Chapter One : Three Weeks Before I Was Supposed to Say I Do

Evelyn

Three weeks before my wedding, I still believed I was marrying the love of my life, I believed my best friend would stand beside me when I did it, and that the biggest problem in my life was convincing one hundred and eighty-seven wedding guests that no, they could not bring additional people to a reception that already cost more than my first car.

I believed a lot of stupid things, but at six-fourteen that evening, I was totally oblivious and smiling at work.

I sat behind my desk on the 48th floor of Vale Global headquarters, staring at the photograph Sienna had just sent me, it was my wedding dress.

Or, more accurately, part of it, the boutique had finally finished altering the waist, and Sienna had apparently gone there without me to make sure they hadn't ruined it.

SIENNA: SHE SURVIVED SURGERY.

Another picture arrived, this one showed Sienna standing beside the dress with one hand dramatically pressed to her chest as if she was testing it out.

SIENNA: Our baby is beautiful.

I laughed.

ME: Stop touching my dress.

SIENNA: OUR dress.

ME: Touch it again and I'll replace you as maid of honor.

Her reply came immediately.

SIENNA: With who? You don't have any other friends.

Bitch but unfortunately, she wasn't entirely wrong, I'd known Sienna Blake for seven years.

She'd seen me broke, drunk, heartbroken, overworked, sick, furious and once trapped inside a university bathroom because I'd somehow broken the lock.

She'd held my hair while I threw up after my twenty-first birthday and I'd held hers after her father died, when Daniel proposed, she cried harder than I did.

When I asked her to be my maid of honor, she'd screamed so loudly that the woman at the next table in the restaurant dropped her fork.

There were people you loved and there were people you stopped remembering you'd ever lived without, Sienna was the second kind.

My phone buzzed again this time it was Daniel, my smile changed immediately, six years, and seeing his name could still do that I was truly pathetic.

I answered. “Hello, future husband.”

“Still at work?” I looked toward the enormous glass doors at the end of the corridor, beyond them sat the office of the reason I was still at work, my overwhelming boss.

“Unfortunately.”

Daniel groaned. “Evelyn.”

“I know.”

“You promised.”

“I am leaving.”

“You said that forty minutes ago.”

“I meant it spiritually.”

He laughed, and just like that, the tension in my shoulders eased, that was Daniel, he was home, in human form and three weeks from now, I was supposed to become Mrs. Evelyn Cross.

My mother had already started using the name, I hadn't decided whether that was sweet or terrifying.

“Dinner is by seven-thirty,” Daniel reminded me.

“I know.”

“My parents are coming.”

“I know.”

“Your mother is coming.”

“I know.”

“Which means if you're late, somehow it'll become my fault.”

“Seven-thirty. I promise.”

“You said that last time.”

“I'll be there.”

A pause and then his voice softened. “Love you.”

I looked down at my ring. “Love you too.”

Then I hung up. “Touching.” I heard from behind me and my spine straightened, I slowly lifted my eyes to see Adrian Vale standing in the doorway.

Of course he did, because apparently billionaires didn't believe in knocking.

My boss was thirty-three, six-foot-three and responsible for approximately seventy percent of my daily headaches.

The remaining thirty percent belonged to wedding planning.

Adrian Vale had inherited a surname worth hundreds of millions and somehow turned it into one worth billions. Hotels. Property. Investments. Luxury resorts. Half the financial press seemed convinced the man could turn oxygen into revenue if someone gave him exclusive rights to it.

Working for him was considered one of the best opportunities in corporate America, working directly for him was considered slightly less desirable by anyone who valued sleep.

I'd lasted four years, people at Vale Global spoke about that achievement the way soldiers discussed surviving combat.

Adrian looked at my phone then at me. “Personal calls during working hours?”

I looked at the clock. “Working hours ended fourteen minutes ago.”

“Did they?”

“Yes.”

“I'll inform the acquisition team. I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear international finance now stops at six.”

I stared at him and he stared back, Adrian was irritatingly handsome but not in a pleasant way, there was nothing pleasant about Adrian Vale.

With his bark hair, grey eyes, sharp features and broad shoulders that made expensive suits look annoyingly necessary rather than indulgent.

He had the kind of face magazines loved and employees feared.

I had become mostly immune, mostly.

“You need something,” I said.

“I need many things.”

“From me?” I asked and I couldn’t help but notice how his eyes stayed on mine for a second too long.

Then he held out a folder. “Meridian.”

I nearly cried. “No, I have dinner.”

“The numbers are wrong.”

“Then tell finance.”

“I did.” He deadpan ed

“And?” I asked

“They're still wrong.” He said in a matter of fact way.

I noticed his gaze fell to my engagement ring and t stayed there for half a second. “Wedding dinner?”

“Yes.”

“You have many of those.”

“You only get married once.”

Something unreadable crossed his face and then it was gone. “Optimistic.”

I glared. “Go away.”

He actually did, that should tell you how long I'd worked for him. nobody else at Vale Global told Adrian Vale to go away.

