Page 102 of The Viper's Wife

Dread plunges into my bones as I take the bag and slide it toward me with trembling hands—from rage or fear, I don’t know.

I unzip the bag.

And that’s how I find my fiancée’s secret pile of cash.

19

VALERIA

“Another one!”

The champagne bubbles float straight to my head as I give a wide smile. “The other eight dresses were also fine.”

On the long, sage green couch across me, Lacey and Mei boo.

Alessia holds her champagne flute aloft in a toast. “Fineis not acceptable for a Matassa wedding. It must be perfection.” She takes a swig. “Plus, I don’t like the way that shade of white is washing you out. You look seasick.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Lacey chimes in from Mei’s lap. “But if you don’t try on another dress, we don’t get to keep drinking champagne.”

“Yeah, come on,” Mei cheers. “Do it for us!”

Ruth watches all of this from the corner of the couch with a tipsy smile and an empty glass. Alessia came in, stomped all over Ruth’s wedding plans and said she was taking over, but truth be told, I think Ruth’s relieved not to have the entire responsibility of a mob wedding on her hands.

“Alright, alright,” I say, waving off the rabble. “Just one more.”

The women outside the dressing room chantjust one more, just one moreas I slide the curtain closed.

I undress quickly, grateful that Alessia kicked out the boutique owner with what sounded like a sizable bribe, so we could have the whole place to ourselves.

I’m already wearing one of the cream lingerie sets that Alessia and I picked out yesterday, and when the dress drops from my body, I can’t help but stare.

I look really good.

I’ve never been self-conscious about my body—besides a brief period of hating it intensely in high school which is practically a horrible teen girl rite of passage—but now, in the soft dressing room lighting and my heels on, I feel like a goddess.

I understand now why Dad would take Mom on shopping trips after each of their fights. The feel of new clothes, the quiet murmur of luxury from the boutique, it’s all convincing me that I’m powerful. I’m important.

I wonder what Nico will say when he sees me in this.

I turn away from the mirror to pick up the next dress and pull it on.

I’m not supposed to care about this, right?

I’m supposed to be searching for a suitable replacement for myself—something I haven’t thought about seriously since the engagement party. Everything has been too chaotic, and now Alessia’s keeping me busy with wedding planning.

And, I don’t know—every time I wake up to Nico’s gentle, sleeping face or open the fridge to see a new sweet treat that he’s brought me, I don’t want to do anything that could burst this bubble.

Something’s changed.

Lacey and Mei can see it. They share knowing little glances every time I mention Nico in passing.

Alessia took me aside and said I should forgive her brother’s many, many flaws, which she then listed and ticked off on her fingers—reckless, annoying, callous, too soft, bad fashion sense, truly exasperating, bad listener, punitive, irritating—because once I got past those, she promised me there wouldn’t be a man alive who would love me as fiercely and loyally as Nico would. She said she’d never, ever seen him look at a woman the way he looked at me, which made prickles of electricity race across my skin and bury in the center of my chest. She then made me swear under punishment of death never to repeat any of her compliments to him.

I tie up the dress as best as I can by myself and turn toward the mirror again.

I see now what Alessia was saying about the last dress washing me out, though I still don’t understand how she can detect that so easily, especially as tipsy as she should be.

The dress I have on now makes me feel like a cherub has thrown a net of pearls and diamonds onto me. It’s a simple splendor, with off-the-shoulder details and a smooth, skin-tight bodice that spills into a fluffy princess skirt. I’ve never felt more beautiful in my life.