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Chapter 11: Crossed Lines
Last Updated:
2025-08-02 10:37:07
Latest chapter
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 12: The Game of Threats
—Celeste—I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Evelyn's face when she'd spotted Aria—the shock, the calculation, the vindictive satisfaction as the pieces fell into place. She knew. She knew everything now, and she had the power to destroy the life I'd spent five years building.I sat at my kitchen table until three in the morning, staring at my cold coffee and running through scenarios in my head. Each one ended the same way—with Killian learning the truth, with lawyers and custody battles, with Aria's innocent world torn apart by adults who couldn't figure out how to love without causing damage.Unless.The idea came to me sometime around dawn, dark and desperate but potentially effective. Evelyn Sinclair had always been driven by one thing above all others—her obsession with Killian Hart. She'd waited fifteen years for him to notice her as more than a family friend, had positioned herself as the perfect wife material, had built her entire identity around becoming Mr
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 11: Crossed Lines
—Celeste—The question hung in the air like a blade about to fall.Are you married?I opened my mouth to answer, my mind racing through possible responses, but the sudden rumble of the car's engine shifting into park cut through the tension. We'd arrived at the corner I'd specified, the familiar streetlights of my neighborhood casting long shadows across the sidewalk."Thank you for the ride," I said quickly, my hand already on the door handle. The need to escape was overwhelming, pressing against my chest like a physical weight. "I really appreciate—""Celeste."My name on his lips made me freeze, my heart hammering against my ribs. There was something raw in his voice, something that cut through all the professional politeness we'd been hiding behind.I turned back to look at him, and for a moment, I saw past the controlled CEO mask to the man I'd once known. The man I'd once loved. His gray eyes were dark with emotions I couldn't name, his jaw tight with whatever words he was strug
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 10: Misunderstandings
—Celeste— The evening was finally winding down. Most of the guests had filtered out into the Seattle night, their laughter and chatter fading as they climbed into waiting cars and taxis. I moved efficiently through the ballroom, carefully packing my remaining supplies and making notes about which arrangements could be donated to local hospitals tomorrow. Professional. Efficient. Invisible. Just the way I liked it. "Ms. Whitmore." I looked up from the roses I was wrapping to find Killian approaching, his bow tie loosened and his usually perfect hair slightly mussed. Even disheveled, he looked devastatingly handsome—a fact that my treacherous heart noted despite everything. "Mr. Hart," I said politely, continuing to pack my supplies. "I hope you were pleased with the arrangements. The feedback from your guests seemed very positive." "They were perfect," he said, stopping a few feet away. "Everything was exactly as I'd hoped." Something in his tone made me look up. His gray eyes w
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 9: Unexpected Encounters
—Celeste— The Hart Enterprises "intimate gathering" was anything but intimate. I stood at the entrance of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel's grand ballroom, surveying the sea of designer gowns and perfectly tailored suits that filled the space. Seattle's elite mingled beneath glittering chandeliers, their laughter mixing with the soft notes of a string quartet. My floral arrangements—white roses and baby's breath with trailing ivy—created elegant focal points throughout the room, exactly as I'd envisioned. But none of that mattered now that I was here, in Killian's world, surrounded by faces from a life I'd tried so hard to forget. "Ms. Whitmore." Rebecca Morrison appeared at my elbow, resplendent in a midnight blue gown that probably cost more than my monthly rent. "Everything looks absolutely perfect. Mr. Hart will be so pleased." "Thank you," I said, smoothing down my simple black dress—the same one I'd worn to his gala weeks ago. Professional. Forgettable. Safe. "I should check on t
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 8: Little Lies and Big Secrets
—Celeste— My hands didn't stop shaking until thirty minutes after Killian left the shop. I'd done it. I'd looked him straight in the eye, pretended not to know him, and somehow—miraculously—he'd believed me. The man who'd once prided himself on reading people like open books, who could spot a lie from across a boardroom, had walked out of my shop convinced I was a stranger. But God, it had nearly killed me. Every instinct had screamed at me to drop the act, to throw myself into his arms and confess everything—about Aria, about why I'd run, about the five years of missing him so desperately it felt like a physical ache. When he'd said his name, when those steel-gray eyes had fixed on mine with laser focus, I'd almost cracked right there. Almost. But then I'd thought about Aria, safe at preschool, blissfully unaware that her father was less than three miles away. I'd thought about the life we'd built here, simple and peaceful and ours. Real friendships, a community that accepted us
The Deal in a Wedding Dress Chapter 7: The Meeting
—Killian— I stood outside "Petals & Dreams" for ten minutes, watching through the window as she moved around the small shop like a dancer in her own private ballet. The afternoon light caught in her dark hair, and every gesture was achingly familiar—the way she tilted her head when considering a flower arrangement, how her fingers traced the petals with unconscious reverence. It was definitely her. Even after five years, even with the different name and the careful way she'd rebuilt her life, I knew every line of her body, every graceful movement that had once driven me to distraction. The question was: did she know I was coming? Rebecca had made the appointment for me under Hart Enterprises, requesting a consultation for an "intimate corporate gathering." Nothing that would raise red flags, nothing that would send her running before I had a chance to look into her eyes and hear her voice again. I pushed open the door, and the bell chimed softly in the floral-scented air. She loo
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