DAVID’S POV

Mara pushed me away so hard I almost stumbled backward.

“What is wrong with you?” she snapped, her voice sharp enough to slice into the cold night around us.

I stared at her, my heartbeat pounding in my throat. “I’m telling you the truth, Mara. I don’t want the wedding. I don’t want her.”

“I don’t care!” she fired back. “Why are you telling me that? Why—why would you say it to me?”

“Because you’re the one I want,” I said quietly.

Her face twisted—not with softness, but anger. Disbelief.

“No. You don’t get to do this.”

She shoved the drink I bought for her into my chest....