“Take off your dress, Meadow.” “Why?” “Because your ex is watching,” he said, leaning back into his seat. “And I want him to see what he lost.” ••••*••••*••••* Meadow Russell was supposed to get married to the love of her life in Vegas. Instead, she walked in on her twin sister moaning on top her fiance. One drink at the bar turned to ten. One drunken mistake turned into reality. And one stranger’s offer turned into a contract that she signed with shaking hands and a diamond ring. Alaric Ashford is the devil in a tailored Tom Ford suit. Billionaire CEO. Brutal. Possessive. And completely uninterested in love until a broken girl in a white croptop with the word, “BRIDE” written on it, slurs out her pain and dares him to ruin everything. But their marriage is built on rage, power and secrets. Alaric wants control. Meadow wants vengeance. And what starts as a contract quickly turns into obsession. Alaric doesn’t like to share what’s his. Not his company. Not his wife. And definitely not his revenge.
View MoreMeadow’s POV
“Hi. I have a reservation. Meadow Russell.” The receptionist raised her gaze to look at me, and then she jerked back slightly, eyes raking over me from top to bottom. Her deep red-colored lips were pulled down in a sneer. “You’re kidding, right?” she scoffed, turning to the lady beside her who had a similar expression on her face. I blinked, frowning. “Excuse me?” The receptionists exchanged another look that made my skin crawl. What the hell was wrong with them? All I wanted to do was get the keys to my room and wait for my fiance, Tyler. We were getting married in a few hours. It was going to be a private ceremony, just me and him. And I wasn’t going to let anyone shit on my plans—much less a couple of rude receptionists. The red-lipped receptionist tilted her head at me. “You already checked in two hours ago. If this is some kind of prank, I’d suggest you quit it now before I call security.” My brows furrowed. “What? I haven’t checked in.” A nervous laugh escaped my mouth. The second receptionist glanced at me as if she was considering something, and then she turned to red lip. “Show her.” Red lip scowled at me, but she did as she was told. She turned her laptop to face me, clicking on a button. And then she pointed at something. The check-in list. And sure enough, my name was there. Meadow Russell. “Oh,” I let out a laugh. “It’s probably my fiance. He must have checked in with my name. I was supposed to get here before him though, that’s why I’m so surprised.” The receptionists exchanged another look. They seemed confused. “That’s not a funny joke, miss,” the second receptionist said. “You checked in with a man two hours ago. I know that because I complimented that cute top you’re wearing.” I glanced down at the white crop top with the word, “BRIDE” written across it. Tyler had gotten me this top a few days ago. He said he saw it and thought it would look really good for the wedding. “And then you said you’re getting married real soon,” red lip finished for her. Something heavy—along with my heart—dropped into my stomach. Something was wrong. “This has to be a misunderstanding…” I trailed off. Because there was no way… No fucking way. “That wasn’t me,” I said firmly this time. They exchanged another glance, and when they both looked at me, I could see something resembling pity in their expression. I didn't like that look. At all. Finally, Red lip sighed. “I don’t know why, but I believe you. Then she leaned backward to search for something. She emerged with a key card. “I hope you get things sorted out,” she muttered, forcing a smile on her face. I couldn’t breathe the entire way up the elevator. This wasn’t possible. She wouldn’t… No. Not after everything. But even as I swiped the key card to unlock the door to our room, my heart raced, and bile rose up my throat. Opening the door only confirmed my fears. My twin sister, Juniper, was straddling my fiance, moaning out loud as he rammed into her from under. For a full minute, all I could do was stare. I stood there, my bag dropping onto the floor with a soft thud. The insides of my cheek hurt because of how hard I was biting them. Tears had long blurred my vision. And they hadn't even noticed me. ‘Maybe he didn’t know,’ I said to myself. ‘Maybe he thought Juni was me.’ But even without saying those words out loud, I realized how awfully stupid they sounded. Tyler and I had never had sex. “Mmhm, yes. That’s it, baby,” Juniper moaned. “You fuck me so good, babe.” Something inside of me broke, screaming at me to turn around, leave quietly and never show my face again. But something stronger dared me to stay. So that’s what I did. “Juniper…?” My voice cracked. “Tyler?” They both turned to look at me at the same time. Surprise and something else flared in Tyler’s expression, but it was gone before I could blink. He pushed her off him, and Juniper had the nerve to moan. “Seriously, Ty? I was close.” Ty? “Meadow,” Tyler heaved as he jumped out of the bed, not even bothering to cover his junk. “I swear, I thought she was you. I didn’t—” He started to reach for my arm but I jerked back, my eyes focused on one person and one person alone. Juniper. She had a smug grin on her face as she arranged her disheveled hair. “Oh, please, baby,” she said airily. “It’s time we cut the act, don’t you think? It’s getting too pathetic.” Tyler turned to face her. “Come on. It’s fun.” “What is… what are you…?” I was speechless. Stunned. It didn’t look like this was some kind of first time mistake. It looked like they knew each other really well. And there’s no way that was even possible. Because I’d never introduced Juniper to Tyler. I hadn’t even seen Juniper in two years. “How—” Juniper let out a sharp laugh as she stood up. She also didn’t bother to cover up, so both of them were stark naked in front of me. “She’s going into shock, baby. We should put her out of her misery right away, shouldn’t we?” She mused, walking over to where Tyler stood. And then she pulled him toward her and kissed him right in front of me, letting out a soft moan and a giggle. I wanted to leave so badly, but my feet wouldn’t move. For some reason, they were glued to the floor. And for an even more fucked reason, I couldn’t look away. I watched Juniper grab Tyler’s still-hard dick in her hand and jerk it back and forth while her eyes remained on mine. “Y–you said…” I struggled to form words. I couldn’t even recognize my own voice. “You said you weren’t ready to have sex yet, Tyler,” I