“Matteo—” she breathes.
“Shh.” I step back, close enough to feel her breath, far enough to survive it.
The end’s coming for us.
“We won’t get many more moments like this, little lamb. The countdown’s started.”
I walk away before I do something I can’t undo.
I don’t make it far before a voice cuts through the hall.
“Presenting the O’Brien Family heirs and the brides-to-be who will carry their legacy.”
Light shifts. Cameras flash.
I stop.
She steps under the arch, hand in hand with the man they chose.
My fingers grip the back of my chair until it scrapes against the floor. I sit before I break something.
At the next table, my aunt whispers.Couldn’t they find someone older? Does she even want this?
I don’t hear the answer.
Because the next time I touch her, it might be the last.
Chapter 26
Aoife
The ballroom glitters like sin. Smiles painted on faces trained to lie. Cameras flash. Glasses clink. I stand beside Rory, my skin burning beneath the fabric.
My mother chose the dress, soft blue, long sleeves, neckline high enough to hide every scar her world ever left on me.“It brings out your innocence,”she said.
If only she knew there’s nothing left to bring out.
They dressed me like a bride, but all I feel is caged.
When Matteo left me behind the curtain, something in me cracked. The part that still believed I had a choice.
Now I stand stiff, arm locked through Rory’s as we’re announced.
Cheers. Applause. Whispers.
Messina eyes follow me across the room.
Matteo’s among them.
His stare crawls across my skin like heat under glass. I can’t tell if it’s rage or pain or the same hollow nothing sitting in my chest.
“Smile,” Rory whispers, his hand claiming the small of my back. “You’re mine now.”
I do. I lean in when the cameras flash. A perfect picture. A perfect lie.
Uncle Liam’s toast fills the room, legacy, alliance, empire and every time he saysour bride, something inside me folds smaller.
When the speeches end, I slip away before the applause fades. Conor finds me in the corridor. His smile is practiced.
