Page 210 of Wicked Brutal

Despite everything, I almost laugh. “Okay.”

“And because Victor’s a fucking creep.”

There. My stomach tightens. “What do you know about him?”

Bella’s face closes. “Enough.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that.”

“Then maybe stop asking questions you don’t want answers to.”

“I do want answers.”

“No.” The word is immediate. “You want out.” I go completely still. Bella does too. For one horrible second, I wonder if she knows everything. Ryan. The baby. Arthur. Tobias. All of it. Then she speaks. “There’s a difference.”

I swallow. “You don’t know that I want out.”

She looks at me. “Please.”

“What?”

“I’ve spent my entire life watching women smile beside men they fucking hate.” My heart beats harder. “Victor doesn’t want a wife.”

The hallway suddenly feels too quiet. “What does he want?”

Bella takes too long to answer. “Something that behaves.”

My stomach rolls. “Why would you say that?”

Her jaw tightens. “Because I’ve seen him.”

“Bella.”

Her eyes come back to mine. “Just…” She stops. Starts again. “If you have a way out, take it.”

My pulse pounds in my ears. “What makes you think I do?”

“I don’t.”

“You just said—“

“I said if.” She steps closer. Not threatening. Not invading. Just close enough that she can lower her voice. “And if you don’t have one yet, find one.”

I stare at her. “Why?”

Something shutters behind her eyes. “Because men like Victor don’t get easier after the wedding.”

Men like Victor.

Before I can ask, she steps away.

I stand there for another second. Watching her disappear around the corner. My hand moves unconsciously toward my stomach. I stop it before it gets there.

Bella doesn’t know. She can’t know. But she knows something. Something about Victor. Something about the kind of man he is. And suddenly I understand why Ryan looked at me the way he did when he told me Bella’s name was on that paperwork. Why three girls from the same circle had forms started within days of each other. Why Bella Whelan — who barely knows me — just looked me in the eye and told me to run.

I don’t know what connects us.

Not yet.