Harpe

ent lights suffocatingly bright. I stood tall, my hands shoved deep into my pockets, try

friend. "No way, what would he be doing here? I thought he was facing jail time for attempting to as

long this line was. Every second we stood here was a second she could change her mind. I was burning with urgency, desperate to legally bind her to me before that bastard A

hen she saw my name but maintained her professional composure. She began the standard p

d, she hesitated. Her blue eyes glazed over, lost in some distant thought. My hear

he sentence, I cut in, my voice rough and impatient with

used to eager grooms. I saw Alma glance at me, her brow furrowed. She completely mis

o new marriage certificates, still smelling

nted next to mine. My emotions were a ch

the clerk sai

blinding sunlight. I turned to my

ct marriage. We will not interfere in each other's private lives. Second, I will cooperate with you for appearances when necessary, and I expect

mmering in my blood. A one-year contract? A peaceful divorce

hock, I took her copy and, without breaking eye contact, tore it to shre

he cried out, unable to

my heart. Without her copy, she could never initiate a legal divorce. She was trapped i

t a time, "Ground rules? Alma, you don't seem to understand the

ce. No end date. N

ed out, my fingertips grazing her cheek in a touch that was both gentle and

wife," I deliberately e

stared at her hard profile, a seed of immen

ting through the silence. "