Gloria stepped forward and leaned right into Brent's arms, her eyes bright with triumph.
"She's right, you know? This is Brent's territory. That whole queen-bee routine you run back in Kingsport? Nobody's buying it here."
"Don't waste your breath on someone like her, Gloria."
Brent held Gloria tighter against him and pointed at me, his voice sharp as a blade.
"Apologize to Gloria."
"Or you're not walking out of here comfortably today."
Dozens of men closed in around me, high-pressure water guns leveled and ready.
Their eyes dragged over the outline of my body through the soaked fabric, slow and deliberate, every mouth twisted into the same ugly grin.
I scrambled to grab the shawl that had fallen to the ground, trying to cover myself.
Brent ripped it out of my hands.
He clamped down on my wrist and yanked so hard my knees slammed into the ground at Gloria's feet.
"You're not deaf, are you, Maya?! I said apologize to Gloria!"
Gloria stepped closer. The point of her stiletto came down on my palm and ground in.
But her voice was all wounded sweetness, pouring out in one syrupy breath.
"Maya, I really was just trying to be nice—it's the water festival, you're supposed to get wet, so why do you have to twist everything around? I feel so awful right now. Brent's not too angry yet, so you'd better just hurry up and apologize to me before he is…"
The crowd kept pressing in tighter, pointing at every curve and line the soaked dress gave away, picking me apart out loud like I was something on display.
"Damn, look at those hips. Built to breed sons, that one!"
"No kidding. Stacked front and back. Real piece of work."
"You can tell from how she dresses. Total slut."
Every taunt made the satisfaction in Brent's eyes run deeper.
My stomach turned cold.
I'd refused every match my family ever arranged—eight years I'd held on to Brent, eight years I'd chosen him over everything, and three times in those eight years the Delgado business had nearly gone under, and every single time I'd gone to my father on my knees to bail them out. Earlier this year Brent proposed, and I thought I'd finally gotten my happiness. Then the very next day his childhood sweetheart Gloria Fox flew back from overseas, and from that moment nothing between us was the same.
The only reason I'd agreed to take over the Pruitt branch in Monterra City was to give Brent one last chance. To give us one last chance.