Page 347 of A Vicious Love

Released from all bride obligations.

No longer required to attend Crow family contract events. Prior token ring rendered ceremonial and void. Future obligation transferred under amended bride designation. My breath went very quiet. There was an attached file. A formal Bellemere seal. A Crow countersignature block. Dated the first night of the retreat.

The first night.

I clicked out of the document because my vision had blurred and Veil sat behind it, still open.

A post had risen near the top of my feed from some Harlan society archive account.

The photo loaded slowly.

Veyr House.

Black marble. Harrison beside a woman I didn’t recognize. Marcel and Emmie near the stairs.

And Jamison.

Jamison standing in black, expression remote, with Celeste Bellemere beside him. Her hand rested on his forearm.

The caption read: Jamison Crow attends first formal appearance under amended Bellemere bride designation. Celeste Bellemere received by the Crow family at Veyr House.

The date was the night the retreat began. The night before he came to House Alder. My body went cold from the inside outward.

Jamison was still on the phone, still holding me against him as if I belonged there. Every kiss in this car hadn’t become a joke the second my screen lit up. I looked at the picture until it stopped making sense.

The cousin I had hugged at the lake. The woman he had kept warning away with that strange coldness I had mistaken for Jamison being Jamison.

He was engaged to Celeste. Maybe everyone had known except me. I closed the document.

Locked my phone.

Placed it carefully in my lap.

Jamison ended the call and looked down at me. “Baby?”

I lifted my face.

I had been trained for rooms full of watching people. Training was a terrible thing until you needed it.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “With work?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll handle it.”

I nodded.

He studied me for one second too long. “You went quiet.”

“I’m tired.”

He softened at once, which was cruel in a way he probably couldn’t imagine. “Come here.”

I went because I had to survive the rest of the drive. He drew me back against his chest and kissed the top of my head. I lay there with my cheek pressed to him, listening to his heart, while the photo burned behind my eyes.

Had he wanted one last time?