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

standing exactly where he had been when the assault began, safely out of his mother’s path.

Julian looked from Evelyn to Pastor Thomas, and finally, he looked down at me. The terror in his eyes had morphed into a fearful suspicion.

“Clara?” Julian asked, taking a hesitant half-step toward me, though he made no move to offer his hand to help me up. “Who continue reading …