The mayor tried to ruin me at the altar—until the pastor spoke a single name that brought the entire ceremony to a halt

existence, and I felt a profound, icy calm wash over the pain in my battered body.

“You’re right, Evelyn,” I said, my voice steady, cutting through her hysteria. “I would rather die than take your family’s name.”

Julian flinched as if I had physically struck him. He stared at me, his mouth opening and closing, his eyes wide with a pathetic, overwhelming continue reading …