linging to his arm was Chloe Davis, his associate, her eyes gleaming with a triumphant malice that was somehow more chilling than Liam' s co

of the stage, a king and his ne

sharp and clear. "A true daughter of high society, brought low. Think of the stor

elty designed to strip away the last of my dignity. He was mak

oice was barely audible, but I knew he heard me. "Don't do this. M

take? The only mistake was me believing you were any differen

they were filled with pure, unadulterated hate. I had never understood her animosity towards me during the ye

ore terrifying than a shout. "He smiled in my father's face while plotting his ruin. He drove a goo

t for vengeance. He had convinced himself that this brutality was justified, tha

his call. "Do I hear

old and bloated with w

d thousand g

nd the man I once loved beneath this hardened shell of hate. "Liam... rememb

ut it was gone as quickly as it came. He replaced it with a mask of

made the bile rise in my throat. He took a single, perfect red rose fro

to the crowd. "Whoever wins her tonight," he announced, "gets to

e silk of my dress. A symbol of our dead love, now a tool for my public degradation. The