ing in disbelief. "What do you mean she ran away... and I should take her place as the bride?"
But all I saw was panic... urgency... and expectation. My hands trembled
ave to take her place." My voice cracked as the words escaped, foreign and surreal. My
ice's sake!" My fists clenched by my sides, my chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths.
hink this family can afford a scandal, Antoni
My voice cracked, the betrayal too sharp to contain. "All she ever does is run. A
snapping to the side. My cheek burned with the force of it,
should be lucky the chairman decided to take you as his daughter! You will do everything possible to please him
ere, trembling, tasting blood in my mouth and swa
platter without lifting a single finger. And me? I was always t
don't do it? What if I refuse to marry that stranger instead of Beat
nia, I guess you'd be happy to watch your father suffer. Who's going to pay off
new the truth. She was the reason he was in that hospital to begin with. Her gambling, her
a bruising grip. "Put on the dress. And walk down tha
was bathed in soft light, the air thick with the scent of roses and expensive perfume
, but the door slam
s tr
fastened was a lock sealing my fate. When I stepped out of the r
my stepfather extended his arm. I hesitated, but pl
A sea of unfamiliar fa
that aisle was h
n-I loo
. My breath caug
at the