As much as I dreaded the party tonight, I dreaded seeing Leo more. It was agony to be around him and not being with him. I didn’t know how I was going to avoid him in the future. Since he and Rafe lived in the same building, maybe I could ask Rafe to buy us a new place for a fresh start.
I didn’t think it could get any worse until Rafe suggested that Leo walk me down the aisle at the rehearsal. It was like being so close to your dream you could reach out and touch it, yet having it painfully yanked from you.
At the knock on the door, I jumped, knocking the wand into my neck. I shrieked with the sudden pain. “Oh, Ms. Caruso, I’m so, so sorry!” the stylist apologized with a horrified expression.
“It’s okay. It was my fault.”
Her eyes remained wide with fear. “But it’ll probably leave a mark.”
“Then you can throw some concealer on it.”
While she remained unconvinced, I called, “Come in.”
When Vittoria entered the room, I waved the stylist away. “Leave us, please.”
“Yes, Ms. Caruso,” she said. She didn’t stop to clean up. Instead, she hurried past Vittoria and out the door. I’m sure she’d spend the rest of the night fearing I was going to have her fired…or worse.
When I turned around, tears shimmered in Vittoria’s eyes. “You look like an angel.”
“Thanks. But don’t you think I should be wearing red or black to highlight my fallen angel status?”
“You and that mouth,” she chided.
“We both know it’s the truth.”
Ignoring my comment, Vittoria closed the gap between us. Her anxious gaze bounced around the room.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
“I got something for your honeymoon.”
I groaned. “Please tell me it isn’t lingerie.”
With a look of disgust, she replied, “Of course not.”
“Thank God.”
After one final glance around the room, she opened her palm and held it out for me. I curiously eyed a blue bottle with clear liquid. “It’s a sedative,” Vittoria said.
“So I don’t have to endure sex with Rafe?”
“It’s not for you. It’s for him.”
My eyes bulged. “You want me to drug him?”
“I know it seems excessive, but you have to be practical.”
“Isn’t deceiving him about the baby enough?”
Vittoria grabbed my hands in hers. “Think, Drea. Rafe’s coming off a life-altering loss. If he’s the type of man I imagine he is, the last thing he’s going to want is to consummate your marriage tomorrow night. It could be months before he’s forced to do his duty.” She shook her head. “You don’t have that time.”
“You want me to…” Now it was my time to glance around the room. Lowering my voice, I hissed, “Rape him?”
Barking out a laugh, Vittoria shook her head. “Sometimes I forget how young and naive you really are.”
Then it hit me. “Oh, you want me to pretend we did the deed.”
She nodded. “Strip him down, ruffle the sheets–anything to make it look like the two of you had sex.
