Dear Lover: Two Can Play Dirty.

Barbara.

**

"Shit! He is still not picking up, Julian..." I said, bending my head as the phone rang out for the fifth time against my ear, and I felt like screaming.

This had to be a joke.

It had to be a bad dream I would wake up from any second, because only last night Dante and I had talked about the wedding, laughing about how impatient we were to slide rings onto each other's fingers, and we had even invited our exes just to prove there was love after them.

Now I stood in a gown that cost more than a car, having just finished my vows with the wrong man, my fiancé's half brother, Graham, who had stepped in like a hero after I spent a painful hour staring at the church door, waiting for my prince charming to walk in, take my hand and lift my veil.

Julian rubbed my back gently and leaned close to my ear. "I need you to stay calm, Barbara...this is still your day, and even if he is not here you have to keep that face on, because people are watching and you know how hungry social media is for gossip, especially about someone as popular as you."

I swallowed hard because she was right, and if I cracked now I would become a laughing stock to every woman who had ever wanted Dante for herself.

I sighed and turned to my best friend. "Thank you for saving me from this embarrassment. If you had not done it, the headline of the year would have been about the bride abandoned at the altar." I gulped in hard.

Julian studied me for a long moment. "Have you tried his other line?"

I rolled my eyes. "Julian, I have tried every line he owns, even his work line, and yes, I know Dante loves his job and skips breakfast always but why would he not show up at his own wedding? It doesn't make sense at all, Julie...."

She pulled me into a hug and the tears I had been holding back finally slid down my cheeks, because nothing in my head added up.

We had a perfect relationship, no cheating, no secrets, no fights worth remembering, and if he had left me for another woman there would have been signs months ago, but there had been none, not even the night before.

"Hey..." Julian said, pulling back and dabbing under my eyes with a careful finger, "I understand how you feel, but let's hope for the best. You do not want people seeing your eyeliner ruined, so sit up, tighten those emotions and keep that smile on. Do you understand?"

I nodded, because Julian had always been the one who pulled me back together.

I sighed and glanced around the hall. "So where is the crazy brother?"

Julian smiled. "Should I go call him?"

"No, please don't, I cannot handle any more mental stress today." I said.

Julian sighed and rolled her eyes while I turned toward the reception hall, where everyone was drinking and cheering as if nothing was wrong.

Nobody seemed to know I had just exchanged vows with the wrong man, maybe because Dante had always been too busy for photos before the wedding, so his absence had not shocked anyone.

Suddenly I stood up, because whatever was building inside me could not be held back anymore. "I need to use the bathroom."

Julian stood with me. "Barbara, I need you to calm down."

"You need me to calm down?" I turned and stared at her. "My husband is out there, maybe in trouble, maybe in some kind of debt, and I am sitting here faking a smile like none of it matters. Thank you for saving me today, truly, but I need to know what is wrong with him."

Julian frowned and nodded slowly. "Fine, except he is not actually your husband, and we both know Dante and his habit of not showing up for things, so I do not understand why you are so surprised."

I shook my head, trying to hold myself together, because why could she not see that this was different?

I had never argued with Julian and I was not about to start, so I simply walked away, moving slowly with a smile fixed on my face while guests greeted me and I made sure to dodge my parents because I had seen their faces earlier and even my inner demons wouldn't answer their questions....yet.

I was halfway across the floor when I bumped into someone and stumbled back.

"Oh, I am so sorry...." I said, and then I froze.

It was Graham, the man I hated with everything in me.

I had always seen him as a dangerous person, a man with nothing good to offer the world, one who played with women, swallowed other people's businesses and even threatened to kill Dante, and I had every reason to dislike him, even if he had saved me today.

I let out a slow breath and kept my face calm. "I did not thank you properly for helping me earlier, so thank you for everything and I truly appreciate."

I turned to leave, but his hand closed around my wrist, and it was not the soft hold of a loving groom, it was tight and sure, telling me that he decided when I left.

I glanced at the crowd, pulled my hand free and leaned in with a smile. "You do not have to be an asshole in public, you know."

Graham looked me over from head to toe and smiled slowly. "So where is Dante, your fiancé?" He paused as if he had just remembered. "Oh, that is right, he dumped you at the altar."

I chuckled in anger because I understood exactly what he was doing, and it did not surprise me, since Graham had always been good at throwing shade my way, but I refused to feed his nonsense, not today.

"At least he is not like you, the kind of man who dumps women whenever he likes after getting your cock sucked!" I said.

"Speaking of my cock..." Graham said, his eyes dropping to my lips and rising again, "I will be expecting you tonight, since it is our honeymoon."

I frowned, disgusted that he thought saying vows at that altar made us husband and wife, and my irritation grew fast as I looked him over the same way he had looked at me.

"If you think you will ever see the color of my pants tonight, then wake up from that dream, Graham!" I said, snapping my fingers in his face. "Again, thanks for your help, I will take my leave now."

I had barely turned away from him when my phone began to ring, and I grabbed it without thinking, because at that point every call mattered more than anything.

My hands were shaking, and when I looked at the screen my heart almost jumped out of my chest, because it was Dante.

Relief flooded through me so fast that my knees went weak, and a laugh and a sob escaped me at the same time.

He was alive, he was safe, and whatever this was, he was finally calling me back.

I pressed the phone to my ear and turned my back to Graham so he could not see my face.

"Oh my God, Dante! I was so scared and I'm so pissed off at you right now!!" I said, and my voice cracked in the middle. "What is happening, and where are you?!"

For a second there was only silence, and then a woman's voice came through, smooth and cold. "I am sorry, but Dante is asleep and cannot show up at work now. Please stop calling him repeatedly, Mrs. Secretary, or whatever you are."

My mouth opened to answer, but before a single word left it, the line went dead.

I stood there staring at the phone, my thumb hovering over the screen, and I blinked once, then twice, trying to make sense of what I had just heard.

A woman had answered my fiancé's phone on our wedding day.

She had spoken as if I were a nuisance.

Worse? she had called me his secretary.