daniel?” she breathed.

The young man looked at her, his eyes filling with a pain that seemed to have followed him across every mile of his journey.

“I’m sorry, Rose,” he said hoarsely. “I should have come back sooner.”

Thomas staggered backward.

“My brother is dead.”

Daniel shook his head.

“No. I was alive all this time. And I can prove that Rose had nothing to do with my disappearance.”

He reached inside his coat and pulled out a small, leather-bound journal, its edges worn and darkened by water.

“Everything is written here,” he continued. “Who attacked me that night. Who paid them. And who made sure everyone believed I was dead.”

The guests began whispering. Rose could hardly breathe.

Thomas snatched the journal from his brother’s hand and opened it with trembling fingers.

As he read the first page, his expression changed.

Anger gave way to disbelief.

Then came something Rose had never seen in his eyes before.

Fear.

“Who did this?” Thomas demanded.

Daniel looked directly at him.

“Someone in our own family.”

The room erupted in shocked murmurs.

Rose stood motionless, her wedding ring suddenly feeling like a shackle around her finger. Only minutes ago, she had become the wife of a man who despised her.

Now his supposedly dead brother had returned with proof that she was innocent—and a secret that could destroy the Blackwood family forever.

Thomas slowly turned toward his new bride.

For the first time that day, he truly looked at her.

But Rose could not tell whether he was beginning to believe her or searching for another reason to hate her.

Then Daniel spoke again.

“There is one more thing you both need to know.”

His gaze moved from Thomas to Rose.

“The man who ordered my murder knows I am back. And he will come for us before morning.”

Outside, thunder shook the windows.

Rose instinctively reached for the wedding ring on her finger.

She had married the brother who hated her.

And now the brother she had never stopped loving had returned from the dead.