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Chapter Sixty Nine

Author: Sammy
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-30 17:08:58

Ace

I never meant to get involved. I knew what Grant was up to, but I kept my distance. When he offered me money, I refused to take it. When he tried to buy me a house, I told him I’d rather do things on my own. He didn’t understand it. My mom, Margaret, they were both eager to share in the wealth. But not me. I wanted to keep my hands clean, to be the good man my mom had always told me I could be.

Even if she wasn’t the angel I’d always believed her to be.

And when I met Cyn, I thought she was my chance for a new start. I thought I could put all this behind me. I never expected her to learn the truth.

“You remember?”

She didn’t have to answer. I could see it in her face. The weariness that had come that day, the day she found out about me and Margaret…

“You were married to Margaret?”

The disbelief in her voice as the county clerk stared at us through the dirty Plexiglas shield around her little cage was enough to strip me bare. I tried to touch her, but she pulled away, turned, and s
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    CynIt was all a ruse.I remembered that now. I left him, told everyone it was because of his lies about Margaret, about their short-lived marriage when they were seventeen. As if something like that would convince me to walk away from the love of my life. I was angry all right. But not enough to do more than yell and scream for a while. I wanted to hurt him, I did. I wanted to hurt him the way it hurt me to find out the way I did. I mean, who wants to go to the county clerk to get their marriage license just to find out that their significant other had lied about his past?But I would have understood after he explained it to me.They were nineteen. Margaret was being pressured by her father to marry the son of a prominent businessman a client who would have brought millions into her father’s law firm. It was a business deal, and Margaret wasn’t about to be used as a pawn in her father’s games. So she went to Ace while he was attending Stanford and asked him to marry her. It was in na

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy One

    CynMy eyes popped open, and I stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out the images that were playing over and over again inside my head. It had to be my imagination trying to make sense of the flood of memories that suddenly came back to me tonight. It was the only thing it could be.She couldn’t possibly be the one who ran me down with her car!The last six months have been insane. One minute I was engaged to marry the man I loved, the next I was leaving him and calling off the wedding, telling everyone it was because he lied to me about a brief marriage to his friend and my mentor Margaret Wallace. But in truth, I left him because he was embroiled in a mess involving Margaret’s father, and we’d concocted a scheme to pull us both out of the fire before it was too late.I had a friend, an ex-boyfriend really, whose father had connections.My friend, Philip, arranged to help us deliver proof of Grant Wallace’s business dealings with suspected terrorist groups to an undercover FBI ag

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Two

    AceSix Months Ago…I walked into the bedroom to find her taking her clothes out of the closet and piling them on the bed. My heart was in my throat as I tried to explain that the snafu at the county clerk’s office was easily remedied. We could still get married and live out our dreams. I was hanging on to that notion.“Cyn, it’s a mistake. I’ll get it cleared up, and we’ll get our marriage license just like we planned.”“I don’t think I want to marry a man who would lie to me.”“It wasn’t a lie.”“It was an omission. That’s the same thing.”“You told me not to tell you. Do you remember that?”She tossed a handful of clothes on the bed before she turned to me, her hands on her hips.“You are not blaming this on me!”“You didn’t want to know about my past; you didn’t want to know about the women in my life.”“I wasn’t talking about marriages! You made me believe that I was the first woman in your life whom you wanted to marry, but now I found out that you were married before”“To a fri

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Three

    CynI must have fallen asleep. I rolled over and Ace was gone. I could hear the water in the shower running and the slight buzz of a cellphone vibrating. It took me a minute to realize the cellphone was in the pocket of my sweats. I leaned over the bed and grabbed them, freeing the cellphone just before the call would have been sent to voice mail.“Hello?”“I didn’t think you were going to answer!”“Sorry. I got a little distracted.”Paul cleared his throat, his imagination clearly supplying information I hadn’t. “Yes, well,” he mumbled as he cleared his throatagain, “he has agreed to meet with you today.”“Good.”“He’ll meet you at Conti’s. Do you know where that is?”“Yes, I think so.”“Two o’clock.”“Thank you, paul.”“Be careful, Cyn. The last time you went to meet with this guy…”“I know. I will be careful.”I disconnected the call just as Ace appeared in the bathroom doorway, nothing but a towel around his waist.“Who was that?”“Paul.”I climbed out of bed and went to him, kis

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Four

    Ace “Mom.”I wasn’t downstairs five minutes when the doorbell rang and my mom shoved past me.“What are you doing, Ace ? Why do you have that woman in this house again?”“Hi, Mom. Glad to see you. Come on in.”She whirled around and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.“Answer my question. Margaret tells me she has been here for weeks and younever bothered to tell anyone. She says you wouldn’t have told her if it weren’t for the fact that Cyn was still working on that damn mural thing at the center.”“Cyn was in an accident. She cracked her skull and was in a coma for a little more than two weeks.”“Months ago.”“And she woke up with amnesia.”“So you say. But how do we know it’s true? After what she did…”“She didn’t actually do anything.”My mom glared at me as if I’d said that the sky was green. She shook her head, pacing the length of the room, pausing briefly at the back doors. When she lifted her hand to touch the cool glass, I could see that it was shaking.“You are worried

