Semua Bab Married to the Billionaire in Disguise : Bab 1 - Bab 4

Victoria's PovThe barn looked like something out of a magazine.String lights hung from the rafters, casting a warm glow over everything. White roses covered every table. The smell of expensive perfume and barbecue mixed in the Texas heat. Everyone I'd ever known was here, dressed in their best, smiling at me like I'd finally done something right.I stood near the entrance in my perfect red dress, watching my parents greet guests. My mother kept touching my father's arm, pointing at the decorations, her face glowing with pride. This was everything she'd dreamed of for me."You look beautiful, baby," she'd whispered earlier while fixing my hair. "I knew you'd make us proud."The words had settled in my chest like stones.Make them proud. That's what tonight was about. Proving that little Victoria Hale from nowhere Texas had built a real life in New York. That she'd found a successful man who wanted her. That she wasn't just the girl who left town chasing dreams too big for her.I smoo

Victoria's PovI woke up in my childhood bedroom with sunlight stabbing through the curtains.For one blissful second, I forgot.Then it all came crashing back. Carl. Bianca. The announcement. The humiliation.My phone sat on the nightstand, screen dark. I'd turned it off after Simon dropped me back around two in the morning. Before that, forty-three missed calls. Sixty-two texts.I didn't want to know what they said.A knock at the door made me freeze."Victoria?" My mother's voice. Tight. Strained. "We need to talk. Now."Downstairs, my parents sat at the kitchen table. My father's face was carved from stone. My mother's eyes were red and puffy."Sit," Dad said.The silence stretched like a wire about to snap."What happened last night?" Mom's voice cracked. "Carl said you misunderstood the relationship. That you made up an engagement. Is that true?""No." The word came out hoarse. "He proposed. He gave me a ring. He told me he loved me.""Then why would he say those things?""Becau