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“I can put on my own shoes,” I say.

“You can. But I’m down here now, and I’m a fifty-nine-year-old man with bad knees. Humor me.” He taps the shoe against his palm. “Foot.”

I hold onto the dresser and lift my foot, and he slides the heel on. Then the other.

When he stands, he pauses, looks at me in the mirror, and I see the pride on his face. An unexpected warmth hits me.

He reaches for a velvet box on the dresser.

“One final touch,” he says, lifting out a necklace. It’s a chain of tiny diamonds with a teardrop pendant.

It is stunning. Probably the most beautiful piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen.

Charles moves behind me to fasten it, and his fingers brush the chain already around my neck.

“If you could remove⁠—”

“No.” My hand flies to my mother’s locket.

Our eyes meet in the mirror because the word comes out harsher than I mean it to.

“I mean, I’d really prefer if the locket stays,” I say with an apologetic smile. “It was my mom’s, and I don’t take it off.”

He gives me a gentle nod.

“Some things are worth more than diamonds,” he says quietly.

He closes the velvet box and sets it back on the dresser without a word.

I decide I adore Charles. Despite everything, he seems to be in my corner, and right now, I need someone.

“Charles.”

“Yes.”

“Is he going to hurt me?”

He pauses as he hangs the empty garment bag in the closet.

“No,” he says. “He is not.”

I want to believe him, so I decide that, for right now, his word is enough. For some crazy reason, I feel like I can trust Charles. Even if my situation suggests I shouldn’t.

“It’s time,” Charles says, looking at his watch.

My stomach drops.

But then I think of my dad. Of the fear on his face and the gun my fiancé put against his temple.

And my apprehension turns to determination.

A determination to make sure this unhinged lunatic of a man regrets forcing this marriage on me.

I hold onto that thought because in this instance, anger is going to serve me better than fear ever will.

Charles picks up my bouquet from the dresser. Three calla lilies with soft green ribbon tied around their stems.

“You can do this,” he says, placing the bouquet in my hands.