All Chapters of The Wrong Bed: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"You're going to marry him, and it's going to be perfect," her best friend Priya said. "So stop looking at me like the ceiling is about to fall."Lina was looking at the ceiling.The champagne glass in her hand was nearly empty. The hotel suite was full of flowers and satin and the low thrum of a playlist she had let Priya build because making decisions felt impossible lately."The ceiling is not going to fall," Priya said again."He asked me last night if I was happy." Lina sat up. "Just like that. Out of nowhere. Are you happy, Lina? Like he already knew the answer.""What did you say?""I said yes.""Were you lying?"Silence.Priya refilled her glass. "Okay. You're just having cold feet. Every bride gets cold feet. It doesn't mean anything.""He loves me too much," Lina said. "Is that a thing? Is that a real thing that can be a problem?""Lina.""He watches me like I'm the only person in the room. Every room. Always. And I don't know how to be that for someone.""You love him.""I

"Absolutely not," Lina said."The contract is already signed." Her boss, Dana, pushed the folder across the desk without looking up. "It's a six-week consulting project. You're the best I have for restructuring work. It's not a conversation.""Dana. Who is the client?"Dana looked up then. And the expression on her face was the very specific expression of someone who is aware they are delivering bad news."Caldwell Holdings."Lina's hand was on the folder.She did not pick it up."No," she said."Lina—""Caldwell Holdings is Freddie Caldwell's company.""I'm aware.""The man I left at the altar nine weeks ago.""Also aware.""You want me to walk into that building.""I want you to do your job," Dana said. "He requested our firm specifically. He requested you specifically."That landed differently."He requested me.""By name."Lina picked up the folder. Opened it. His company letterhead. His signature at the bottom of the contract page. Clean, sharp, the way he did everything.She tho

"Come alone," Karthy had said. "Or this gets messy for everyone." Lina came alone. The bar was in Midtown. Dim lighting. Jazz low in the background. The kind of place where people came to say things they could not say anywhere else. She spotted her immediately. She was already watching the door. Karthy was not what she expected. Late thirties. Sharp suit. The kind of face that was Pretty in a calculated way, like she had practiced it. She stood when she approached. Pulled out the chair across from her. "Ms. Vasquez." Smooth. Like warm oil. "Thank you for coming." "You didn't give me a choice," she said. She sat. She did not take off her coat. "There's always a choice." "Start talking." She smiled. Ordered two drinks without asking her. She let it go. "How much do you know about the night before your wedding?" she said. "Enough." "Do you know that Marcos had been planning it for weeks?" She went still. "What did you just say?"Karthy leaned forward. Her voice dropped. "M

"Why do I have to be concerned," Marcos thought. "After years of planning, nothing can stop me. Not even Lina or Freddie."Most people would have panicked. Most people would have picked up their phone, and made a wrong move, said something they couldn't take back. But Marcos De Luca wasn't most people. And never had beenHe planned.He sat in his car quietly outside the Caldwell building for exactly forty minutes after Lina walked back in, watching. Waiting, the way he always did. His car engine off. His hands sat easy on the steering wheel. Eyes fixed on those lobby doors. He had learned a long time ago that watching and waiting is how you have to win at times.Three years ago Freddie Caldwell had looked him dead in the eye, shook his hand like a brother, and then taken everything he had built and swallowed it whole. No apology. No acknowledgement. Nothing. Marcos had been twenty nine. Hungry. Trusting.He had never made that mistake again.Patience. That was the lesson.Good things

Lina went back.Though Freddie never expected that.He was still right at his desk after half past midnight, the security log was still right in front of him, and his phone face down beside it, immediately he heard the elevator open again. He looked right up. And there Lina was standing. Standing by the entrance of his office she was looking like she wasn't sure If she was allowed to be there.She was wearing a different skimpy gown. Her hair pulled down now. She looked so tired and it has nothing to do with sleep and everything to do with carrying something too heavy for too long."I know you don't really want me here," she said. "I know you asked me to leave the other time. But I couldn't just go home and sit there, like nothing is wrong."Freddie's eyes was on her for a long moment.Then he nodded once.She walked in.She gently sat down on a chair. Not close. Not far from Freddie. The careful middle distance of two people who didn't trust themselves with less space than that."I r