I won’t allow it.

I finally let go of her, wishing I could cast her away altogether and be done with it. “Save your apologies, Lainey. I don’t want them.”

Her gaze turns pleading. “I’m as helpless in all of this as you are.”

“You aren’t,” I snap.

“What have I done that’s so wrong?” she cries. “How have you managed to spin this to make me the villain? I won’t go against my grandmother’s wishes, Emmett. I’m merely doing as she asks of me. Don’t you understand?”

“Don’t I understand?” My temper is threatening to do me in. “Who better understands your situation than me? You think you’re the only one having to bend to a dictator? Try growing up with my father.”

She has nothing to say to that, and so we stand there, breathing heavily, our gazes locked in a silent standoff. I can feel my temper rising like a great wave. I’m so close to surrendering to this anger once and for all.

Lainey doesn’t flee. She has no good sense at all. If she did, she never would have betrayed me like this in the first place.

I tuck my hands into my pockets and take a step back, placing a purposeful distance between us. “So then we’ve reached an impasse.”

“I suppose so,” she says, briefly looking out into the crowd as if trying to keep herself from getting more emotional.

“You know I was wrong about you, Lainey. The courage I thought I saw in you…it doesn’t exist.”

She chuckles sadly under her breath, but there’s an unyielding hardness to it, to her, as she looks back at me with rage.

“Oh, really? I’m the weak one? I’m standing up to you right now, aren’t I? I’m holding my ground when you seem intent on intimidating me, punishing me as if you’re judge, jury, and executioner.” She steps forward and presses her finger hard against my chest as she continues with unrestrained fury. “I’ve worked my entire life to pay for my mother’s mistakes, to remind my grandmother of the good inside me. I won’t mess this up. If you’re set on getting out of the engagement, get out of it—but stop blaming me. You’re delusional if you think you don’t deserve this punishment as much as I do. You toyed with me in Italy knowing full well it would push Royce away. Do you think people are playthings? Did you think there would be no consequences? I don’t feel bad for you, Emmett.”

“This entire thing is a sham.”

She shrugs, unbothered by the notion.

“Then let it be,” she challenges. “You’re French—act like it. Surround yourself with a bevy of blondes like the one I just saw you with and forget I exist.”

“With pleasure.”

Her mouth opens in shock as if I’ve finally succeeded in deeply wounding her.

Fuck.

I almost reach out to take ahold of her again. I lift my hand, but she’s turning away, moving back into the crowd, leaving me like I’m not her husband-to-be, like she doesn’t belong to me. There’s no way to see past my anger. I can’t get out of my own way. She’s in cahoots with my father and her grandmother, and that betrayal cuts deep. She’s chosen her side and I’ll choose mine.