CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN – MEGAN’S DEALINGS

A strangled sound broke free from her constricted throat – Part sob, part incredulous bark of mirthless laughter. Distantly, she was aware of movement in her periphery, the first stirrings of unrest rippling through the enraptured crowd. Megan, for her part, seemed utterly indifferent to the rising tensions, her eyes narrowed into cruel slits of disdain. "Well?" She arched one perfectly sculpted brow in mocking challenge. "Nothing to say for yourself, pet? No more of those pretty little crocodile tears to shed?" Charlotte opened her mouth, fully prepared to unleash the torrent of hurt and fury that had been building like a steadily cresting wave. But before she could give voice to her pain, another presence inserted itself into the fray – solid and uncompromising as an ancient oak. "That's enough out of you, you daft radge," Tony growled, his broad bulk cutting an imposing swathe as he positioned himself between the two women. "I won't have you spitting your venom and upsetting the