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Five

    CynI had dreams about her even when I didn’t know who she was.Dreams that I knew now were a mixture of memory and something else, something angry inside of me.As I came out of my coma, I dreamed I was in a dress shop with a dark-haired woman I didn’t know. I remembered thinking this woman had betrayed me even though I couldn’t say if she had been a friend or a foe.And then again, later, I had the same dream. But this time we were arguingabout Ace, about the marriage I hadn’t learned about until the day Ace and I went to get our marriage license.We did fight about it. Not in a bridal shop. My mind had mixed that up for some reason. But the words had been the same.“I can’t believe you would betray me that way! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? I thought we were friends. You were supposed to be a part of my wedding, for God’s sakes!”“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Ace should have done it.”“But we worked together all this time”“I thought he’d already told you. I tho

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy six

    AceCyn was hiding something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was, and I didn’t like it. But I told myself she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t think it was important.I watched her pace the porch outside the back doors, the way that boot caused her just the slightest limp. Two months ago, the doctor said she would have a definitive limp if she ever woke up. Her recovery was remarkable, but everything about Cyn had always been remarkable.“How can you be with the woman who might send me to jail?”“How can you be with the man who got us all into this position in the first place?”My mom crossed her arms over her chest, a defiant look taking over the attractive features that once made her a very beautiful woman. Now she was tired. A very tired and broken woman.“I trusted that Grant would do the right thing.”“And I know that Cyn’s only doing what she thinks will protect us all.”“She almost went to the press with paperwork that shows Grant was working with terrorists. If it didn’t send him t

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy seven

    CynI wanted to stay there for…well, forever. I didn’t want him to let me go. I didn’t want his kiss to stop lingering against my lips. I wanted to feel his heart pounding under his shirt and the heat of his skin, the heat that proved just how alive he was, to forever warm me up. He was my reasonfor getting out of bed in the morning and for facing life with a smile and a little skip in my step.“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.“I love you, too.”He ran his finger along the angle of my jaw. “I kind of like your hair like this. I can see every inch of your face all the time.”I groaned. “You would.”“Don’t you like it?”I laughed. “I should go to the hospital for all my haircuts.”He chuckled before pressing his lips to my forehead.“You look like a pixie. Or a little fairy.”“Gee, thanks.”“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”I ran my hand up his chest again before letting it slide down, hooking my fingers under the waist of his slacks.“If you like it, I would go bald. Wear a

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  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Eighty One

    Cyn. Nine Months LaterI started to laugh as my little sister twerked her way down the aisle of my parent’s Baptist church. If Daddy walked in and saw that, there would be hell to pay.Ace pulled me back against his chest as he, too, laughed, a rumbling laugh that came from deep in his chest. I loved to hear him laugh like that.“Do you dare me to do that during the ceremony tomorrow?” Shelly asked.“I’ll pay you five hundred dollars if you do,” Charlie called to her.I smacked my brother on the arm.“What?”“Don’t encourage her.”“Hey, someone’s got to inject a little levity into this whole affair.And it can’t be at my wedding because if you think our parents are bad, wait until you meet Vanessa’s.”“When’s Vanessa going to be here?”“In the morning.”“Cutting it close.”Ace’s arms tightened around my waist, his hands wrapping around my swollen belly. “I think we all are, aren’t we?”I groaned. This whole wedding thing wasn’t my idea. It was my dad’s. He insisted that we be married

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Eighty

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  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Nine

    CynI curled up in the bed next to Ace and took another bite of pizza.“I’m sorry,” I said, as I nibbled at a slice of pepperoni.“For what?”“For not remembering you. For putting you through that whole ordeal.”“It’s not like it was your fault.”“It must have been hard, though, living here with me when I didn’t even know who you were.”He reached over and rubbed a smear of grease off my chin. “It was rough,” he said, his eyes softening as he studied my face, “being near you and not feeling free to touch you.”“It must have been surreal.”“It was…difficult.” He chuckled a little as he picked at his own piece of pizza. “I thought it was all over when your parents showed up and demanded that you go home with them.”“Yeah?”“I thought for sure that you would agree to go. I mean, I was standing there, imagining you and your mom in the spare room packing your things while your dad lectured me about forcing myself on you after you made it clear that you no longer wanted me.”“He would have,

