Matthew, my fiancé…Ugh, God, I want to claw that word out of my mouth. He uses the word, but we both know that he’s buying me. He’s buying my virginity because that’s the only way he can get the kind of girl he wants. I refuse to look at him or any of his family members in an act of defiance. I want to break down in tears, but there isn’t time for that. It’s clear to me that Riven isn’t going to come back for me, and that was a silly little fairytale dream that has long since sailed away. I’m going to have to save myself, even if that means I don’t make it out of this alive. Because that’s what it comes down to. The man who adopted me made that clear. I either comply this time or he’s going to snap my neck. I feel his hand around my neck, around my wrists, gripping my jaw painfully. My ‘mother’...that word feels absolutely bitter on my tongue, isn’t any better. I sigh when I think about how she covered up the marks her husband left on my skin with makeup.

The asshole who is buying me is sitting too close to me, and he’s enjoying that I hate this. That I hate him. His thigh brushes mine every time he shifts, and I want to carve that smirk off of his stupid face right here in front of everyone. His hand rests on the table, waiting for mine. Expectant. Disgusting. Every breath he takes feels like an invasion of my literal will to live. Every second he sits beside me feels like a countdown to my burial. I was told that Riven was offered a coveted spot on the Castlebrook University hockey team and he couldn’t turn it down. I don’t believe them. Riven wouldn’t leave me for hockey, and they wouldn’t have sent him away so he could go off and have fun at some fancy school. He’s too valuable here, so wherever he went off to is benefiting our parents I’m sure. That doesn’t mean I’m not pissed at him for not saying goodbye, for not telling me anything. I feel hollow, beaten down. I feel like I’ve got nothing left to look forward to.

Across from me, Lucas swirls his wine like he thinks he looks posh, but he just looks like the pretentious dickwad Riven always said he was. He’s loving every second of this. Lucas is Dimitri and Karina’s biological son. Their golden boy. The son who wore the right mask, but didn’t have the natural ability to be a leader the way Riven did. He keeps catching my eye like this is some kind of inside joke, like we’re both in on the farce of my engagement.