Page 105 of Corrupted Heart

“No, Dad,” I smile, taking his hand and pulling him back as I shake my head. “It’s fine. Really.”

“I just…” He sighs. “I know you’d have looked gorgeous in it, that’s all.” He glares at the mess in the garment bag. “Now what.”

“Well,” I shrug. “There’s always the fifteen grand one.”

He snorts. “Do you like it?”

I don’t love it. I wish with everything I have that I could wear my mother’s own wedding dress instead. But it is what it is.

“I do, yeah,” I smile, squeezing his hand.

Dad smacks the table. “Then that’s settled. I’ll send someone over now to scoop it up.”

I throw my arms around him and hug him fiercely. Then I feel his arms tighten a little more, like he doesn’t ever want to let go.

“I’m sorry for all of this, Bumblebee,” he says softly.

I shake my head, still hugging him. “I did this, Dad.”

“Yeah, but I promised you a long time ago?—”

“Dad.”

I pull back, smiling quietly into his eyes as I shake my head. “It’s okay.”

And it’s not just “okay” because I’m going to put on a brave face and deal with this.

…It might just be because the idea of marrying Kratos doesn’t sound so terrible anymore.

Not terrible at all, actually.

We skip the usual bonus festivities of a wedding. There’s no rehearsal dinner. No out-of-towners shindig. And as much as Milena yells, there’s no bachelorette party, either.

And without those little steps along the way, it’s a sudden thing when it hits me one night: I’m getting married the very next day.

In lieu of the bachelorette party—which I’m not sure my head or my nerves would have been in the right place for anyway—the night before the wedding, Milena, Naomi, and Tempest come over to my apartment to have dinner with me on my last night in the place.

Milena brings pizza from Lucali’s, which is without question the best in New York. And Tempest grins as she reveals the three bottles of insanely old wine she swiped from my brother’s personal cellar.

I show Tempest the wedding dress I finally settled on the other day. Part of me is still a little sad about not being able to wear my mother’s dress, destroyed as it was. But everyone loves the one I picked out. It’s fine.

We’re just sitting down to eat at the kitchen island when there’s a knock at the door. I slug back some wine before I walk over and open it. Matteo, one of my dad’s men, greets me with a stiff nod, his bulky frame filling the doorway.

“Evening, Ms. Sartorre,” he grunts. “You’ve got a visitor.”

My brows fly up when he steps aside and I lay eyes on Callie, standing behind him with a huge garment bag in her arms.

“Hi,” Kratos’ sister smiles at me.

“Come in!” I nod to Matteo that it’s okay, and he steps aside to let Callie into the apartment. She gives a little wave to the other girls when she spots them, and I wince. “I didn’t have a bachelorette party, so…” My brows knit. “Shit, I’m an asshole. I should have invited you. Sorry.”

“Please,” she waves me off. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just here playing delivery girl.” She bites back a smile as she thrusts out her arms, presenting me with the garment bag. “Compliments of my big dumb brother.”

I smile curiously as I take the bag. “Can I look?”

She winks. “I’d recommend it.”

Over in the living room area, I drape the bag across the couch and unzip it. It takes me a second, but when I realize what I’m looking at, my breath catches. My eyes go wide as my hand flies to my mouth.

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