Page 21 of Sinful Lies

“I don’t fucking believe you.”

I turn around to face Alexei. “You don’t have to.”

“Announcing an engagement to Zara barely a week after I asked you to marry Lucia… It all seems a little too convenient.”

“You can think whatever you want,brat,but you asking me to marry Lucia was the final push I needed to make things official with Zara. I knew from the moment I met her that I wanted her to be my wife. I was just waiting for the right time to pop the question.”

“Howdidyou pop the question?”

I whirl around to see Bianca strolling toward us holding a bottle of champagne.

Emily follows with the glasses. “Ooh! I want to hear this too!”

I look at Zara who’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen, her face pale as she glances anxiously around at all of us.

“I haven’t technically asked her yet.”

“What do you mean?” Bianca frowns. “You just said you were getting married.”

“If you must know, I was waiting to officially ask her in front of our family.” I reach into my pocket, pulling out a blue velvet ring box.

“Oh, my god,” Zara whispers, her eyes going wide as I walk over to her and slowly lower myself to one knee.

“Zara Mullens, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

6

ZARA

“I was kiddingabout the ridiculously expensive diamond.”

I look down at the huge oval diamond set on a thin rose gold band.

It’s stunning and exactly the sort of ring I always dreamed of having…

“My fiancée deserves to have a diamond.” Dimitri has a huge smile on his face.

I can barely breathe.

Once he slides that ring on my finger, there’s no going back.

“So, is that yes?”

I was the girl who used to daydream about her wedding when she was six years old. And as I got older, I made countless Pinterest boards with flower arrangements, table settings, bridesmaid dresses, and cake recipes so that when my time came, I would know exactly what I wanted.

I used to fantasize about a huge proposal with candles and rose petals and champagne, and a ring that would take my breath away.

But most of all, I used to think about how happy I would feel as my future husband slid that ring onto my finger and called me his.

Can I really put that all aside and marry a man I barely know? A man I haven’t evenkissed?

I don’t really have much of a choice.

“Yes.”

Time seems to slow as Dimitri pulls the ring out of the box and slides it onto my ring finger before climbing to his feet.

The sound of cheering fills my ears as Dimitri takes my face in his hands and crashes his lips against mine.

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