Page 127 of Bride By Coronation

"Oh. I'm sorry. What can we do to help?" Zara asks.

A cloud moves, and the sun shines brightly over us, warming my skin. I release my legs and curl into Kirill, resting my head on his chest and sigh. I reply, "You tell me. But on another note, there's an assassination attempt on my life."

"What?" she shrieks.

Kirill stiffens.

I glance at him, and my lips twitch. It seems amusing to me, even though it's not. I declare, "Brax didn't tell Sean?"

"No. Not that I'm aware of, and that isn't something your brother would keep from me. Who is it?" she asks.

Kirill pipes in, "I'm not releasing that information right now, especially over the phone."

"Yes. Of course. Silly of me to ask," Zara says.

He assures, "It's okay. They're detained, and I'll deal with them when we arrive back in Chicago."

"When are you back?" she questions.

"Tonight. We're docking in Barcelona and then flying home," he answers.

"Okay. Fiona, did you get any of my messages?" she asks.

My anxiety flares again. "Not yet. Why?"

She hesitates, then reveals, "Adrian knows."

"Shit," I mutter. My insides shake so hard bile moves up my esophagus. I swallow it down.

"He's going crazy. Skylar said she tried calling you and left you texts. You might want to look at those," Zara suggests.

"Ugh," I groan, and bury my face into Kirill's arm, inhaling his scent, wishing it were a few hours ago when I was clueless about the rest of the world learning about our nuptials.

"Thanks for the update. We'll see you when we're back," Kirill says and then hangs up.

I lift my head. "This is so bad."

He picks up the phone and swipes it, then lowers his voice. "You need to read these."

Dread floods me. I sit up and read the texts.

Skylar: Fiona, I don't know what's happening, but Adrian said you ran off and married a Petrov. Is this true?

Skylar: I didn't realize that when you said you needed to take off work for a week to deal with personal issues, it was to get married.

I cringe as I continue reading.

Skylar: Please call me. Adrian's going nuts. I need answers so I can hopefully calm him down.

I exit the thread with Skylar and go to the next set of messages.

Blue: Why is Dad saying you married a Petrov?

Blue: I'm not buying this. I looked the guy up, and he has a scar on his face. Can you call and calm my dad down before he has a heart attack?

I groan and pull up the next set.

Dante: Fiona, where are you?

---