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I stiffen, but I don’t respond right away. I’m too filled with anger and sadness to speak.

“It doesn’t make a difference. Cillian and I are in the past. I don’t want to marry him. I don’t want anything to do with him or his family. Find me someone else. I’ll marry an ogre at this point. Anyone but a Quinn.”

Konstantin laughs, mocking and dark. “How about I make you a proposition?”

“And what’s that?” My brow furrows, but I already know I won’t like it.

“You stay married to him for a year. And if, after that year, you still want nothing to do with him, I’ll grant you a divorce.”

I freeze, disbelief washing over me. “I have to live with him for a year?” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I try to gather my thoughts, forcing back the frustration bubbling to the surface. “God, you just want to make this day worse, don’t you?”

“A year isn’t a long time. You’ll manage.” He rises from his seat, clearly tired of the discussion.

“You’re messing with my life.” As I stand up, the tension in my body makes every muscle tighten. “You’re forcing me to do something I want no part of.”

“Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do for the right reasons.” He gives me a pointed look.

“Right.” I snicker. “Well, like the vows say, ’til death do us part. Maybe I can make that happen sooner rather than later.”

He chuckles as he walks me to the door. “You’re starting to sound more like a true Marinov every day.”

I’ve spent my whole life trying to be nothing like them. But maybe it’s time I finally start acting like one.

* * *

“Din, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Natalia mutters the next day, grimacing as she tugs on her bottom lip.

“It’s the only way to be done with him once and for all. I can’t marry him, guys. Especially not in a week!”

A week. That’s all I have. Seven days before Konstantin forces me into a marriage I can’t escape. Seven days to figure out another way.

And this? This is my only shot.

Alisa shakes her head, her expression pinched with worry. “But Konstantin won’t let it happen. He wants an alliance, and he won’t accept this.”

“He’ll have to.”

I shove my phone into my handbag, my stomach twisting. I won’t marry Cillian only to have him hurt me in the end.

Natalia frowns. “But how will this even work? Won’t Konstantin find out and stop it?”

“I have to try,” I say as the limo rolls to a stop in front of the towering estate, hidden deep in the middle of nowhere, New Jersey. “The auction rules state that once I sign the contract, it’s binding. Whoever wins my hand tonight will be my husband. So all I have to do is go first and make sure a winner is chosen fast, and then Konstantin can’t do shit about it.”

I grin, proud of my plan. Sure, it could backfire spectacularly. Konstantin could ignore the rules, tear up the contract, and force me to marry Cillian anyway. But at least I’ll be trying to do something to stop it.

Alisa exhales sharply. “Dinara, think about this. What if you end up with some asshole? What then?”

I turn to her. “Kill him.”

Natalia groans.

Alisa throws her hands up. “I’m just gonna say it. I think this is a mistake.”

“Maybe it is,” I admit. “But marrying Cillian would be a mistake too.”

She exhales in defeat. “Okay…if you’re sure.”

I nod. “I’m sure.”