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“I mean, I saw the news about you getting arrested. Have you started wedding planning now that you’re out?” She placed her hand on her hip and looked at me with an exaggerated expression of concern. “That must have made it pretty hard to focus on the wedding. I can’t imagine how scared you must have been.” There was a slightly mocking hint to her tone that made my skin crawl. I could hear Vinny’s breath hitch at her words, and he shifted as if to stand. I shot him a warning look and he remained where he was, but there was anger on his face that was unmistakable. “Natalia didn’t even buy that dress she wanted,” Bianca added.
My head snapped toward her at those words. The argument I’d had with Natalia when she came back from the bridal shop flashed through my mind and a cold feeling washed over me.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Oh,” she said innocently. “Didn’t you know? I ran into her at the bridal shop. She tried on this really gorgeous dress, but it sounded like she couldn’t afford the down payment.” A halfcocked grin spread on her face at the implication. It was the kind of smirk you saw on people when they were feeling superior.
I wanted to wipe it off her face, but I needed to hear where she was going with this.
“Well, the dress was so beautiful, I just couldn’t help myself,” she said with a giggle. “I bought it right then and there. It looks absolutely perfect on me.”
I stopped trying to control my facial expression and glared at her openly. She had intentionally taken Natalia’s dress. It was just like Natalia had told me. I hated myself for not believing her immediately.
This woman had not only upset Natalia, but she had also caused an argument between us. Now she was bragging about it with that fake, mocking laugh and a smirk on her face. It filled me with rage.
“Get away from me,” I said carefully.
Bianca’s smile melted into fear, and she took two quick steps backward. “I’m just trying to be friendly,” she said defensively. “I figured you could use a friendly face after spending so much time in prison.”
She straightened up and rolled her shoulders, then smiled again. She let her eyes rove over me in a way that was so obvious it was almost obscene. She took a step forward and gently pressed her fingertips into my shoulder. “I guess you’re not used to receiving a kind touch,” she added. She did a half turn but didn’t stop touching me. “Until we meet again,” she said in a suggestive tone.
She dragged her fingers across me as she strolled away.
I had to close my eyes and focus all my energy on not losing my temper. She had the absolute gall to insult my Natalia, mock me, and make a pass at me all at once?
Had she forgotten completely who I was, or did she just have a death wish?
Vinny cleared his throat after a few moments, and I turned to face him.
“Is she going to be a problem?” he asked in a hushed tone.
I grimaced. Natalia may have been right about Bianca all along. She did seem to be taking joy in interfering in our wedding planning. It was possible that she was doing it all intentionally. If that was true, it was the least of my worries.
The wedding was going to be everything we dreamed of—I would make sure of that. Nothing would stop me from giving Natalia the day she wanted down to the smallest detail.
The bigger concern was that Bianca seemed to always know where we were going to be and what we were doing in regard to the wedding. How did she have all this information about us?
Was she actually stalking Natalia? It would be a completely foolish thing for her to do, but it was just possible that she was stupid enough to try it.
Was she going to be a problem? I looked up at Vinny and answered his question honestly.
“I’m afraid so.”
*Natalia*
I was in the sitting room making myself a drink. I didn’t really need it, but I wasn’t sure what else to do with myself right now. I was far more worked up than I should have been.
I tried not to let the dress issue ruin the rest of my day out with Mia, but it had weighed on my mind the entire time we’d been out. Eventually we agreed to make an appointment at a different bridal shop to look for bridesmaid dresses. I knew what color and fabric I wanted now, but that was it.
I wanted to look at more gowns, too.
The perfect dress was still out there somewhere, and no I had no idea what it might look like.
I didn’t want a dress that looked anything like what Bianca was going to wear. That might have been petty, but it made me angry to even think about the smug look on her face when she bought that dress. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of thinking she stole something from me.
I didn’t hear Tallon when he entered the room, so when his hands landed on my waist I jumped and shouted.
When I whirled around, ready to hit someone, he was standing with his hands up defensively.
“I’m sorry,” he said with amusement clear in his voice. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I didn’t hear you come in,” I said. I pressed my hand to my chest and took a deep breath. “You’re going to scare me to death,” I muttered.
“What has you so jumpy?” he asked with concern.
I sighed and shrugged helplessly. I abandoned my drink and turned to give him my full attention. “It’s nothing important, I was just distracted. Mia and I went to look at dresses and I found out that Bianca definitely bought the dress that I wanted….”
I trailed off. I didn’t really want to get into this topic again. Tallon had been so skeptical of me before and I didn’t want to fight with him.
“I know,” he said.
I stared at him in shock. “You do?”
A sour look came over his face as he replied, “I ran into Bianca. She told me outright that she took your dress.”
“I knew it,” I said angrily. “Why is she doing this? What the hell is she trying to accomplish?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I think that you’re right. She clearly has some scheme in the works, and her goal seems to be to ruin our wedding.”
I was torn between relief and anger. Tallon believed me, he didn’t think that I was imagining things or being oversensitive.
On the other hand, I was furious. The fact that Bianca had approached Tallon was infuriating, even more than the fact that she was trying to mess with the wedding.
After the snotty comment she had made to me about his arrest, I could only imagine what she said to him. We’d been through enough already. Dealing with her crap was just too much.
“She’s going to fail,” Tallon assured me. “There’s nothing that she can acquire that we can’t and nothing that she can take from us that we can’t find a better version of.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “It’s the audacity that she had to try to rub it in our faces,” I said angrily. “That’s what really gets to me. It’s not enough for her to take the dress, she has to brag about it too. What does she think she’s going to accomplish by doing this? I just can’t understand the goal here.”
“I don’t understand it either,” he said. “But it’s nothing that we can’t handle. She’s an inconvenience, that’s all.”
I smiled a little. She would be so furious to hear him say that.
I found it incredibly comforting that Tallon was finally on the same page as me when it came to Bianca. He had mentioned before that he could look into her, but then everything with the police had happened and Bianca just wasn’t important anymore. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ask him to follow through on that offer, but it was an option and knowing that was comforting too.
“My offer to have a dress made for you is still on the table,” he pointed out. “I know that you still aren’t sure what you want, but consulting a fashion designer will help you find the perfect dress.”
I was tempted to accept the offer. It would take a little bit of the pressure off because I wouldn’t have to keep searching, but ultimately it would be even more stressful. I would have to make choices about every aspect of the dress from the fabric to the type of closure. I had enough on my plate. I didn’t need to be thinking about those details.
“I appreciate the offer,” I said with a shake of my head. “There are enough decisions to be made without trying to approve custom designs.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “That’s fair enough. We do have a lot of other details to iron out.”
He was right. We’d barely begun planning and we were already running out of time. If we wanted our chosen date to work out, we had to start getting things scheduled.