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Eight

    AceI wanted her to stay at the house, but she refused. She clung to my hand as we walked into the restaurant, so tight that my bones were rubbing together. She was scared So was I.I spotted him at a table closest to the kitchen, a busy area that was a little concerning. I wasn’t sure how we could talk freely with all the traffic that was going past there, but, then again, it seemed logical. Everyone was so busy going about their own business that they wouldn’t even remember that much about us, let alone overhear much of our conversation.I don’t think I would be good at this terrorist stuff. I was too honest.The man Colin Francis. stood as we approached the table.“Cyn,” he said with genuine affection in his voice. “How are you?”Cyn smiled politely. “Good, thank you.”“And Ace.” He studied my face for a minute, then offered his hand with a polite smile. I shook it because I didn’t know what else to do.He gestured for us to take a seat. Cyn snatched my hand under the table once we

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy seven

    CynI wanted to stay there for…well, forever. I didn’t want him to let me go. I didn’t want his kiss to stop lingering against my lips. I wanted to feel his heart pounding under his shirt and the heat of his skin, the heat that proved just how alive he was, to forever warm me up. He was my reasonfor getting out of bed in the morning and for facing life with a smile and a little skip in my step.“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.“I love you, too.”He ran his finger along the angle of my jaw. “I kind of like your hair like this. I can see every inch of your face all the time.”I groaned. “You would.”“Don’t you like it?”I laughed. “I should go to the hospital for all my haircuts.”He chuckled before pressing his lips to my forehead.“You look like a pixie. Or a little fairy.”“Gee, thanks.”“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”I ran my hand up his chest again before letting it slide down, hooking my fingers under the waist of his slacks.“If you like it, I would go bald. Wear a

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy six

    AceCyn was hiding something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was, and I didn’t like it. But I told myself she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t think it was important.I watched her pace the porch outside the back doors, the way that boot caused her just the slightest limp. Two months ago, the doctor said she would have a definitive limp if she ever woke up. Her recovery was remarkable, but everything about Cyn had always been remarkable.“How can you be with the woman who might send me to jail?”“How can you be with the man who got us all into this position in the first place?”My mom crossed her arms over her chest, a defiant look taking over the attractive features that once made her a very beautiful woman. Now she was tired. A very tired and broken woman.“I trusted that Grant would do the right thing.”“And I know that Cyn’s only doing what she thinks will protect us all.”“She almost went to the press with paperwork that shows Grant was working with terrorists. If it didn’t send him t

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Five

    CynI had dreams about her even when I didn’t know who she was.Dreams that I knew now were a mixture of memory and something else, something angry inside of me.As I came out of my coma, I dreamed I was in a dress shop with a dark-haired woman I didn’t know. I remembered thinking this woman had betrayed me even though I couldn’t say if she had been a friend or a foe.And then again, later, I had the same dream. But this time we were arguingabout Ace, about the marriage I hadn’t learned about until the day Ace and I went to get our marriage license.We did fight about it. Not in a bridal shop. My mind had mixed that up for some reason. But the words had been the same.“I can’t believe you would betray me that way! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? I thought we were friends. You were supposed to be a part of my wedding, for God’s sakes!”“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Ace should have done it.”“But we worked together all this time”“I thought he’d already told you. I tho

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Four

    Ace “Mom.”I wasn’t downstairs five minutes when the doorbell rang and my mom shoved past me.“What are you doing, Ace ? Why do you have that woman in this house again?”“Hi, Mom. Glad to see you. Come on in.”She whirled around and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.“Answer my question. Margaret tells me she has been here for weeks and younever bothered to tell anyone. She says you wouldn’t have told her if it weren’t for the fact that Cyn was still working on that damn mural thing at the center.”“Cyn was in an accident. She cracked her skull and was in a coma for a little more than two weeks.”“Months ago.”“And she woke up with amnesia.”“So you say. But how do we know it’s true? After what she did…”“She didn’t actually do anything.”My mom glared at me as if I’d said that the sky was green. She shook her head, pacing the length of the room, pausing briefly at the back doors. When she lifted her hand to touch the cool glass, I could see that it was shaking.“You are worried

  • ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE   Chapter Seventy Three

    CynI must have fallen asleep. I rolled over and Ace was gone. I could hear the water in the shower running and the slight buzz of a cellphone vibrating. It took me a minute to realize the cellphone was in the pocket of my sweats. I leaned over the bed and grabbed them, freeing the cellphone just before the call would have been sent to voice mail.“Hello?”“I didn’t think you were going to answer!”“Sorry. I got a little distracted.”Paul cleared his throat, his imagination clearly supplying information I hadn’t. “Yes, well,” he mumbled as he cleared his throatagain, “he has agreed to meet with you today.”“Good.”“He’ll meet you at Conti’s. Do you know where that is?”“Yes, I think so.”“Two o’clock.”“Thank you, paul.”“Be careful, Cyn. The last time you went to meet with this guy…”“I know. I will be careful.”I disconnected the call just as Ace appeared in the bathroom doorway, nothing but a towel around his waist.“Who was that?”“Paul.”I climbed out of bed and went to him, kis

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