Page 141 of Dirty Game

I check my watch and there’s less than three hours until the ceremony.

Walking towards the north wing, past the kitchen where the caterers work like ants, past the server room where two of my men monitor encrypted radio traffic and drone feeds over the lake.

We are well insulated here, protected.

The door to the suite is closed. I knock, soft enough not to startle. No answer.

I open it anyway.

Rosalynn stands at the window, wearing a white slip, arms wrapped around herself, staring down at the terrace where the chairs are being set up.

She hears the door, turns, and for a second I see the girl I rescued months ago—shy, brittle, afraid to take up space.

Then she sees it’s me, and the fear drops away, replaced by something softer.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she says.

“I don’t care,” I reply. “I wanted to see you.”

She blinks, eyes wet but unashamed. “Is everything ready?”

“Almost.” I watch her. She trembles, just a little, hands folded under her chin. “You’re not nervous.”

It’s not a question, but she answers anyway. “I’malwaysnervous.”

I cross the room, stand behind her. She leans back, letting my hands rest on her arms. I feel every shiver.

“You can back out,” I whisper. “No one would blame you.”

She turns, looks me dead in the eye. “Would you?”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t blame people for surviving.”

She tries to smile, fails. “You think that’s what this is? Survival?”

“It’s what you do best,” I say.

She laughs, a quiet thing. “You’re wrong. What I do best is be someone’s regret.”

I want to tell her that’s not true.

“I’ll see you down there,” I say, and step away. As I start to close the door, she calls after me.

“Varrick?”

I pause.

“I never thought I’d be worth this much,” she says. “I don’t know how to be… important to someone.”

“You don’t have to know,” I say. “Just don’t leave us.”

She nods, and I close the door behind me.

Before I know it, I’m in the courtyard and my nerves are hitting me, hard.

Everything is perfect. Beautiful… almost as beautiful as my Rosa.

My soon to be wife.