Chapter 6 The Wedding Plan

Vance exhaled slowly. For once, his expression gave away a hint of disbelief before he looked toward the restaurant behind us.

“I think we need to talk about this. The four of us.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because Adrian didn't just investigate your husband.” His voice remained controlled, but there was a warning underneath it now. “He investigated Sam because of you. And while doing that, he found Maya.”

My stomach tightened. I had expected him to investigate Sam out of wounded pride. What I hadn't expected was for his investigation to lead straight into Vance and Nerissa's family.

Vance continued, his expression growing harder. “He brought Nerissa's name into the conversation. He brought Maya's identity into it. Now he knows Sam was part of her life before I even knew she existed.”

“But Adrian already knows the truth about Maya.”

“That isn't the point.” Vance turned toward me fully.

“The point is that he started digging because of your marriage. We don't know how far he went, what else he found, or who else he might have contacted.”

I folded my arms. “So you think he's going to keep digging?”

“I don't know.” The answer came too quickly to be comforting.

“And that's exactly why I want to know what we're dealing with before he does.”

I stared at him, trying to understand why this suddenly sounded much more serious than a rejected engagement and an overcurious man.

Vance glanced toward the restaurant again. “I won't have someone investigating Nerissa or Maya because they decided your marriage gave them a reason.”

His voice changed when he said Maya's name. It wasn't the controlled voice of a businessman protecting his reputation. It was the voice of a father who had already lost five years with his daughter and had no intention of letting anyone take anything else from her.

“I don't want my daughter living her life while people stare at her or whisper about her because of the circumstances of her birth. You know how this society works as well as I do, Caleste. You know the risk.”

I knew. And perhaps that was what frightened me most. Vance wasn't treating Adrian's investigation as gossip. He was treating it as a threat.

---

Thirty minutes later, the four of us were gathered inside the Aerie. I had barely sat down before I realized this was going to be worse than I expected.

Vance settled beside Nerissa while Sam took the seat next to me. Momo curled herself at my feet as if this were an ordinary afternoon and not a family meeting about the secret marriage I had created less than two days ago.

Nerissa looked at me. There was no judgment in her eyes. Only concern. “Start from the beginning.”

So I did. I told them about my mother introducing Adrian at the funeral, the arrangement she had already decided for me, and the fact that I had refused him almost immediately. I told them how Sam had suggested marriage, how we had registered it, and how we had decided that one year would be enough time for me to secure my position as the Ashworth heiress before we ended it.

I also told them about Adrian's message and what had happened at the Beaumont Grand. When I finished, nobody spoke for several seconds.

Nerissa's gaze settled on Sam. “So you were the one who suggested to getting married?”

Sam nodded, looking far less comfortable than he had when he made the suggestion in the first place. “Yes.”

Nerissa looked back at me. “And you agreed because you needed to stop your mother from pushing you toward Adrian.”

“Yes.”

She leaned back slightly, processing that. “And the plan is to stay married for one year, until you secure your position, and then divorce?”

“That is the plan.”

Her eyes moved to Sam again. He didn't say anything. Nerissa didn't either. But something passed through her expression before she looked away, something almost too knowing. I ignored it.

Something about the silence made me uncomfortable, so I shifted in my seat and added, “It's practical.”

Nerissa gave me a look that told me she wasn't entirely convinced.

“Practical,” she repeated.

“Yes.”

I knew that look. She had been married to Vance long enough to know that some things were never as simple as people claimed they were.

Vance leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Does anyone know?”

“No.”

“Your families?”

“No.”

“Leo?”

“No.”

That seemed to confirm whatever concern had already been forming between him and Nerissa. They exchanged a glance, and Nerissa let out a quiet breath.

“This isn't going to stay simple, Caleste.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

“Because you're married.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that I almost wanted to laugh.

“I know.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don't think you do.”

She looked between Sam and me.

“You can call it a contract. You can call it a fake marriage. You can make whatever rules you want inside your apartment, but the rest of the world won't know any of that. As far as everyone else is concerned, you're husband and wife.”

I opened my mouth, but she continued before I could argue.

“There will be family gatherings, business events, friends who ask questions, people who want photographs, holidays, dinners, and every other situation where married couples are expected to behave like married couples. You can't spend a year telling everyone you're married while giving them nothing that looks like a marriage.”

I felt my stomach sink as I realized where she was going.

“People will expect a wedding.”

Sam rubbed the back of his neck.

I stared at Nerissa. “A wedding?”

“A real one.”

“I don't think that's necessary.”

