"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.