Chapter 109

109.

Nausea churned in her stomach, and a tear streaked down her face. “He told

me Vadim had relented and was prepared to sign the marriage certificate so

we could get married before I turned eighteen.”

Turning slightly, though her legs remained pinned, she curled a bit

closer to Shane instinctively. “That crazy bastard was planning to make me

marry him within days. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let him keep me, so I

went to Stefania.”

The tears came faster as she remembered the frail woman lying in the

bed. Her stepmother had been as pale as the white bedding behind her, but

her eyes had sparkled with anger, and her cheeks had turned red as she had

listened without interrupting as Mia confessed years of sexual abuse at the

hands of her son.

“What did your stepmother do?”

“She saved me.” Mia drew in a deep breath. “I don’t even know how

she did it exactly, but she helped me escape that house and found me a job

with Arvin Lovelle. He’d been her boyfriend long ago, and I t