Status Updates From Declan

This is a challenge to my authority—a test to see how far she can push me before I put her in her place. She wants to make me lose my shit. And even knowing that’s her plan, I’ll still kill the motherfucker if he touches a strand of her hair. Fake wedding or not, she’s still my fucking wife.

With a smirk that could be mistaken for sweetness if you didn’t know better, she raises her glass toward us. It’s a challenge—pure and simple. A silent declaration that she won’t be playing the obedient wife. I raise my glass in response, meeting her challenge head-on. She’ll know I’m ready for whatever she’s planning. Connor chuckles softly, shaking his head.

Declan steps closer, towering over me, his hand cupping my jaw. His touch is firm, sending a shiver down my spine as he tilts my face up toward his. “You look stunning,” he murmurs, his voice low enough for only me to hear. Before I can respond, his lips capture mine. It’s not gentle or soft. It’s a statement, a declaration to everyone in the room that I’m his, all I feel is the possessive heat of his kiss.

I watch Viviana throw back another drink, her olive eyes scanning the room with a look that is equal parts boredom and contempt. She doesn’t belong in the crowd of sycophants, but she doesn’t seem to care either way. She’s a problem, a challenge, the kind of woman who’d rather set the world on fire than be told what to do. Perfect.

I just wanna go home and read!!!

Let's see if the editing stays the way it is. It's repetitive as if the author had a sentence draftedin different versions to decide later which one to pick - and eventually kept both. Which could result in the book being double the length it has to be. But maybe the story will surprise me.