Chapter 3

Just then, my phone rang.

I answered it. “Mhm. Okay.”

“You’re verifying the IDs now? Okay, I can wait.”

I turned to a frozen Jax. “I’m wearing a wedding dress because my fiancé hired a photographer for the day. He wants to document us getting our license.”

“This dress is the lightest one from my bridal collection. Easy to move in.”

“And since you’re all here,” I said, pulling a stack of invitations from my purse. “Saves me the postage. The wedding is next month, on the tenth. You’re all welcome to come.”

I started handing out the black and gold invitations. When I got to Jax, he didn’t take it.

He stared at the invitation, his jaw tight.

The others who took one started whispering.

“The Sovereign Grand Hotel? That’s the most exclusive hotel in the city. The venue fee alone is hundreds of thousands.”

“Wait, look at the wax seal. The black and gold crest… is that the ‘Thorns and Twin Guns’?”

One of the rich kids gasped. “Isn’t that the private crest of the old-money Italian family? The one that basically runs Chicago’s underworld? Even the mayor is in their pocket!”

Jax’s lip curled in a sneer, but his eyes were wild with a fury he couldn’t control.

“Clara, are you serious? You’re really committing to this little act?”

“A wedding invitation? A reception at the Sovereign Grand? You even dared to buy a sticker of the freaking Godfather’s family crest off Amazon? This is pathetic, not impressive. You think I’m jealous?”

He snatched the invitation from my hand and threw it on the ground like trash.

Chloe glanced at it and sighed. “I’m sorry, Clara, but I have to side with Jax on this one. There aren’t even photos of the bride and groom on here. It doesn’t look real.”

There were no photos because we hadn’t taken any yet.

Chloe took my hand, her voice full of fake sympathy. “Look, I’ve always known about your feelings for Jax…”

Jax tensed up. “Chloe, let me explain—”

Chloe shook her head. “Jax, you don’t have to. I know you grew up together. You have a special bond.”

She looked at me again. “Clara, as a woman, I get it. But you can’t force love. Jax has told me he only sees you as a sister. Faking a husband just to make him mad will only make him pity you.”

“I’m like a sister to you now, too. So please, listen to me. Stop this foolishness. The more you do, the more people will laugh at you.”

The crowd behind her agreed.

“Chloe’s so wise!”

“She’s a true lady. So kind and good. The way she’s trying to help Clara… what a woman!”

Chloe looked at me with that look of pity. That charity.

“Alright, Clara. Let me help you get out of this wedding dress.”

There it was again.

Every time Jax humiliated me, Chloe would swoop in to be the hero.

And over time, Jax just became more convinced that his new girlfriend was a saint. And I was the ugly, desperate backdrop that made her shine.

I was about to refuse when Chloe spotted the tag on my dress.

She grabbed it, reading aloud. “Vera Wang? From the new season?”

“Oh, Clara, my heart breaks for you. You must have rented this. The tag is still on. You really don’t have to go bankrupt just to keep up appearances…”

Jax’s sneer deepened.

He pulled Chloe into his arms and kissed her hair. “Chloe, you’re just too nice. Why are you even talking to a shameless gold digger like Clara?”

Chloe kept up her act. She clutched Jax’s shirt. “Jax, I’m sure she didn’t mean it. It’s just a little girl’s vanity. She can be corrected.”

I watched her flawless performance. I didn’t panic. I didn’t explain.

I just reached back, ripped the tag off the dress, and tossed it in a nearby trash can.

“It was flown in from the New York store this morning. They were in a rush. I forgot to cut it. Thanks for the reminder,” I said calmly.

“Okay, stop the act. You tell a lie enough, you start to believe it,” Jax said, nodding at me. But his eyes were locked on mine. “Clara, if you really have a fiancé, call him out. Let’s see him. If he shows up, I’ll get on my knees and apologize right now.”

His cronies jumped in. “Yeah, show us the goods!”

“Let us meet this rich guy who can afford Vera Wang and book the Sovereign Grand!”

“You’re getting married today, right? Where’s the groom?”

I stood at the entrance to City Hall. A crowd was gathering, watching us.

Mickey, the guy I’d kneed, pointed at me and started shouting.

“Everyone, look! A psycho! She stalks Jax like a freak, and now that her plan failed, she’s pretending to get married!”

“Let’s all see where this crazy bitch’s groom is!”

People stopped. They pointed. They pulled out their phones, opening TikTok, recording me.

The Chicago autumn wind was cold. I hugged myself.

Chloe shivered a little. Jax immediately took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

He yelled at me, annoyed. “Clara, call your dear husband already! If my Chloe catches a cold, it’s on you!”

In the chaos, one of the rich girls sneered and bumped into me, “accidentally” spilling her iced espresso all over the hem of my dress.

I looked down. I was cold, inside and out.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure when my fiancé would get here. We’d only met once.

Time ticked by. No one came. The crowd around me grew.

Their phone cameras were practically in my face.

Jax’s smile got wider and wider. He looked down at me with that chilling sense of control. “Clara, I’d like to see who dares to marry you today besides me. I’ll give you ten minutes. Stop this circus and apologize to me. Nicely.”

I kept backing away from the cameras, until my back hit a hard, broad chest.

“Sorry, I—”

Before I could finish, a large, powerful hand with long fingers closed possessively on my shoulder.

“I’m the one who should be sorry.”

A deep voice rumbled above me.

“Sorry I’m late, my bride. I was delayed by some… minor business.”

Then, like ghosts, several men in black suits and sunglasses appeared.

They shoved through the crowd, swatting the phones out of people’s hands.