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Holy God, how Bradford was ever going to marry this woman is beyond me.

Cecelia Aniston up close in the flesh is fucking scary.

“We finally meet,” she says.

Alan would never have told her thathervoice was too sexy. Terrifyingly violent perhaps, but definitely not sexy.

“Cecelia.” I armor up, pushing my shoulders back and pulling oxygen in because I’m surely going to need it to survive this.

She rakes her eyes over me like I’m worthless. “I’ve been trying to figure out what he sees in you, but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. I mean, sure, you’ve obviously got a pussy he wants, but we all know that never keeps a man interested for very long. At some point, Bradford is going to come to his senses and realize he’s made the greatest mistake of his life.” She leans in close, her cruel eyes communicating just how much she despises me. “He could have had you on the side, but no, he listened to his dick more than his brain. And that is something I am going to make him regret because no one makes a fool of me and gets away with it.No one.”

I stand tall. “Are you finished? Or do you perhaps have more hot air in there that you feel the need to get out?”

Her lips press together so hard that her mouth turns white. “You really are as dumb as everyone says, aren’t you?”

It’s a good thing I’ve trudged my way through a broken engagement, a mid-life crisis, the loss of my job, and being disowned by my father because all of that has prepared me well for this showdown.

“No one says I’m dumb, Cecelia. They may say many things about me, but never that.”

“You’d be surprised to learn what they say.”

“You’d be surprised to learn that I don’t care what they say.”

“I know all about your kind, Kristen. You’re shallow, stupid, and vapid.”

My mouth opens to tell her what I think of that when Gage’s dark voice cuts through the air as he comes up behind Cecelia. “Careful, Cecelia, or you’ll have me to deal with. And we both know that between me and Bradford, you’re better off dealing with him.”

My mouth snaps closed as I take in the way she shrinks as Gage threatens her.

She recovers by the time he comes to stand with me but she’s lost some of her fire when she says, “We both know that he keeps you on a tight leash, Gage. Your threats are baseless.”

“Run with that assumption and see how far it gets you,” he says, his voice deadly calm.

Her mouth flattens again and she glares at him for the longest time before finally snarling at me, “By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll wish you didn’t know Bradford.”

Ilean in close. “You think I can’t take whatever you’ve got for me? Keep underestimating me. I dare you.”

Cecelia looks like she’s ready to do physical damage to me, and quite honestly, with the way I’m feeling, I’m ready to go a round with her. Gage must sense this because he hooks his arm around my waist and holds me to him while murmuring against my ear, “Eyes on the prize, Kristen. She’s not worth it.”

With one last barbed glare, Cecelia spins and stalks away from us.

“Jesus!” I step out of Gage’s hold, wildly furious over that encounter. “She’s a piece of work.”

He nods while watching me like he’s waiting for me to run after her and punch her. “Yeah, she is, and you should stay away from her.”

“I don’t plan on seeking her out, Gage.”

“Good.” He lifts his chin at the hallway. “Let’s go.”

As he leads us out of the hallway into the ballroom towards where Bradford is talking with yet another couple, I say, “What’s the deal with you and Cecelia?”

“No deal. She just knows that I’m the one in our family who knows where all the bodies are buried and if Bradford wants ammunition for anything, he can come to me for it.”

“Has he come to you for it?”

He looks at me. “You married the upstanding brother, Kristen. He won’t ever come to me for the kinds of things I know. Alan, though, he’s another story and Cecelia knows that.”

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