“That depends,” Dante said. “Do you want to explain it here?”
Julian’s face lost what little color remained.
My father stepped into the aisle. “This farce has gone on long enough.”
“No,” I said.
The word came out quietly, but it stopped him.
For once, my father looked at me instead of through me.
I removed my hand from Dante’s—not because I wanted to leave him, but because I needed to stand on my own.
My knees trembled beneath the layers of silk.
“This wedding is over.”
My stepmother’s hand rose to her throat.
My father’s expression hardened. “Serena, you are upset. You don’t understand the consequences.”
“I understand them perfectly.”
“Do you?”
He came closer, lowering his voice as though that might make his words less cruel.
“The hospital has already been informed that Crowe Medical Holdings will assume responsibility for Miles’s treatment after the ceremony. If you walk away now, they may reconsider.”
The threat hung between us.
My fear returned so quickly that I could almost taste it.
Miles in his hospital bed.
