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“You guys look great,” Everest says, her voice bringing my eyes back to her face. “This is Katerina. Kat. She was my makeup artist, but I needed…I couldn’t get in the SUV alone. And she’s cool. Expect to see more of her.”

E’s talking. I hear every word, but I’m having a hell of a time focusing on the words when she looks…like this. Her tits are on full display, but not in a vulgar manner, and that large tattoo of our initials is on full display.

I didn’t get a full view of the back, but I saw her exposed thigh from the slit that runs almost all the way to her hip.

“You…” I clear my throat. I feel like it’s swollen, or like my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth as I stare at her.

Everest has always been the most beautiful woman in the world in my eyes, but this version of her…

Madd said it perfectly. Just…wow.

“You’re so fucking beautiful it almost hurts,” I finally manage to say.

I barely hear the whisperedawwfrom the girl Everest introduced as Kat, but my full attention is on my girl, my wife.

My fucking soul mate.

“Thank you,” Everest says, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink. “Are we almost ready? Is my father here?”

“I didn’t check whether he was here. I was watching for Flora,” I admit.

“He’s here,” Maddox confirms.

Everest frowns. “Watching for Flora? Has she not shown up yet?” she asks as she pulls her phone from inside her clutch to check for missed calls or texts.

“She just got here. Kato gave us the go ahead to bring you out.” I move closer, gently grasping her chin between my forefinger and thumb.

With the way her makeup and hair has been styled, you can’t see the light scarring left from the nearly fatal beating she received at the behest of her father. She is the epitome of glamour, beauty and perfection.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely,” she says without missing a beat.

“We’ll be right beside you the whole time. If at any point you get uncomfortable or scared, say the word and we’ll take you home.”

“I invited two hundred and seventy-five of the area’s most prominent citizens. I can’t just abandon them at my own damn engagement party.”

“You know this whole thing was a form of punishment for you in the beginning. We don’t have to do shit. Hell, we can go to the court or call a judge over to the house if you want to make it legal without all the hoopla,” Madd offers.

Fucking Kato. At least he was able to stop the news from getting out before the wrong people found out she was back.

“It started out as punishment for me. Now, it’ll be the best form of punishment for Dima Sidorov,” she says, lifting her chin with so much fire and defiance in her pretty gray eyes.

My gaze bounces between hers, searching for even a hint of doubt. When I don’t find any, I bend and press my lips to hers.I pull back and she huffs a soft laugh, reaching up to wipe the lipstick from my mouth.

“Don’t need you going out there with my lipstick smeared all over your face.”

“You need a touch up?” Kat asks. Right. The makeup artist.

Everest turns toward her, and Kat checks her over then nods. “Still absolutely perfect.”

And fuck if that isn’t the truth.

I pull my phone free and shoot off a text to Kato that we’re stepping through the door in five. That’ll give him time to make his way to the stage and get everyone’s attention on him rather than us as we exit.

I don’t want anyone to pay too much attention to her until she’s on the stage flanked by the three of us and our guards, and the spotlight directly on her so her father will have a perfect view of the daughter he tried to murder.

My phone buzzes in my hand and I glance at the incoming message. “Viktor has been removed from the building. We’re good to go,” I announce.