I stared at the garment bag on the ground. My whole body was trembling from the cold, but my spine stayed straight.
"Go back and tell Dominic."
"He can drop dead."
Spencer's expression shifted. He jabbed a finger at my face and started cursing.
"Gabriella, don't bite the hand that feeds you!"
"You think you're still the future Mrs. Kessler?"
"You're nothing now! Without Mr. Kessler, you can't even afford your next meal!"
He snapped his fingers, and the rear door of the Maybach swung open.
Two bodyguards jumped out and seized my arms from both sides, wrenching them behind my back.
"Let go of me! What are you doing!"
I fought with everything I had, but my body was so numb from the freezing rain that I couldn't summon any strength.
Spencer picked up the mud-soaked bridesmaid dress from the ground and shoved it into my arms.
"Mr. Kessler's orders. You had your chance to do this the easy way. Now we do it the hard way."
I was forced into the car. The door slammed shut behind me.
The Maybach tore through the storm, heading straight for tonight's film festival red carpet.
The air conditioning inside the car was set low. I sat there in my soaking clothes, lips turning purple, teeth chattering.
Spencer rode in the passenger seat, watching me through the rearview mirror with a thin smirk.
"Miss Robinson, if you'd known it would come to this, you might've saved yourself the trouble."
"Women. All you have to do is swallow your pride and play nice, and you'd have everything you wanted. But no, you had to go head-to-head with Mr. Kessler. And who's the one suffering for it?"
I closed my eyes and refused to listen to another word.
Half an hour later, the car pulled up behind the red carpet venue.
The bodyguards shoved me out.
In a lounge not far away, Millicent was wearing the bridal gown that should have been mine, surrounded by a swarm of reporters clamoring for interviews.
Dominic stood beside her in a tailored suit, gazing at her with open adoration.
When he saw me being dragged over, he excused himself from the press and strode toward me.
His eyes dropped to the mud-stained bridesmaid dress clutched in my hands, and a slight frown creased his brow.
"What happened to you?"
He slipped off his suit jacket and moved to drape it over my shoulders.
That same hollow tenderness in his voice.