Page 154 of Mile High Ex's Dad
“Yes,” Alina says, and this time there’s iron in it. “Because you are in your wedding dress on the lawn in front of your guests, and if you have any pride left at all, you will stop shouting.”
Camille stares at her, breathing hard.
The whole lawn feels too exposed. Guests pretending not to stare and failing. Staff frozen at the edges of the scene. Bridesmaids clustered near the chapel, whispering already.
Viktor says, “Inside.”
No one argues.
Even Ethan seems to understand there are too many eyes here now and too many stories already being born.
Alina walks right up to Camille. “Please.”
“What if I don’t want to go inside?” she challenges.
“You’re lucky I have as much restraint as I do right now,” Viktor says quietly. “Especially with the stunt you pulled today.” His voice has changed. The anger is still there, but now it is held so tightly it sounds almost quiet.
Alina looks at him. “What?”
“Camille invited Mikhail Voronin,” Viktor tells her.
The words go through the group like a blade.
His name seems important.
Anna’s head turns first. Ethan blinks as if the name takes a second to land. Alina just stares at Viktor.
“What?”
“He’s here,” Viktor says. “On the guest list. Her invitation.”
For the first time since she stepped onto the lawn, Alina looks genuinely shaken. “No.”
Viktor doesn’t soften. “I just spoke to him.”
Anna’s face has gone very still.
Ethan looks from one to the other. “Voronin is here?”
No one answers him.
Alina finally finds her voice. “Why would she do that?”
“That,” Viktor says, “is exactly what I want to know.”
Camille’s expression changes for the first time since she came at me. Not guilt. Not exactly. More like fury interrupted by something she did not expect him to say in public.
Alina looks at her in disbelief. “Tell me that isn’t true.”
“First of all, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. And even if I did invite him, so what? You seriously can’t be shifting the blame to me, of all people, for something so silly.”
“Silly?” Alina scoffs.
They’ve already started to move. Viktor’s threat obviously got to Camille even though she tries not to show it.
Yuri is moving in from the far side of the lawn again, alert without looking frantic. Nadine stands near the front chairs, pale and still, clearly wondering whether she should salvage the flowers or the people first.
I take one breath and then another, trying to steady myself enough to move.
