Page 20 of Broken Mercy
What the hell is Brenden doing here?
A cold worry shivers into my guts.
He’s not the type of man who shows up at places for no reason, much less at my dress fitting.
Not that I even told him this was happening.
As far as I know, Brenden’s not very interested in wedding planning. That fell entirely on me, and when I didn’t bother, Annie picked up the slack.
I’ll probably thank my sister one day for everything she’s doing, even if I don’t want any of it.
Today though?
I need to figure out why the hell my arranged fiance is lurking nearby.
He’s moving away from me, navigating down the block smoothly. I’m gaining, but slowly. I keep my eyes on him, never looking away, afraid I’ll lose him if I do. He turns a corner and I have to pick up my pace when he’s out of sight, heart pattering fast in my chest. I start cursing at myself for not doing more cardio; I’m sweating and out of breath. It’s a bit pathetic.
I find him again once I’m around the bend, like he was waiting for me. Brenden’s near a car, looking across the street at something. He starts moving to the left, angling to a narrow alley between two sets of buildings. I catch a glimpse of his pants and shoes as he turns and disappears.
This is my chance. I start running full-out, panting hard. I look unhinged. My heels clack wildly and my arms pump like I’m trying to win a marathon, but damn it, I’m going to corner him where he can’t get away. I come around the corner, careening wildly, and I have to grab on to the edge of a fence to keep myself from skidding ass-over-teeth.
The alley’s empty.
There’s nobody, only a clean, well-cleared narrow space between fencelines that goes on for the entire length of the block. It’s not possible he made it all the way across before I reached the entrance.
I walk forward, confusion turning to shock turning to anger.
The fucker got away.
I’m not sure how he did it. One second, he was stalking me, and now he’s gone like a ghost. I peer over a few fences and find empty, quiet back yards with no sign of a sneaky, lying, shady, freaky asshole hiding anywhere.
“Brenden!” I call, cupping my hands around my mouth. “I know you’re nearby! I just want to talk!”
Silence.
No answer.
I curse myself and trudge to the far end of the alley, to be sure. There’s nothing at all, no sign of him, no hint anyone but me has been down this way in forever.
This is stupid, but an idea hits me. I reach into my pocket, thinking I’ll see if I can fetch my sister to help me comb the area, when I come up short.
There’s an unfamiliar object in my pocket.
With trembling hands, I extract a ring.
The thing’s beautiful, clearly meant for an engagement, with a massive stone and several smaller stones inset around it. Whoever bought this monstrosity paid a lot of money.
It’s beautiful. Gorgeous, actually, the exact sort of ring I would’ve said I wanted whenever I bothered thinking about marriage, which was never very often.
I couldn’t imagine myself ever walking down the aisle. Not in this life, anyway. How could that happen, if every man I’ve ever brought into my world has been scared away by some combination of my brothers and my father?
Except here’s a ring.
“Brenden?” I say, not bothering to yell. “I really hope you can hear me… because this is weird.”
Again, nothing.
No sign he’s listening. No hint he’s waiting nearby.
