Chapter 3

Victor caught up with me on the stairs and grabbed my wrist.

His fingertips brushed my bandage. I gasped in pain and shook him off. "Don't touch me. I need to change. I've already wasted too much time."

He relaxed and even looked a little smug. "In a hurry to get all dolled up to marry me? Fine, I was wrong. Once we're married, you'll have the final say at home."

That promise had come too late to mean anything to me.

I was about to answer when Vivian suddenly cried out in pain downstairs.

She was holding on to the brass railing in the lobby, deathly pale and bent over, one hand pressed to her stomach. "Victor, I'm fine. You go be with Erin. Don't worry about me."

Victor turned and rushed down to her. He swept Vivian up in his arms and shouted for the bodyguards to get the doctor who'd come with them. He was so frantic that he even forgot I was standing on the stairs.

The guests at the entrance stared, stunned.

"Wait, did he just carry off the one in the wedding dress?"

"And the bride's still standing right there. This Kane wedding is really something."

Lucy swore under her breath and turned to me. "Erin, he's a lost cause."

I pressed a hand to my wound. "That's why I don't want him anymore. Come on. My groom is still waiting for me."

Arthur's people had already brought a deep burgundy velvet gown to the West Hall. The collar was trimmed with antique beads, and it came with a small gold tiara. It wasn't the white gown brides usually wore in Gray Harbor, but it suited me. It also put me far more at ease than the one I'd spent months preparing myself, which someone else now had on.

When Lucy picked up the gown, she glanced carefully at the old shawl I was wearing. It was a precious heirloom my mother had left me. The hand-embroidered design in gold and silver thread was more than 100 years old. Arthur knew how much it meant to me, so he'd specifically asked the seamstress to include it in my new wedding outfit.

But Victor's voice came from the dressing room next door. Vivian had been settled on a long sofa, and just as the doctor was about to examine her, she clutched her stomach and moaned. "It's nothing serious. My stomach's been upset. Victor, could you go downstairs and get me a cup of hot milk? Once I drink it, I can be there with you for the wedding."

Victor's face creased with worry. "Someone else can go."

"Nobody else knows what I can drink," she pleaded softly. "Just for a minute, okay?"

In the end, he went anyway.

When Lucy and I ran into Vivian at the end of the hallway, she was already standing on her own, looking perfectly healthy.

"Erin," she said, looking at me gently, "don't blame Victor for carrying me. I've been like this since I was little, and he's used to taking care of me. If you really marry him, you'll have to get used to it."

Lucy stepped forward, but I held her back.

"You hired the man last night, didn't you?" I asked. "And today you used the traffic restrictions as an excuse to draw the convoy away, then stalled the wedding. How far are you planning to take this?"

Vivian's fingers visibly trembled. A moment later, she straightened the wedding dress she'd stolen and finally stopped pretending she was about to cry.

"It was me. So what?" she sneered. "No matter how capable you are in this city, you don't deserve to stand next to Victor. When he got hurt at seven, I was the one sitting by his bed. The first time his family brought him into the council room, I was the one who fixed his bow tie. Every elder in the Kane family thought I'd be the one to marry him in the end. What gives you the right to come along and steal him?"

"Five years ago, when he proposed to me, nobody was holding a gun to his head," I said, looking at her. "Besides, even without me, he never said he'd marry you."

Her face darkened, and she took a step closer. "Don't get cocky. You saw that drunk last night, didn't you? It took me a long time to find him. He's big and strong, he owes a fortune in gambling debts, and he'll do anything for money. I told him to ruin you and make sure everyone heard about it."

Lucy's breath caught. "How dare you..."

"You think I wouldn't dare?" Vivian laughed. "Don't you always say when you're cutting deals at the port that if you want to win, you have to be more ruthless than everyone else? I've only picked up the basics."

There wasn't a shred of guilt in her eyes.

"I don't think you've heard where that man is now," I said.

"What, he hasn't found you yet?"

"He found me." I held up my bandaged arm. "When he lunged at me with the knife, I took it from him and broke three of his ribs. The man who came to help me handed him over to the police. He's already told them who paid him."

The smile on Vivian's face finally froze.