Page 185 of I’m The Worst

“Jesus. You’re really this stupid?”

“Fuck you, Gage. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am! Which is why I’m telling you to wake the hell up. David is a good match. The wedding is happening. This isn’t some fucking fairy tale, AJ. It’s politics and bloodlines and power. You’ve always known this.”

“I won’t marry him.”

He leans across the table, his voice dropping lower. “This is bigger than you, bigger than your feelings, your choices. This is the Sovereign. You don’t get to say no.”

I feel the walls closing in, the way they always do when someone reminds me what I am—what I was raised to be. I stare down at my plate and shove a piece of fruit across it with my fork, suddenly unable to breathe.

“Look…you’ll adjust, AJ. You’ll get used to it.”

I look up at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?” I let out a humorless laugh. “I’m so fucking tired of having this conversation with you.”

“AJ—”

“No.” I shake my head. “For once… just once… I want to talk to my brother without you sounding like every other Sovereign in my life.”

His expression falls.

“Every time I tell you I’m scared, you tell me to adjust. Every time I tell you I don’t want this, you tell me to accept it. Every conversation ends with you defending them instead of listening to me.” My throat tightens. “I don’t need another Commander, Gage. I already have enough people telling me how my life is supposed to end. I just want my brother.” Pushing up from the table, I grab my purse. “I can’t do this right now.”

He starts to say something else, but my phone begins ringing inside my bag. I don’t even check the screen before answering, already halfway across the restaurant and grateful for the excuse to walk away.

“Hello?”

“AJ.” It’s a woman’s voice.

I stop near the front windows, my grip tightening on the phone. “Who is this?”

“It’s Miranda.”

Miranda?

“We met in Russia,” she says quickly. “At the café near Nevsky.”

A cold shiver slides down my spine.

I remember. The café Wolff brought me too…

“Yeah,” I say slowly, turning away when I catch Gage watching me from the table. “I remember. Uhh…why are you calling me?”

“Can we meet?”

My stomach tightens with nerves. “I don’t know⁠—”

“Please.” Her voice sharpens with urgency. “It’s important.”

Every alarm in my body starts going off at once.

“What’s important?”

“Not over the phone.” Her breathing crackles through the line. “The park on Fifth and Pine. One hour.”

“Miranda—”

The line goes dead.