Page 358 of A Vicious Love

“And tomorrow?” he continued. “The day after? You think I won’t pull Harlan apart until every document says what it should have said from the beginning?”

“You can pull apart whatever you want. It won’t make me sign.”

“You will sign.”

“No, I won’t.”

“I’ll make sure every other option disappears.”

My stomach dropped.

“That sounds very romantic.”

“I’m done being romantic if it means you walk away and put another man’s name near yours.”

“You don’t get to be jealous of a husband I haven’t chosen while Celeste is in your paperwork.”

“Say her name one more time.” His voice sharpened.

“Celeste.”

“Sienna.”

“Celeste Bellemere. Your fiancée. My cousin. The woman you took to Veyr House while I was unpacking at the retreat.”

He went silent.

I used that silence because if I didn’t, I would break again.

“In a few years,” I said quietly, “we’ll see each other at another Bellemere retreat. Maybe I’ll have a little boy who looks like his father. Maybe you’ll have daughters with Celeste, blonde and perfect, and our heirs will play together by the lake.”

“Sienna, stop.”

“No. I want you to hear it. I’ll stand beside my husband, and you’ll stand beside your wife, and everyone will be polite. Everyone will ignore this ever happened because that’s what dynasties do. I’ll spend the whole retreat in my husband’s arms, and I won’t look at you unless etiquette makes me. At first I’ll still be heartbroken, but it will fade. Time will release me.”

“You think I would attend a retreat while you belong to another man?”

“I won’t belong to you.”

“You will never belong to another man.”

“I will.”

“No.”

“I will marry someone else, Jamison.”

“You won’t.”

“I’ll give him heirs.”

“Stop.”

“And one day, I’ll love him.”

The sound he made was quiet and awful. Pain. I closed my eyes, and a tear slid down my cheek

“I will,” I whispered, because if I didn’t keep going, I would call him daddy by mistake. “It will take time because you broke my heart. But I will move on. We’ll all move on. Everyone always does.”