Page 239 of A Vicious Love

Better.

I turned away from him because the conversation was done and if I kept looking at him, I would start imagining all the ways this morning could have gone if Sienna didn’t care whether her father came back intact. I was almost at the path when her father spoke behind me.

“Make sure you tell her.”

I stopped.

“The announcement will happen,” he continued.

My fingers flexed once at my side. He should have stopped there. A smarter man would have.

Then again, smart men did not offer Sienna Bellemere to be replaced and expect me to treat the matter like a scheduling inconvenience.

“It won’t change the outcome after the retreat,” he said.

My reflex was violent.

For one bright second, the world narrowed to the fastest path back across the clearing and every breakable part of him. His throat. His jaw. The bones in his hand that had signed whatever adjustment pulled Sienna from my name and presented another woman like an upgrade.

I turned halfway before I caught myself. My hand closed into a fist. The violence stayed there, trapped beneath my skin. Her father saw enough of it to lose the last bit of color in his face.

Good.

He should have been afraid.

Every sane man in that forest should have been afraid. I turned fully back to him.

“There will be no announcement,” I said.

His mouth tightened, but he held my stare. I gave him that.

“The family council has already agreed to the adjustment.”

“I don’t give a fuck what your family council agreed to.”

“This isn’t only your decision.”

“No.” I stepped closer. “It is.”

His eyes flicked toward the trees, looking for witnesses.

“Still want to talk outcomes?”

Some men learned fast when survival entered the conversation.

“You will withdraw Celeste.”

“Jamison—”

“You will withdraw Celeste,” I repeated, quieter. “And if you push this matter again, I remove Celeste.”

I let the silence sit there, let him hear every version of that word.

Remove.

From whatever future her family had started building with my name attached to hers.

Maybe worse. I didn’t clarify. Clarification was for men who deserved comfort.