Page 32 of Defiled Innocence

That will have to be enough.

“I just don’t want to see you unhappy.” Christian pauses. “Lucas wouldn’t want that.”

“Lucas left me to marry a man I don’t even know. I’m not sure my happiness has anything to do with why he put this stipulation into his will.”

My phone goes off again. Ready to fire back a text telling Dmitri to just give me a few more minutes, I flip the phone over to the screen.

Sorry to bug you on a Saturday. A pipe burst. We’re flooding.

“Dammit.” I type back that I’m on my way. “Sorry, Christian, I really have to go.”

I grab my purse on the way to the door.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s the center. A pipe broke.” I look around at the mess I’ve made of the office.

“I got this. I’ll put the boxes back. Go.” He waves me off.

As I race down the hall and out of the apartment, my phone goes off again. This time Dmitri is calling. Like I don’t have enough problems at this very moment.

I push him to voicemail. When I get the center dealt with, I’ll call him.

Once I explain, he’ll understand.

Amelia

Water-soaked carpet squishes beneath my feet as I walk down the hall toward the stairs. The two meeting rooms in the lower level are still an inch under water, but at least we’ve found the problem.

We’d taken over an old building when we opened the center. Lucas had a thorough inspection done and we’d made a lot of repairs. The pipes had been okay; at least there hadn’t been any problems.

Now, though, the corrosion from being so old was too much and two of them sprang a leak. Thankfully, it’s only affecting the lower-level meeting rooms and we’re able to make do for a little while with the rooms on the main floor.

“Lia!” Sarah hurries to me as soon as I step off the stairs onto dry flooring. “He’s here again.”

“Who’s here?” I brush my hair back from my face, while shaking the excess water from my feet.

My feet are probably all wrinkly from the amount of time I’ve been walking around the water downstairs.

“The big one.” She raises her eyebrows. “Dmitri Dragunov.”

My shoulders drop.

Right. I’m supposed to be getting married right now.

“Is he in my office?” I want to ask how angry he looks, but from the way she came running over to me when she spotted me, I think I have a good idea.

Also, there was the last text message that came through twenty minutes ago.

Obviously, another lesson is needed.

“Yes. And he has other men with him, too. Three of them.” She swallows. “And two of them are just as big as him. None of them look happy.”

I sigh.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she questions after I stay frozen to the floor in silence. “I mean, marrying a man like him… are you sure?”

I grab hold of her hands she’s wringing and squeeze. “He’s not as scary as he looks, Sarah. I promise.”

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