Mag-log inHumiliated and abandoned on her wedding day, Breanna Jones is left alone with a huge debt and the possible loss of her family’s bakery. Then Elijah Washington, her ex’s billionaire boss, makes her an offer. "Marry me and all your problems will disappear." Having no choice, she agrees. Being married to Elijah Washington is nothing she expected. He’s cocky and frustratingly unreadable but she finds herself starting to feel things she shouldn’t. A budding romance begins to blossom between them. When she discovers his true plans for her family's bakery, she feels betrayed and used but Elijah won't let her leave and is willing to do anything to keep her by his side even if it means breaking the contract. Breanna must decide whether to protect what’s hers or risk everything for a man she never thought she could love.
view moreMy hands trembled slightly as I smoothed out my gown to help calm the butterflies in my stomach. In less than an hour, I would be walking down the aisle and making my way to marry the man of my dreams.
“Wow,” my Maid of Honor, Sarah, said from behind me. “You look absolutely stunning. Logan is going to lose his mind when he sees you.” I smiled, hoping she was right. Logan and I had been together for three years, and while things hadn't always been perfect, I loved him. He was charming, successful, and he'd chosen me. Sometimes I still couldn't believe someone like Logan wanted to marry someone like me. The door to the bridal suite opened and Logan himself walked in wearing his tailored black tuxedo. “Logan!” I squealed, my heart jumping at the sight of him. “You’re not supposed to see me yet. It's bad luck.” “That’s just superstition,” he said grinning at me. His eyes roamed over my dress. “You look amazing baby.” As I gazed into my soon-to-be husband's eyes, I could feel that usual fluttering sensation in my chest. He really was handsome, with those flirty hazel eyes that had first caught my attention in college. He leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. He was being extremely cautious so as to not mess up my makeup. “My boss will soon arrive. I need to get ready to welcome him. You know how important this is for the promotion.” “Oh my god, I can't believe you were able to get him to come," I said, shaking my head. “Pretty impressive right,” he grinned. “After all, this is going to be the wedding of the century, babe. All of the most important people in business will be attending.” I sighed as he left, glancing at my phone for the tenth time in the past hour. Dad still hadn't texted to say he'd arrived. He'd promised he'd make it, even though the drive from his place was over two hours. I knew he wasn't feeling well lately, but he'd insisted he wouldn't miss walking me down the aisle for anything. Sarah handed me my bouquet of white roses and peonies. "You ready? It's almost time." "As ready as I'll ever be," I said, taking a deep breath. I stepped out of the bridal suite into the hallway. The hotel was even more crowded than I'd expected. I needed to use the restroom one more time before the ceremony started. My nerves were getting the best of me, and I didn't want to be fidgeting throughout the vows. As I walked down the corridor toward the private restrooms near the back of the venue, I heard voices that sounded intimate and one of them sounded suspiciously like Logan. My stomach tightened as I turned the corner. No…it couldn't be. Logan had his body against the wall, and he was kissing a woman. Her hands were in his hair and his were around her waist. “Logan?! What the hell?!" I yelled. My flowers slipped out of my grip and fell to the floor. Logan pulled away from the woman, his eyes getting very big. I briefly saw fear in his expression. But it changed, and became immediately hard. “Breanna, Jesus, relax," he said, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. “Relax?" My voice was shaking and I disliked how weak it sounded. "Who is she, and what are you two doing?" The woman mumbled, and still didn’t look at me, “Logan, I should go.” "No, stay," he said firmly, and my stomach dropped even further. "Are you insane?" I took a step toward them, my hands balling into fists. "We're supposed to be getting married in twenty minutes!" "And we still can, if you'd just calm the hell down and stop being so dramatic," He said coldly as he straightened his tie. "It's not that big of a deal." "Not that big of a deal?" The corset of my dress suddenly felt too tight, crushing my ribs. "You were kissing someone else right before our wedding!" "It was just a kiss, Breanna. Don't blow this out of proportion." I stared at him, searching his face for any sign of remorse but all I saw was annoyance, like I was the one being unreasonable. The woman shifted uncomfortably beside him, and I saw red. I lunged toward her, my hand raised, ready to slap that guilty look right off her face. Logan grabbed my arm, yanking me back so hard I stumbled in my heels. "Don't you dare touch her," He snarled and the venom in his voice made me flinch. I'd never heard him sound like that before. "Are you seriously protecting her right now?" Tears streamed down my face, ruining the makeup Sarah had spent an hour perfecting. "You need to get yourself together," Logan said through gritted teeth. He glanced down the hallway where I could hear voices getting closer. "People are going to see you losing your mind like this." "Losing my mind? You're the one who—" "Enough!” He shouted. “I knew you'd overreact to something eventually. You've always been so insecure, so needy. Do you know how exhausting that is?" Why was he speaking to me this way?? I tried to fight the tears that were threatening to spill. "You should be grateful," he sneered. "Grateful that someone like me is willing to marry someone like you. You think you have better options? You think anyone else is going to want your worthless ass?" I felt like I'd been slapped. Actually, a slap would have hurt less than hearing those words come out of his mouth. A small crowd was starting to gather at the end of the hallway. "Look what you've done," Logan hissed, noticing the audience. "You're making a scene and embarrassing both of us." "I'm making a scene?" My voice rose, cracking. "You're the one who was kissing another woman