The Prince’s Lottery Bride

"Sir. You may begin."

The butler pulled the red silk off the wheel.

The face of the wheel held thirty-six letters. Each letter went with a name.

Jordan Sutton stepped toward it. I cut him off.

"Wait!"

All eyes turned.

In that moment, I understood.

I had been given a second chance.

In my previous life, I had been chosen. And on my wedding day… I was reduced to something less than human.

This time, I would not repeat the same fate.

I walked straight to the wheel and tore off the slip marked with my letter–A.

The room fell silent in shock.

"Is she insane?"

"That's one less competitor–our chances just improved!"

"But the young master clearly favors someone else. Marrying into that… do you think it'll end well?"

The thirty-five other women on the wheel were whispering to each other.

The other girls whispered among themselves.

I did not care.

I calmly tore the slip in my hand to pieces and dropped it into the trash.

Jordan let out a short laugh. "Naomi… are you looking for death?"

He came toward me. He was tall. He used it.

I did not move. I knew who was about to walk in.

Valerie Cooper. The woman he had been carrying in his head for fifteen years.

Valerie was the daughter of his father's second wife. His foster sister, on paper. Anyone could see what was wrong with that. Whatever Jordan was about to do with the wheel was a play to push her past her own line.

The doorway filled.

"Jordan." The voice cracked. "Are you really getting married?"

The room turned again.

Valerie was wearing a white dress. Her eyes were red. The chin was set in defiance.

Jordan crossed to her in three strides.

"Valerie. I'm sorry. Don't cry."

He pulled her in. He spoke into her hair.

"You know who I love.

"You know what I'm doing this for, don't you?"

He smoothed her hair back from her face.

She did not answer. She just kept crying.

He gripped her shoulders. "Valerie. Tell me. Do you love me?"

Her eyes slid past him to me.

"Naomi. You and Jordan grew up together. You and he will be very happy."

I went still.

Childhood friends.

That was true.

I met him when I was five. His mother had just passed away, and he stopped speaking from the shock. I stayed by his side every day, trying everything I could to make him smile.

Ten months later, he finally spoke again.

"Naomi, you're so good to me. When I grow up, I'm going to marry you."

He had been after me ever since. Everyone had thought he was head over heels.

I had thought so too.

Until he was seventeen, and the stepmother brought Valerie into the house.

Everything changed.

I let the corner of my mouth lift.

"Valerie. You have it wrong. Jordan and I are old friends. That's all."

I held her eyes for a beat.

I paused, then shifted my gaze to him.

"And besides…

"I already have someone I like."