Chapter 0003

Bob pulled out a file from his satchel and set it in front of me. When I opened the file, inside were documents detailing our company’s bankruptcy shortly after I went to prison. My stomach clenched.

“I-I don’t understand,” I stuttered. “You told me that the company was doing really well. Excelling, in fact.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to worry you.”

His voice and expression became sad, but something about it seemed…false. It was as though his face were a mask, and only his eyes betrayed his true emotions. In those eyes, I saw deception and the fear of being discovered.

“The company I have now is with Lisa,” he continued. He hesitated, as though contemplating whether to share the next part with me. “To be honest, I was buried under so much debt because of the bankruptcy that if Lisa hadn’t reached out to her father for help, I would’ve jumped off a building.”

That last revelation should have made me feel bad for Bob, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying to me. All those years, he told me the company had excelled…just to spare my feelings? Like how he didn’t break up with me, to spare my feelings?

No, something didn’t feel right. I just couldn’t prove it.

I sighed and closed the incriminating folder.

“Do you have any other bombshells you want to drop on me while we’re in such a public setting and I can’t make a scene?”

Bob chuckled nervously.

“Now, Crystal, there’s reason to get nasty,” he said.

I sighed.

“I’m sorry,” I said reluctantly. “But seriously, is there anything else that you need to tell me?”

I wasn’t sure if I could take any more news, but it was better to rip the entire Band-Aid off now than to peel it off little by little.

He nodded.

“Actually…we’re getting married.”

Lisa grinned and waved the back of her left hand at me, flashing an enormous diamond engagement ring.

My heart felt as though it had been ripped out of my chest and stomped into the ground under Lisa’s heel, all while she stared me straight in the eyes and smiled.

“Oh, really?” I managed to say with fake cheerfulness. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Bob and Lisa said together, then shared a kiss. I wanted to vomit.

“You’re welcome to come to the ceremony,” Bob continued. I wasn’t sure if he meant what he said. “Lisa’s father is officiating it.”

“Who is Lisa’s father?” I asked.

They both laughed. Lisa then gave me a look of genuine confusion.

“You really don’t know?” she said.

I shook my head.

Bob sat a little taller and puffed out his chest.

“He’s the Alpha King, Andrew Dubois,” he announced with more pride than I had ever seen in him.

My mind flashed to the man I had seen on the LED screen earlier that day. He was this—what, 21-year-old?—woman’s father? He looked like he was in his 30s, at the most!

I repressed my shock, and all I said was, “Oh, that’s nice.”

At least I got some satisfaction from Bob’s disappointment at my lack of reverence.

“Let’s just order,” he mumbled as he picked up his menu.

 

* *

 

Three months passed after my release. My best friend, Lily, took me in and gave me a job at her wedding planning company. It turned out to be a perfect fit.

With Susan’s ability to perceive other people’s affection levels, making a connection with clients and meeting their needs was much easier. Lily also told me that I had a natural charm, intelligence, diligence, and beauty that attracted people to me—her words, not mine. All that combined with Lily’s teachings made me an expert wedding planner in almost no time.

None of that, however, could prepare me for the fact that we were planning my ex’s wedding. That meant seeing Bob—and, worse, Lisa—much more often over the past three months than I had planned to for the rest of my life.

I was still convinced that Bob had lied to me about our company going under, but there was nothing I could do to prove it. I couldn’t sabotage their wedding, either, not without taking Lily and me down with them. Besides, I wasn’t that vindictive.

So, I was stuck helping them pick out a theme, a menu, a wedding dress, all the while hiding my pain under a false smile.

Then came a day when they were going to come in and check on Lisa’s dress. We stayed open late for them, and I was the only one left in the bridal shop with the wedding dresses.

“Are you sure that you can handle them on your own?” Lily asked me over the phone. “I can be there in 15 minutes.”

“I’m sure. If I’m going to be a wedding planner, I have to be able to handle all sorts of nightmare clients, right?”

Lily laughed.

“How adult of you. I don’t think I’d be able to plan my ex’s wedding.”

I sighed.

“Well, it’s a job, and a well-paying one, at that. It’s not exactly like either one of us can turn it down, right?”

“Right. Just try not to rip anyone’s throat out, okay? That wouldn’t be very good for business.”

“Well, I’ll do my best, but if either one of them mentions one more time that Lisa’s father is Alpha King…”

“Crystal,” Lily warned.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” I said. “Well, mostly. I promise that I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Good. Like you said, it’s a high-paying job that neither of us can afford to turn down—or to lose. Understand?”

I didn’t need glasses to read between those lines.

“Perfectly. You don’t need to worry about me at all.”

“All right. Good luck.”

“Thanks. See you at home.”

After hanging up with Lily, I decided to organize the dresses while I waited for Bob and Lisa to come by. I kept Lisa’s at the front of one of the racks to avoid losing it among the sea of white and off-white. With this dress costing twice as much as the average wedding dress, I didn’t want anything to happen to it.

It was nearly seven o’clock, the sun starting to set, when I heard the door open.

“Finally,” I muttered.

I emerged from the aisles of lace and satin to see a tall, muscular man standing in the doorway. Twilight wrapped around his captivating figure, making him appear almost god-like. His very presence made me freeze in place and my heart race.

I recognized the man immediately: Andrew Dubois. I hadn’t expected him to show up to check on his daughter’s dress, not with his hectic schedule.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said. His deep voice sent shivers down my spine.

Andrew stepped fully into the store and out of the fading sunlight. The scent of Labdanum and sea salt rushed over me as he approached. I trembled as the sensation struck me straight to my groin.

Our eyes met.

Susan’s voice suddenly appeared in my mind, lower and with more of a sensual growl than usual.

“Mate.”