Page 24 of Wicked Proposal

Mia’s face has gone pale now. She looks like she could faint at any time. Like she’s staying upright by sheer force of will.

I let Brad’s wrist go and shove him off. If Mia’s going to faint, I need to be able to catch her.

Brad massages his wrist. “You have no idea who she is, do you?” he laughs, mocking and bitter. “Do you even know her real name? What she’s done?”

“I don’t need to,” I say. “I know enough.”

“No, you don’t. Otherwise, you’d know that she belongs to me.” His leery eyes fix on Mia. “And I don’t share.”

“What a coincidence,” I growl. “Neither do I.”

The tension could be cut with a butcher knife. A new murmur rises through the crowd. Now that the spell’s broken, the guests seem to have a lot to say about the recent developments.

They thought they were getting a wedding, after all. The side of the bride is furious, every single one of them.

But they’re also afraid. Afraid to displease their illustrious host, to fall out of his good graces.

So most of them are directing their angry glares at Mia instead.

The powerless one, the inoffensive one. The one who’s to blame for nothing, but cannot hurt them. Theeasy fucking target.

These people make me sick.

I tuck her closer to me, shielding her from the crowd’s rage.

Then, finally, the bride snaps out of it.

“Her?” She picks up her skirts and stalks this way, her face a mask of fury. “Are you fucking serious, Bradley?”

“Shut up, Connie. I don’t want to play with you anymore.”

He tosses his arm back casually, making the girl stumble. It’s such a cruel, dismissive gesture, I can feel Mia flinching hard behind me. Her hand shoots forward out of reflex, trying to catch the bride’s elbow even though she’s too far away.

A bridesmaid darts forward, saving Connie from a horrible fall. Brad doesn’t even notice. He’s too focused on Mia.

It makes me disgusted to see it. How can anyone treat their woman like this? Their bride, the person they supposedlylove?

And even if there’s no love there—even if this is just a merging of fortunes—how the hell can you look yourself in the mirror after acting like this?

Behind me, Mia doesn’t seem surprised. I find myself wondering even more about their history, about whatever ties her to Brad.

Was she his bride, too, once?

Was she wearing white and stepping up an altar to marry him?

Was she, too, discarded like she was nothing?

I don’t get to demand those answers. I don’t get to do anything at all.

Because one second later, bullets start flying.

9

YULIAN

I don’t think.

I don’t wait.