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“Aww. Don’t we look so happy together.” Sonatina is still simpering over the photos of us that landed on every social news site online in the last hour. She twirls thin strands of pasta around a fork and pops it between her teeth while she concentrates on her phone screen. “You really made it believable.”

“Fine. Great.” I stare at my own phone, the carefully prepared meal in front of me remains untouched. There are no pictures of our engagement on my screen because I don’t give a fuck. Those images... this whole situation... it’s not really us. It’s a caricature of some scene she sees in her head. The couple of photos she flashed at me made me sick to my stomach.

That was before Micah finally got back to me with Marco’s location.

He’s here. In the city. Too close for comfort. And the only place I want to be is with Kelsey. But at least she is surrounded by security. There’s no way he can get to her with Jasper and Rook monitoring her every move.

Still, when Kelsey wouldn’t answer my calls—she has to have seen the fake proposal photos—I texted the band chat. They were on their way back to the hotel. I don’t want her alone with him out there. Not for a minute. Until I can get the fuck out of here and back to her... one or all of them should be with her.

Kelsey is totally going to want to kill me over this scheme Sonatina is pulling. As if I would consider any kind of relationship with this manipulative bitch beyond the one we have for the band.

But she will understand why I had to do it. Right? She must know I wouldn’t ever mean to hurt her again. That’s the last thing I want to do. “Are we done here?”

“Not quite.” Sonatina narrows her gaze on me. “In a hurry, fiancé? Got somewhere more important to be than with the woman you’re going to marry?”

“Fuck yes, I do. We both know this is utter bullshit.”

“And yet, you’re here.” She picks up the crystal flute in front of her. It’s full of golden champagne. She smiles like she’s won an award or something. “Because you really don’t have anywhere else you should be.”

She takes a sip from the long glass.

“I’m done. You got what you wanted. I’m out.” I don’t wait for the response I am sure is coming. Getting up from the table, I stalk across the empty restaurant floor. Sonatina bought the place out so we could commit to this charade. I have my phone in my hand before I reach the exit, where her men stand at attention on either side.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” she says smugly as they move as one to block my path. “Do you want to upset my daddy? You heard how happy he was when we broke the news.”

“You can’t stop me leaving.” Except, yeah, I’ve stopped walking toward the exit, and it’s not because her team is in my way. I’m not scared of them. I’m balancing on a damn tight rope. I have to protect Kelsey. Find evidence against Sonatina. And keep the head of Savant Records happy. The band has worked far too hard for Sonatina to come in and ruin everything now.

“How will it look? The newly engaged couple spending their first night apart because you had to run back to your ex. People will talk. Your reputation will take a hit.”

“I don’t fucking care.”

“But my daddy will.” She shrugs as she circles me. Stepping into my space, she leans in close. “And your bandmates will. Even if that’s just because your ex is acting like a total slut for all of them.”

“What?” How the hell does she know that Kelsey has shared intimate moments with all of us on this tour?

“She’s probably fucking one of them right now,” she taunts as she uses two fingers to brush a stray piece of hair from my brow. “Bronx perhaps? Golden? No, it’s got to be Kodiak.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, you devious bitch.” Did something get leaked on social media? Is that how Marco was able to work out where she would be?

“Perhaps I’m devious.” She pats my shoulders, like she’s making sure I’m presentable. “But that doesn’t make what I’m saying any less true. People rarely care about facts. They care about the story. Even when the two are in direct contrast it doesn’t stop them from believing what they want to believe. Which is why you are going to give me what I want.”

My phone starts to ring. It’s Rook.

My heart pounds, and the pit in my stomach widens. The hairs on the back of my arms stand up.

I answer it and hold it to my ear despite Sonatina’s glare. “Talk to me.”

“I thought you should know... he showed up at the hotel. He tried to take her. Almost did, but we got there in time. She’s pretty banged up, but otherwise okay.”

“What?” Marco shouldn’t have been able to get to her. It shouldn’t have been possible. She was never alone. I made sure of that. “How did he get so close without anyone stopping him?”

His response is too slow. It twists me up inside. “She was leaving, wasn’t she?”

“She had her things,” he finally says. “And she’d told Jasper his services no longer applied to her. Marco found her in the carpark.”

My Little Vandal. She would never have surrendered easily. “She fought him...”

“She fought him with everything she had,” he says. “It kept him from getting her in the car before we could get to her. She’s a lucky girl.”