I opened the folder then five minutes became twelve, twelve became twenty-three and at six-forty-one, I finally corrected the last projection, emailed the file and grabbed my bag.

Adrian's office door was closed.

Good because f he saw me leaving, he'd probably remember another international emergency, I made it halfway to the elevator before my phone rang, it was Daniel.

“I'm coming,” I answered immediately.

“Don't.”

I stopped. “What?”

“Dinner's canceled.”

“What happened?”

“My parents can't make it.”

“Oh.”

“My dad isn't feeling well.”

My annoyance disappeared.

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah. Probably something he ate.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

Another pause. “No.”

Something about the answer bothered me, it was not enough to frighten me just enough to notice.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I'm exhausted anyway.”

“You're home?”

“Still at work.”

That made sense, Daniel worked for a consulting firm downtown. Lately, he'd been staying late almost every night.

“Okay.”

“Rain check?”

“Obviously.”

“I'll make it up to you.”

“You'd better.”

“I love you.”

.

“I love you too.” We hung up.

I stared at the elevator doors and for the first time all day, I had nowhere I needed to be, I considered going back to my desk. then immediately rejected the thought because I wasn't mentally ill.

Like a normal person I will go home, shower, drown in wine and maybe get Chinese food.

I pressed the elevator button. “Dinner canceled?”

I looked over my shoulder to see Adrian stood outside his office, did the man have supernatural hearing?

“Yes.”

He glanced at the folder under my arm. “You could stay.”

I laughed directly in his face. “Goodnight, Adrian.”

“Worth trying.”

The elevator arrived and I stepped inside, just before the doors closed, he said my name, I looked up and for some reason, Adrian seemed like he wanted to say something but he didn't.

“Tomorrow. Seven-thirty.”

I rolled my eyes as the doors closed, Asshole.

***

I stopped for wine on the way home, then changed my mind and bought ice cream too dinner cancellation had officially become an opportunity because Daniel wouldn't be home until late.

So I could steal the television, order food he hated and take up the entire bed, I deserved one final evening of selfishness.

My mood had completely recovered by the time I turned onto our street, then I saw Daniel's car, it was off because it was parked outside our building.

I frowned because Daniel had told me he was at work, for a few seconds I simply sat behind the wheel.

Then I smiled, the idiot, he was surprising me, that had to be it Dinner wasn't canceled so maybe he'd planned something here, Daniel had never been particularly good at surprises.

On my twenty-fourth birthday, he'd hidden my present in his closet and then asked me to get his jacket.

I grabbed the wine, then noticed another car farther down the street it was a familiar red Mercedes that belonged to Sienna.

Now I knew.

“Oh, you sneaky little bitch.”

I laughed; they were planning something maybe a pre-wedding surprise so that explains why she'd been weird over text.

I grabbed my bag and hurried inside, for once, I decided not to announce myself if they wanted to surprise me, I'd surprise them first.

The apartment was quiet, Daniel's jacket was on the sofa and Sienna's handbag sat beside it.

I couldn’t help but smile, caught you.

Then I noticed her shoes, her black heels abandoned near the staircase.

I frowned. “Sienna?”

But I got nothing. maybe they were upstairs looking for something, my wedding documents were in the bedroom, the guest list too.

I started toward the stairs, then I heard a thump, I stopped then I heard another.

I stared upward and something uncomfortable moved through my stomach.

Don't be ridiculous, this was Daniel and Sienna, my fiancé and my best friend, the two people I trusted most in the world.

I climbed another step, hen I heard Sienna but it was not words but a breathless sound, one I'd never heard from her before.

My hand tightened around the railing, no this can’t be but my body understood before my mind did.

My mind fought anyway, maybe she was hurt or laughing, maybe— then Daniel groaned and I froze.

Everything inside me went cold, no. N, No.

I climbed faster, my purse slipped from my shoulder but I didn't pick it up, the wine bottle knocked against the wall but I didn't care.

At the top of the stairs, I could hear them clearly, from my bedroom, they were fucking in my fucking bedroom.

My heart was beating so violently it hurt, the door was partly closed I moved toward it but every step felt wrong.

There were photographs along the hallway, Daniel and me in Paris, Daniel and me at my graduation, Sienna between us at my twenty-fifth birthday, Sienna holding my hand after Daniel proposed.

My entire life was hanging on those walls while something impossible was happening ten feet away.

I reached the door and a woman's dress lay on the floor, Sienna's dress, I knew it because I'd bought it for her birthday.

My fingers went numb and Inside, she laughed softly, then Daniel said something I couldn't understand.

I pushed the door open and saw them fully, for one second, my brain refused to process the image.

Daniel was shirtless and Sienna was in my sheets, his body over hers, her hands on him and her clothes on my floor.

Daniel looked toward the door, his face changed and Sienna followed his gaze as her eyes met mine.

Something slipped from my hand and shattered against the floor and wine spread across the white carpet like blood, Daniel scrambled away from her.

“Evelyn—”

I screamed so hard my throat tore. “DANIEL!”

His face went white.

Then I looked at the woman I'd trusted with every secret I'd ever had. “SIENNA!”