Page 48 of The Wrong Fiancée

"No, I haven't been sleeping with someone else. That is not why we haven't had sex in weeks. And, no, I'm not cheating on you."

But wasn’t I already guilty when another woman consumed my thoughts?

I had tried to push Elika out of my mind, but I couldn’t. In the past week, I’d come to realize that I wasn’t just fascinated with her—I was half in love with her, had been when I left her in Honolulu, and I was falling the rest of the way now that I’d seen her again. Her beauty, her kindness, her patience, her elegance...fuck, everything about her spoke to me.

I didn't know if I had a chance with Elika, but if I wanted one, and I did want to explore what we could be, I needed to get my life straightened out.

"How can you do this to me?"

I hated this. I hated myself right now. This was my fault. I had rushed us into an engagement.

"I'm so sorry, Fee."

She took a step toward me. "Sorry? I'm going to make you sorry for doing this."

I didn't like being threatened, but I figured she had a right. I was upending her life, breaking my promises. If she wanted to throw a few punches, I had to take them, too.

"After all that I've done?" she sneered. "I helped you with work. I stepped in whenever you needed me. I was there for you. I even made nice with your family, which is something you didn't do with mine."

"Felicity, tell me you can't see that your mother is vindictive and?—"

"What is it with all of you defending thatbitch?" She flung her arms. "Dante threatened us. He actually told us that if my mother or I treated Elika poorly, he'd ask us to vacate our bungalows.Us."

"And you can't see his point?"

"We are wealthy, influential guests. Who the fuck isshe?"

"A valued employee."

"Who's probably fucking Dante." The Felicity I thought I knew, the one with poise, was gone. This woman in front of me was more angry than distraught—but then emotions during a time so fraught couldn't be curated.

"Does it matter what she's doing? This is not about Elika. It's you yelling at the staff, it's making unreasonable demands, it's your mother going out of her way to make someone's life miserable. Can't you see how wrong all of it is?"

My phone beeped in my pocket and I ignored it, knowing it was probably Dante, letting me know that the exhibition was about to start.

"Oh, don't be such a sanctimonious asshole," she flung back at me. "You come from a wealthier family, and I've seen how your mother treats people."

"When have you seen my mother treat someone the way your mother does, Elika?" I demanded.

She snorted. "You know, I thought you're the Archers, oh so fancy. Then I meet your brothers, and they're exactly the way Ithought they'd be. But their wives? God! I haven't met a woman that dumb in my life. Is that what you want?"

"You're confusing education with intelligence." I kept my cool, but my blood was on a slow boil. She went after my mother, which I was fine with, but Emilia and Elsa? Fuck no! No one talked about those women in front of me with disrespect. "And the way you're behaving right now is exactly why we won't work out. You lash out and insult people. I can't spend my life with someone who's that weak."

I should've expected it, but I hadn't, so I couldn't defend myself when she slapped me.

"I'm not weak," she screeched.

She was about to hit me again, but I gently held her wrists away from me. "No violence, Fee. That's not how I roll."

Who the fuck was this woman? And had I just dodged the ugliest bullet?

She wrestled with me. "You're hurting me," she lied.

"I'm barely touching you. I know the difference between defending myself and hurting someone. Cut it out."

I set her down on the sofa. She was vibrating with anger. Her face was coiled with rage, and all that beauty that I had admired wasn't there—what was left was spite, a rot of the soul that I hadn't seen before. She was so much like Ginny, who thought it was a zero-sum game—that if someone else was successful, it took something away from them.

"I'm going to ruin that deal your brother has going on in Sydney," she barked.

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