right before our wedding!" "See?" Logan turned to address the growing crowd, his voice going eerily soft. "She's being completely irrational. I was just talking to an old friend, and she tried to attack her. She's always been jealous and aggressive like this. I've tried to help her work on it, but..." He shook his head sadly. The crowd murmured. I saw people exchanging judgmental glances. They were believing him??! They actually thought I was the crazy one. "That's not what happened!" I protested, but no one seemed to care what I had to say. "He was kissing her…I saw it!" "Breanna, maybe we should go somewhere private and talk," Sarah said gently, trying to guide me away. But I couldn't move. "I'm done," Logan said coldly. "I'm not marrying someone who would try to physically assault someone over nothing. The wedding is off." He turned to leave, Melissa following him, and the crowd parted to let them through. I stood there, frozen, as everyone slowly left. Sarah was saying something, her hand on my arm, but I couldn't hear her over the ringing in my ears. "I need a minute," I told Sarah, pulling away from her. "Breanna, wait—" I ran towards the bathroom at the end of the hall. Locking myself in a stall, I sank to the floor and let out a big sob. I cried like a newborn. How had everything gone wrong so quickly? Logan never loved me. All of it was a lie. My phone buzzed in the small purse I'd been holding. I wiped my eyes and pulled it out, expecting Sarah or maybe one of the bridesmaids checking on me. "Hello?" I said in a shaky voice. "Is this Breanna Jones?" "Yes, who is this?" "This is St. Mary's Hospital. I'm calling about your father, Robert Jones. He's been in a car accident." I immediately sat up. "What? Is he....is he okay?" "He's alive but in critical condition. He's being prepared for emergency surgery. You're listed as his emergency contact. How soon can you get here?" "I'm coming. I'm coming right now." My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the phone. "What happened?" "There was a collision on Route 7. He was headed into the city when another vehicle—" "I'll be there soon." I hung up and burst out of the stall, not caring about my tear-stained face or ruined makeup. I had to get to my father. The one person who cared about me.“What does your mother want?” I asked.My impression of his mother was decent at least. I mean she was surprised, even distraught at him announcing that he was suddenly married and hadn't told or invited anyone. She wanted him to get married to Victoria and I was the strange woman he brought to them.“Look, my mother is…” He sighed. “That version of her you saw then, that's not really her. That's her on her best behavior. She's a lot and very spontaneous.” He said. “We're meeting her at her country club.”[AT THE COUNTRY CLUB]I felt completely out of place the moment we pulled up to the imposing white colonial building.The staff member opened the door for us like we were royalty."Mr. Washington, Mrs. Washington," A man greeted us. "Your mother is waiting in the Garden Terrace.”His mother was seated at table filled with drinks and beside her was that woman from the dinner. Madison I think. His sister. She looked like she'd just stepped out of a fashion magazine in a white sundres
I stood at the bathroom sink and stared at my reflection.What the hell was wrong with me?Getting jealous over a man I barely knew. A man I was only married to because of a contract..Elijah's reflection appeared in the mirror behind mine. He stepped inside and locked the door with a soft click."What are you doing?" My voice came out shakier than I wanted."You ran off." He moved closer, and I watched him approach in the mirror. "Why?""I told you. I-i-i needed the restroom." I hated that I stuttered. It made me feel weak. "Liar."I turned around to face him and my back hit the sink. "Can you stop calling me that?""Then stop lying." He moved closer to me. I could smell his cologne and see the flecks of gold in his eyes. I instantly got deja vu from last night. "You were jealous.""I wasn't—"He placed one hand on the counter beside me and I was trapped. "You were jealous, Breanna just admit it.""Fine." I said. "Yes, I was jealous.. happy now?"He held my gaze and I swallowed nerv
"Where are we going?" I asked as Elijah pulled out of the hospital parking lot. "Lunch." He responded. "Lunch?" "You haven't eaten all day." He glanced at me. "And you look like you need a distraction." He wasn't entirely wrong. My mind was still on what dad had said. I still didn't know how to figure this out but what I definitely knew was that I wasn't losing my mother's bakery. "I'm not really hungry." Even though I was lying. "You will be." Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to what looked like an ordinary building that looked like it was hidden on the quiet street. Was this even a restaurant. There was no sign of indication that there was a restaurant anywhere. "This is a restaurant?" I asked skeptically. "The best one in the city." Elijah got out and came around to open my door. "You just have to know where to find it." A man in a black suit opened the door before we even reached it. "Mr. Washington and his lady" he bowed slightly. "Welcome back, you
Elijah's hand rested on the small of my back as we walked through the corridors. Even that small touch made my stomach flutter. We reached the receptionist desk and was immediately escorted to Dad's private room.He looked so much smaller in that hospital bed than I remembered. Now he looked fragile, with tubes and monitors attached to him. His eyes lit up when he saw me, and that familiar warm smile spread across his face."Bree-bug," he said, using the nickname he'd called me since I was five. "You came.""Of course I did." I crossed to his bed and hugged him carefully, mindful of the IV. "How are you feeling?”"Much better. This room is fantastic but the food here is horrible though." He looked past me to Elijah. "Dad, this is—" I gestured to Elijah. "Logan!" My father gave him a big smile. "Good to see you, son. Though you look a bit different.. did you get taller?"Oh god."Dad, this isn't Logan." This was embarrassing. "I know I've been out of it but I'd recognize my son-in












Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.