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Eloise sniffed. Hunter already knew she wouldn’t take well to the idea of bringing the show to an early close, but it was time. They couldn’t prolong things anymore. They needed to bring things to a close.
* * *
Snow didn’t wantto do this on camera, but she knew that was part of the requirements. Still, she thought it would be fair to at least give the men she would be rejecting a fair warning, especially after all they’d done to comfort her the night she’d been attacked.
Hunter was going to speak with Eloise about pushing up the date of the final show. Snow needed a date with Clayton to make her decision believable, which meant she had to let the others down easy. Or hard, as this case was.
It was such a shame. She’d liked Marcos and Carter and had wanted time with them, but there was nothing else for it.
She found Carter first. He was in the lobby with a book, looking handsome and enticing. With Carter’s shy, soft nature, Snow had liked him from the start. Why—why couldn’t this have worked the way she’d hoped?
She approached him, regretting that she had to interrupt him with bad news.
“Hey, Carter.”
Carter lowered his book, and his expression shifted from pensive to delighted. “Snow. You are looking gorgeous today. What’s up?”
“I—” She had thought this through, but she suddenly didn’t know what to say. Though they had gone for a walk together, they hadn’t had their official date either—but she was out of time. She couldn’t wait for another attack to take place. If the threatener was waiting for her to make her decision to show his hand again, then Snow had to act now.
They had to finish this.
“I have something sad and difficult that I need to discuss with you.”
He rested the book on his leg. He analyzed her for several moments as realization dawned on his handsome face. His lips thinned into a sad smile. “You don’t have an apple for me, do you?”
“I wish I did,” she said. “It’s not fair, I know. We haven’t had the chance to really get to know one another at all. I’m sorry. I’ll be making my final decision on the show tonight—”
Carter set the book on the seat and rose to his feet. His eyes were intense and focused and held the slightest trace of confusion. “You haven’t had all seven dates yet.”
“You’re right. I haven’t.”
“Then why the rush?”
She lowered her head. “I—I don’t want to keep anything from you. I won’t keep anything from you. You deserve to know, since your safety is also on the line.” She hated that that was the case. They were in danger by association with her. With the show.
“It has something to do with whoever is threatening you, doesn’t it?” His kind voice was direct.
“Yes,” she said. “Hunter and I suspect that whoever it is will stay their hand until the show’s final episode. We’ve decided not to prolong things. It’s time to find out who it is.”
Carter’s brows gathered. He placed a hand on his hip, scanned the lobby, and then lowered his voice. “This isn’t fair to you. This was your fairytale,” he said.
“And to each of you bachelors, too,” she said, touching his arm.
She considered offering to keep in touch, to contact him if things didn’t work out with her choice, but why give him false hope? In reality, she didn’t know what would happen. After thinking things through, she decided to choose Clayton. He seemed to fit her personality and interests the best.
She didn’t know if they would make it through the final episode without another attack, if she were being honest, but she hoped as much. HMW Magazine had announced Snow would be picking her bachelor and the anticipation of her decision cluttered the internet from what Juliet had told her. Hunter had assured her there would be increased security and police on hand at every corner. They were even going to commission the SWAT team to be on the ready just in case.
Whoever the threatener was, if they truly planned on making their final play that night, Snow hoped they would be taken by sore surprise—and caught.
Snow did her best to not show Carter the unease making quicksand of her insides. “So after tonight, you’re free to go. The studio will compensate you for your participation.”
He waved that off and kept his concerned expression on her. “Are you going to be in danger?”
Maybe she wasn’t fooling him as much as she thought. “We’re all in danger,” she said.
“Do they have any idea what this person is planning? A bomb or something?”
The same concerns had crossed her mind. Would this person bring a gun into the studio? Hunter didn’t think so, especially with the amount of security measures in place. Every person who entered the building would be expected to pass a metal detector and be screened.