said shakily. “You said you’d wait till we were married.” Tyler threw his head back and laughed, biting his lip and groaning slightly due to the pleasure he was receiving. My knees buckled from under me and I had to hold on to the wall to steady myself. “I thought you loved me!” I said louder now, feeling the tears begin to run down my face. Juniper let go of Tyler and he took a few steps closer to me. And when he took a hold of my jaw, I couldn’t move. “You thought I loved you, Meadow? No. Juni’s the love of my life.”Meadow’s POV: Alaric didn’t take his eyes off me as he pressed the ‘end call’ button.For a moment, I thought he had overheard the call. But the phone wasn’t on speaker, so there was no way he could hear all the things that Tyler was saying to me.However, the look on his face meant that he’d heard enough of my side to know exactly who I’d been talking to.Alaric’s jaw ticked, fingers flexing at his sides. His gaze dropped to the phone still clenched in his palm.Anger wouldn’t be enough to describe the expression I saw on his face.It was rage—much deeper than anger. I wasn’t sure I’d seen him look like this before.I swallowed, backing up into the desk. Any more of that and I would disappear through the wood.“Alaric…” I breathed.I hadn’t done anything wrong, and Alaric hadn’t made any rule about talking to Tyler, but why did I feel like I’d done something terribly wrong?“Who were you talking to?” His voice was so calm and fucking quiet, it made my skin crawl.He already knew the
Meadow’s POV:I wondered what kind of relationship Alaric had with his family. I mean, he hadn’t seemed elated to see his brother in his house, and he didn’t hesitate to punch him for reasons I didn’t even understand, so obviously, their relationship wasn’t good.But there was something else Nolan had said that piqued my curiosity.‘Mother is going to fucking love this.’Maybe I was overthinking things, but Nolan’s tone seemed a bit… sarcastic. As in, translation: mother is not going to fucking love this.If Alaric hadn’t told his family that he’d gotten married over the weekend, then they must’ve heard it elsewhere. Alaric was a popular businessman. Albeit, private, but the news had to be out there that Alaric Ashford, billionaire bachelor, had gotten married. And apparently, he’d kept it from his family. Which meant that they didn’t know that our marriage was one of convenience.Which I suspected was the reason he wanted me to sleep in his room.Not that I had a problem with that.
Alaric’s POV: I didn’t want to get violent. Not in front of Meadow. But my younger brother had a way of pushing me to do things I didn’t want to do. Like breaking his already crooked nose for the third time in two years.I didn’t feel it. I never did—but the way Nolan’s head had snapped to the side before his body had hit the ground, too fucking drunk to even get back up, the way he cursed loudly, curling into himself and cupping his bloody nose, told me everything I needed to know.“Shut up, Nolan,” I muttered. He groaned in response.Out of all the things I already had going on in my life, my brother was the last person I wanted to see. We weren’t close, but every now and then, he’d pop in just to bother me or try to insert himself back into my life by using our mother as an excuse.Though I knew that the only thing driving him was his guilt.“Alaric…” I heard Meadow gasp softly.My shoulders tensed as I turned to face her, looking her straight in the eyes and expecting to see at
Meadow’s POV:I froze.And so did Alaric.Neither of us dared to breathe.The loud, unmistakable sound of glass breaking still echoed through the house.Someone was in the house. And by the look on Alaric’s face, he wasn’t expecting anyone. Which meant that this was definitely a break-in.I felt Alaric’s fingers twitch slightly on the back of my neck before he let go. His jaw tightened as his eyes shifted toward the open door. And then he moved, like something had snapped inside of him.Or like he just realized he had an intruder.He turned to me when he realized I was following him out the door. “Stay here,” he said, voice low and unreadable.My mouth parted. “Alaric, what if—”He shot me a look. Just one look, and it shut me up.A silent “don’t test me.” And then he turned and walked out. But there was no way I was going to stay back while something bad might happen. I had to call the police or something.But my phone was downstairs. Shit.I walked back toward the bed, remembering
Meadow’s POV:“I-I was just…” I trailed off, feeling an intense heat creep up my neck and cheeks.Alaric’s eyes dragged over me slowly, and I shifted from one foot to the other. His gaze lingered on the lower part of my body for a second before his eyes came up to meet mine again. And back down.I risked a glance at what I was wearing—a red tank top that rode up a bit so a sliver of my stomach was exposed, and a pair of black shorts. This was my comfort outfit, but right now, Alaric stared at the shorts like they had offended him somehow.“Snooping around in my room?” he finished, walking into the room with a calmness that made my heart still. I didn’t move from my spot in front of the secret door. He tossed something onto his bed, and I turned just in time to see his phone bounce for a second and then stop. “That’s bad manners, Meadow.”“I wasn’t snooping.” My voice came out breathy, like a whisper. “I was just…”I stopped talking before I could expose myself. I wasn’t sure I wanted
Meadow’s POV: I had no idea how I ended up here.One minute, I was surfing the internet, searching for psychiatric facilities that were in the area or at least in close range—yeah, I know. I told Alaric that I didn’t care about my sister anymore.And the next minute, I was looking at schools. Online college programs.Like I said, no idea how I ended up here.I let out a slow breath, pushing my glasses up and onto my hair.I had no plans of going back to school after I had to leave the last one because of Juniper, but when Alaric had mentioned it to me, truthfully, I felt a little small. It wasn’t just the embarrassment of him knowing, it was the shame that came with remembering why.Because here this man was—handsome, sexy, smart, a fucking billionaire, for fuck’s sake, and he seemed to know it all.And here I was—plain, college dropout with nothing going on for her all because her sister had set out to ruin her life.It never used to bother me. Not with Tyler. As long as I played ho
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