Chapter 3

WOLF POV

“You do know that you don’t have to do this, right? You can acquire Campbell Atlantic using other means.”

Cassie or I should say, my dear mother whom I loved dearly, said the same words for the umpteenth time since we flew to Georgia. I turned to look at her, ready to give her my piece of mind, but then she walked closer and smoothed my tie for me, knocking all the words from me.

“I know. But it has to be done.” I replied softly, then tugged the stand of her hair behind her ear. She gave me a small sad smile before nodding, then cupped my cheek gently. I pulled the chair for her and she sat down.

“They should be here now.” My dad, Arthur, announced glancing at his expensive wristwatch, then fixed his own tie and looked forward, with his everlasting hard gaze that would freeze you to the core. One of the things I inherited from him. I pulled my own seat on my mom’s left and then perched myself down. Right in the cue, the door was pushed open, and in came the maître d who gestured inside, then three people piled in behind him. He nodded before taking off, leaving all of us in there.

I kept my face blank, stoic and impossibly hard, then fixated my glare on the girl in question. She was shyly hidden between her parents, dressed in a beautiful red dress that hugged her figure perfectly. That crippling feeling clenched around my heart as I spotted the necklace around her neck. I took a good calming gulp, but my saliva refused to pass down the lump that was suddenly in my throat.

“Mr. Campbell, Gwen.” My mom cheered as she stepped out of her seat to greet the guests. My dad followed suit. I remained glued in my seat as I took a good look at the dress the girl was wearing. I knew it, intimately. Because it belonged to HER. As well as the necklace around her neck.

“Cassie. So good to see you.” The greetings were exchanged, but I remained in my seat because I was trying to calm the fuck down. I couldn’t fuck this up. I had known this since the very first start. There was nothing good about Skylar. She was an unruly brat who lived by her own rules, someone so imperfect that she would fuck up everything in her awakening, giving no damn about how her actions impacted others. A long time ago, I used to tolerate her, but that was solely because of HER. She was what made my world spin in its orbit, what I lived. But she was quickly stolen from me, by her. Skylar Campbell. Even saying her name left a bitter taste in my mouth. Someone I hated with every inch of my being, was to take my last name. The universe had a way of making jokes out of people. But for the sake of Pacific Glass, I had to do it.

Without further ado, the dinner was served, and small talks were shared. All along, I kept glancing at the dress and necklace she was wearing, and I couldn’t find her less revolting. If she thought for a single second that I was going to fall for that trick, wearing the dress that I bought with MY MONEY FOR THE WOMAN I LOVE, then she was not only crazy but was flat-out sickening. I don’t know if it had been her idea or her parents’ idea for her to dress like that, and honestly, I didn't care, not even a bit. But I just wanted to get the hell out of here and never see her again. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. But heck, I couldn’t stay longer with her feigning innocence while she was the main reason why we were here. Had she known her fuckin' place, Samantha would still be alive, and I would be with her, discussing OUR wedding. Not this...

“Father?” I called out after clearing my throat. We were really wasting time with all of this.

“Oh, yes. Marcus, I do believe you have something for the Young Miss.” Young miss? Please. There are people worthy of such a title.

“Of course. Sweetheart?” Marcus Campbell responded glaring at his wife who beamed with the brightest smile ever.

Finally. For Pacific Glass, I will endure this.

~~~

SKY POV

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!

I should have known that nothing good would ever come from the people I called my parents. All of the nice act, all of the presents and everything, I should have known there were strings attached to it. And now it was damn too late.

As soon as my mom forced me to wear Samantha’s dress, I knew things were not going to be as simple as they seemed. And how I wished I was wrong. How I wish I had heeded the signs and ran when I still had the time.

I continued picking on my food because I couldn’t even swallow. That's how out of place I felt. I didn’t belong here, and I would gladly trade everything to get out of this place. When they mentioned dinner, I thought of a small cozy family dinner where we would just sit and enjoy our food, not THIS. And I surely wasn’t expecting to sit here under HIS watchful gaze as he glared at me like I had stolen something so precious to him.

Kayden Wolf Smith. My sister’s ever so elegant and painfully handsome fiancée who was now sitting opposite me at a large dinner table, glaring at me with the most intense animosity you could ever think of. The last time I saw him was at my sister’s funeral, and I haven’t seen him since. But nothing was changed, at least not the way he looked at me. So full of hatred and great loathing. I tried to find the reasons why he was burning me with his intense gaze, but the thought of me in his fiancee’s dress was enough to chill me to the core.

This was their idea, to humiliate and belittle me this way. On my birthday!

“Father?” He spoke for the first time since we stepped in here.

“Oh, yes.” His father replied with a peal of small laughter. If you were to age Kayden by 30 more years and give him some silver highlights in his hair and beard, he and his father would be real clones. That's how much they were alike.

“Marcus, I do believe you have something for the Little Miss. It’s her birthday after all.” His words had my heart leaping out of my chest. Everything inside of me screamed out loud as I tried to piece together what it could be that my parents had for me. But at this point, I wanted nothing. They have done enough damage already and I didn’t want to be here any minute longer.

“Of course. Sweetheart?” My lovey-dovey dad called out to my mom who clapped her hands excitedly and then leaned down to take something from her purse. A red envelope. She went ahead by placing it right in front of me. I looked around confusingly, but all eyes were staring at me expectantly, and with shaky hands and an awkward smile, I pushed my plate aside and reached for the envelope. My heart was breaking dancing the entire time in my chest, making it impossible to focus on the matter at hand.

The sound of the throat-clearing from the opposite chair had all the words flying out of the window and in instant, I had the envelope torn open, to reveal a nice ocean blue geode with bold engraving on it. My eyes roamed around it and fell on my name, then Kayden’s. My chest tightened when I read all that was written, word by word.

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE WEDDING OF KAYDEN WOLF SMITH & SKYLAR CANDY CAMPBELL…

But what had my stomach churning painfully was the date on the bottom of the geode. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. How could they do something like this? Wed me to my deceased sister’s fiancée?

“Ohhh, look at that. She likes it.” Mom announced clasping her chest, and cheers broke around the table.

"Great. I have always looked forward to being relatives." Kayden's mother, Cassandra gleamed as she clapped her hands, and I wanted the ground to split open and swallow me whole. I glanced upwards and right on the cue, Kayden held up a glass at me. I was stunned beyond words, every cell inside of my body was inanimate from what had just happened. When I didn’t respond to his KIND gesture, he corked a brow at me, and I swallowed audibly before reaching for my wine glass, then clicked our glasses together with a toast.

"The contract shall be signed shortly after the wedding, and the acquisition of the company should follow." So that's how it was. A business deal. My life was signed over just like that.

None of us said anything, not even when the whole table broke into a plethora of cheers and everyone made plans for the most dreaded wedding of the century. Why, why would they do this to me? I knew they hated me but did they have to go to this extent?

The man who hated me more than words could say, the man who would gladly sink a dagger into my heart, and the very same man who couldn’t look me in the eye without frowning, The very same man who blamed me for the death of his beloved, just like everyone, was to be my husband.

In just 5 days!