Chapter 2

Adrian did not tell me to calm down.

He did not ask whether I had remembered the lock correctly.

He stepped into the dressing room and closed the door behind him.

"May I see your hand?"

I looked at the blood collecting in my palm.

Most people touched me without asking. Doctors moved my clothes and pressed cold instruments against my chest. Richard took my arm whenever he wanted me to follow him. Julian used to remove my phone when he thought I was becoming too emotional.

Adrian waited.

I placed my hand in his.

He took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around the cut. His fingers were steady. He did not hold me any longer than necessary.

"Where is Julian?" he asked.

I handed him my phone.

He watched the airport video once. His face did not change when Julian kissed Claire. It changed when Claire called me a sick woman.

"Did Julian take the money?"

"The account was emptied this morning."

"How much?"

"All of it."

Adrian returned the phone.

"My driver is outside. I can take you through the service entrance before the guests see you."

I imagined the ballroom downstairs. The flowers my mother had chosen before she died. The empty place beside the altar. The people who would say Richard had been right about me.

The sick girl had panicked again.

The sick girl could not keep a man.

The sick girl had ruined another important day.

"I don't want to leave through the back door."

"Then tell me what you want."

It was a simple question.

I could not remember the last time anyone had asked it.

"I want to go downstairs."

"Julian isn't there."

"I know."

"Richard will try to control what happens next."

"He already does."

Adrian studied me for several seconds.

"Do you want me to remove him from the building?"

"No. I want him to watch."

The wedding music began below us.

My hands were still shaking. My chest still hurt. None of that changed what I wanted.

I looked at the man in front of me.

"Marry me instead."

Adrian remained completely still.

"You are frightened and injured," he said. "I will not use either condition to obtain an answer from you."

"I'm giving you the answer."

"You are twenty-four."

"And you're fifty-five. I can count."

"I attended your christening."

The difference between us should have embarrassed me. Instead, it made the decision feel safer. Adrian did not need my trust fund. He did not need the Hart family name. He had more money and power than Richard and Julian combined.

"Then you know I'm not a child anymore."

The door opened before he could answer.

Richard entered with two security guards.

"Evelyn is having an episode," he told Adrian. "She needs to lie down."

"I'm not having an episode."

Richard did not look at me.

"She becomes paranoid when she misses her medication."

"You took my medication."

"That is the kind of accusation she makes when she is confused."

One guard stepped toward me.

I moved behind Adrian before I could stop myself.

Richard gave him a tired smile.

"You see the state she's in. Please don't encourage this."

Adrian looked back at me.

"Do you want to leave with Richard?"

"No."

"Do you want either guard to touch you?"

"No."

He faced them again.

"Then no one in this room will touch her."

Richard's expression hardened. "She cannot make a rational decision right now."

"She just made three."

Adrian offered me his arm.

"If you still want to walk downstairs with the old man, Evelyn, I will walk with you."

I placed my hand on his sleeve.

"Not with you," I said.

Richard relaxed too soon.

I looked directly at Adrian.

"I want to walk downstairs as your bride."