Page 4 of The Rancher's Jilted Bride

Not good.

Micah's gaze swung sharply in her direction all of a sudden. "What are you looking at?"

"I just...are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," the other woman snarled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Because you're drunk.

The words hovered at the tip of her tongue, but even when Heaven managed to hold them back, it seemed as if Micah had still heard her, with the way the older woman was now staring at her with unconcealed rage.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I—-"

"You think you know everything about me?"

"I didn't mean—-"

"Shut up! Just shut up! You think you're better than me because you're younger? Because you're sober and I'm not? Watch and learn, darling."

Heaven's blood turned cold when Micah suddenly started walking down the runway, and the level of intoxication became all the more evident. "Please—-"

"Fuck you! Can't you see I've got——"

Everything happened too fast after that.

Micah falling off the runway just as Madame Arquette entered the training room—-

"Mon Dieu, Micah!"

The other girls gasping in horror as their gazes flew from Heaven to Micah—-

"She pushed me, Madame! She pushed me!"

And all Heaven could do was stand there in shock as a sobbing Micah picked herself up from the floor and ran past her in a cunning reversal of roles.

It was as if she was the one who had been bullying Micah all this time, and Heaven didn't know whether to laugh or cry as Madame Arquette demanded shrilly for an explanation.

If I act fast now, I can get them to test her with a breathalyzer from the clinic, and they'll know Micah was drunk.

But after that, Micah could lose her career for good.

If I don't say a word in my defense, I could lose my scholarship.

And isn't that what I've wanted all along?

Could this be fate making my decision for me?

Hale

NAME: HEAVEN GAINES

Age: 18

Previous employment: Dancer

Educational attainment: High school graduate

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