Page 120 of Punish Me, Daddy

She stepped closer, flipping the box open to reveal two almost-identical white roses, one with a hint of pale green at the edge.

“The lighting in the ballroom is making the original pull green on camera. Your bouquet is warmer—cream-based—so it’s clashing. The photographer’s asking for a quick replacement. We just need your sign-off before it goes on him.”

Amy looked up from her seat. “We can handle it.”

The woman shook her head quickly, her smile never slipping. “I’m afraid it has to be the bride. The designer wants it logged in the photo credits. It’ll only take five minutes. We’ve got a cart around the side, so we don’t disturb the main aisle.”

“This was the sort of things that happened at weddings, right?” I asked the girls.

“I guess so?” Riley offered with a shrug. Amy did the same.

“I’ll be right back then,” I said with a sigh.

They nodded.

I followed the woman out of the suite, down the quiet hall lined with cream curtains and white peonies in pretty gold vases. My heels clicked softly against the tile. She walked a few steps ahead, speaking into her headset. I didn’t catch the words.

We went downstairs in an elevator and exited through a side door into the garden path. It was quieter out here, cool and fresh. The breeze caught my skirt and lifted it just enough to make me reach for it.

That’s when I saw the van.

Black. Plain. Unmarked.

Its back doors were wide open.

The woman turned.

Smiled again.

And then stepped aside.

Everything in me went still, like my nervous system short-circuited for half a second—one clean, glitched-out beat where nothing made sense. Then the alarms went off in my head.

“Wait!” I called, a rising sense of panic surging through me like a lightning strike.

My heels scraped against the stone. I turned, but I didn’t make it more than half a step before I was grabbed.

A heavy arm came around my waist—too strong, too fast. My hands went up to push, to fight, but I barely moved or got out a sound before something was pressed to my face. Cloth. Thick. Sweet-smelling. I tried to scream, but the inhale hit me like a truck. My throat closed. My knees buckled.

The woman didn’t flinch. She just watched.

My elbow shot back, wild and desperate and I made contact with something solid, maybe ribs, but it didn’t make a bit of difference. I was lifted off the ground and carried away. The van’s open doors rushed closer like a tunnel in a nightmare.

I kicked. Scratched. Bit down on the hand over my mouth and tasted skin and blood. It still didn’t matter.

The world tilted. The sun spun in the sky. And then I was inside.

Thrown hard against metal.

The doors slammed shut.

The last thing I heard before the darkness swallowed me whole was the sound of my own name being whispered through clenched teeth.

CHAPTER 36

Nikolai

Standing in front of the full-length mirror in the groom’s suite, the cuffs of my shirt open, gold cufflinks resting against my palm, I took a deep breath.

---