Semua Bab The Substitute Husband's Secret: Bab 1 - Bab 9

The city looked like a circuit board from up here.I stood at the window of my office on the sixty-second floor of Cross Tower, watching the lights blink and pulse in the darkness below. Ten PM. Most people had gone home hours ago.I preferred it this way. Quiet. Empty. No one asking questions I didn't want to answer."Mr. Cross?" My CEO, Richard, cleared his throat behind me. "Should we go over the Laurent proposal?"I turned from the window and walked back to my desk. The file was already open on my tablet. Pages of financial projections, patent documentation, merger terms."Their European art authentication patents," Richard said, pulling up a slide on the screen. "Revolutionary technology. If we integrate it into our luxury real estate division, we could corner the high-end market. Authenticated provenance for every piece of art in our properties. No forgeries. No questions."I scrolled through the numbers. The patents were worth more than the Laurents probably realized. Their com

The hairdresser arrived at eight AM on day two.I sat in the chair my father had set up in the bathroom while a woman named Rita mixed chemicals in a bowl. The smell made my nose burn."Darker," my father said from the doorway. "His hair is too light. Marcus's is almost black."Rita nodded and added more dye.I watched in the mirror as she painted the mixture through my hair. Dark brown spreading over the honey color I'd had my whole life. The color my grandmother said reminded her of autumn leaves."Close your eyes," Rita said.I did. Felt the cold paste against my scalp. Felt myself disappearing.Forty minutes later, I looked like a stranger."Better," my father said. He handed Rita an envelope of cash. "Not a word about this to anyone."After she left, I touched my hair. It felt the same. But the face looking back at me in the mirror wasn't mine anymore.Day two was worse.My father brought in a man named Richard. Acting coach. He'd worked in theater for twenty years before retirin

I couldn't breathe. Standing at the altar, I couldn't get enough air. The suit was too tight. The cologne is too strong. The sun is too bright. And Damien Cross was right there. Two feet away. Staring at me with those eyes. Blue. Ice blue. The kind of blue that could freeze you solid. He was taller than I'd expected. At least 6'2". Broad shoulders filling out a black suit that probably cost more than our house. His jaw was sharp enough to cut glass. Dark hair perfectly styled. Every inch of him screamed power. I wanted to run. "Do you, Marcus Laurent," the officiant said, "take Damien Cross to be your lawfully wedded husband?" My throat closed up. The words were stuck somewhere between my lungs and my mouth. Say it. Just say it. But my voice wouldn't work. Damien's eyes narrowed. Just slightly. But I saw it. He knew. He had to know. I wasn't fooling anyone. "Mr. Laurent?" the officiant prompted. I forced the words out. "I... I do." My voice cracked. Broke in the middle l

I was going to get caught.It was only a matter of time before someone said something I couldn't fake my way through. Before someone noticed I wasn't Marcus.The reception felt like walking through a minefield."Marcus!" A man I'd never seen before grabbed my arm. Mid-thirties, expensive suit, cologne that smelled like money. "Congratulations, man!"I forced a smile. "Thanks.""Can't believe you actually went through with it." He laughed. Loud. The kind of laugh that made people turn and look. "Remember that crazy spring break in Ibiza? You swore you'd never settle down."My stomach dropped.Ibiza. Spring break. I had no idea what he was talking about."Yeah," I said. My voice came out weird. Too tight. "That was... crazy.""Crazy?" He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Dude, you got arrested. We had to bribe the cops to let you out."Arrested. Marcus got arrested in Ibiza."Right. Of course." I pressed my hand to my stomach. "Sorry, I'm not feeling great. The champagne...""