“You're already married,” she said with a small smile. “You might as well give everyone a reason to believe it.”

I looked at Sam, hoping he would disagree. He didn't.

Vance nodded in agreement. “She's right. If you intend to deceive your families and everyone around you for an entire year, the story needs to be believable. The more people have to explain your marriage for you, the more likely someone is going to notice something doesn't add up.”

I lowered my gaze. A wedding. Somehow, that sounded far more real than the certificate sitting in our apartment. The marriage had been paperwork. A signature. A decision made because I needed an escape.

A wedding meant people. My family, his family, photographs, promises. A room full of people watching me marry a man I had promised myself I would never fall for.

Then I noticed Vance's hand moving toward Nerissa's. He took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“Our beginning wasn't easy either,” Nerissa said.

Her eyes met Vance's for a moment. There was something in that look I couldn't quite place.

I knew enough about their past to know that their story hadn't begun the way most marriages did. There had been other marriages before theirs, other people, betrayals and choices that had hurt them both. Their relationship had once been something that could have destroyed more than just two people's hearts.

Yet Vance was holding her hand now as though none of that mattered anymore. Nerissa gave his fingers a small squeeze before turning back to me.

“I know what it feels like to enter something complicated and tell yourself you can control every part of it.”

Her voice was gentle. “Sometimes you can't.”

For some reason, that made me uncomfortable. Perhaps because she wasn't looking at me like a woman discussing a business arrangement. She was looking at me like she already knew there was something I wasn't saying.

Before I could ask what she meant, she reached across and took my hand. Her fingers closed around mine with a warmth that reminded me of every time she had made space for me in her family without ever asking me to earn it.

“I'll help you.”

I looked at her. “With what?”

“Everything.” Her smile softened. “I'll help you choose the dress, plan the wedding, deal with your mother, and make sure you don't have to face any of this alone.”

There was something in her expression that made me pause. She wasn't treating this like a game. She was worried about me.

“And Maya will come with us.”

A groan came from beside me. I turned toward Sam. He looked genuinely horrified.

Nerissa laughed. “She'll never forgive me if she finds out I helped Papa Sam get married without her.”

That finally made me smile.

I looked at Sam. “You brought this on yourself.”

He gave me a wounded look. “I know.”

For a few seconds, the room felt lighter. Then Vance stood.

“It means the two of you will have to deceive everyone around you.”

His gaze settled on Sam. “Your family included.”

Something changed in Sam's expression. It was small enough that I might have missed it if I hadn't spent the last five years watching him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

I turned toward him. “Sam.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly searching for a way to explain whatever had suddenly become a problem. “My parents.”

I waited. “What about them?”

“They're going to be surprised.”

I almost laughed. “Of course they're going to be surprised. You went to the city, got married, and came back with a wife. What exactly did you expect?”

He looked at me. “No. That's not what I mean. My mother has been waiting for me to bring you home for years. Not as a friend. As my wife.”

He gave me an apologetic look. “Especially after Leo married Lydia last year. Since then, she asks me at least once a month when I'm finally going to settle down. I've told her more times than I can count that we're just friends.”

He paused. “Apparently, she never believed me.”

I stared at him. “What?”

Sam looked away. “She always liked you.”

That shouldn't have made my heart beat differently. It did. I quickly looked down at Momo, pretending that the dog had suddenly become very interesting.

“That's not a problem.”

Sam gave me a look that made it clear he didn't believe me. “You haven't met my mother when she's excited.”

Nerissa laughed beside us while Vance shook his head.

But I wasn't laughing anymore. For the last five years, I had gone to their house every year. I knew his mother. I knew his father. I knew Anna. I knew where the cups were kept in their kitchen and which chair Sam's father always used at dinner. I knew the way his mother filled the table with more food than anyone could possibly eat, then complained that nobody was eating enough.

They had always welcomed me. They had always treated me like I belonged there. But I had always been Sam's friend. Now I would walk into that house as his wife.

And one day, when this one-year contract ended, I would have to tell them that the marriage they had celebrated had never been real. The thought pressed heavily against my chest.

I looked at Sam. He was still watching me. “You okay?”

I forced myself to nod. “I'm fine.”

It was a lie. I was afraid of what it meant to step into a family that had already made room for me before I had ever asked for it.

I had thought escaping my mother's arrangement would be the difficult part. I was beginning to realize that might have been the easiest part of all.

Because now I had to walk into the home of the family I had loved for five years, look Sam's mother in the eyes, and let her believe I had finally become the woman she had always wanted for her son.

And one year from now, I would have to be the one to break her heart.