All Chapters of The Billionaire Scared Vow: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter one

OLIVIA'S POVThe dumplings were perfect.I stared down at the container in my hands, steam still rising from the edges where I'd just sealed it shut.Marcus loved these dumplings. He had told me the first time I made them for him that they tasted like home, like everything he'd been missing his whole life.That was three years ago. Back when I still believed words like that meant something.The next day was going to be our wedding. Everything was ready. The dress hanging in my closet, the flowers ordered, the venue booked. Three hundred guests who'd be watching me walk down the aisle to marry the man I'd spent three years molding myself into the perfect woman for.I wanted tonight to be special. I wanted to remind him why we were doing this. I wanted to see that look in his eyes from three years ago when he said my cooking made him feel loved.So I'd spent the afternoon in my tiny kitchen making dumplings from scratch. Rolling dough, mixing filling just so he could hover over me and s

Chapter Two

ETHAN'S POVThe whiskey in my glass looked the same as it had twenty minutes ago since I got here.I hadn't touched it. Couldn't bring myself to. I just sat there staring at the amber liquid like it was a puzzle I wanted to solve.I was supposed to be at home mourning my dead grandma but instead I was at a dive in bar thinking about my life.The funeral had been three hours ago. My grandmother. The only person in my entire family who'd ever loved me without conditions, without expectations. Without needing something in return.Gone.And my family hadn't even waited until she was in the ground before they started tearing each other apart over her money.The will reading had been brutal. Uncle Richard shouting about how he deserved the estate because he'd visited her every week. Aunt Patricia crying about how she'd sacrificed her career to care for her mother. My cousin James sitting there with that smug expression like he already knew he'd won.Then the lawyer read the part that change

Chapter Three

OLIVIA'S POVSunlight burned through my eyelids like fire.I groaned and tried to roll over, but my head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. My body ached in places that made no sense.Where was I?I forced my eyes open.The room spun for a second before settling into focus. Unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar walls, everything looked unfamiliar.This wasn't my apartment, it wasn't Marcus's place. It wasn't anywhere I recognized.Panic started creeping up my throat. I sat up too fast and immediately regretted it. The room tilted sideways. My stomach lurched.I looked down at myself. I was still wearing yesterday's clothes. Wrinkled and smelling like alcohol. At least I was dressed, that was something.Then I noticed him. A man in the bed beside me. Dark hair messy against the pillow, face I'd never seen before. Sleeping soundly beside me.Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.What had I done?My hands were shaking as I looked around the room for clues, hotel room, cheap but not terrible. L

Chapter Four

OLIVIA'S POV“What did you just say?” My mother's voice rang at the other end of the phone."I got married. Last night. In Vegas. To someone who isn't Marcus.""You did what?" Her voice climbed several octaves."Are you insane? Do you have any idea what this will do to our family's reputation?""I don't care about the reputation." I was surprised by how bold I sounded."I care about not spending my life with someone who doesn't love me."She started yelling. About duty and family and how I'd ruined everything. About how selfish I was being. About how I'd embarrassed her.I pulled the phone away from my ear. Let her scream into the void. I looked at Ethan who was staring at me with wide eyes.Then I hung up. I just pressed end and cut her off mid-rant.My hands were shaking. My heart was racing. But I felt something else too. Something that might have been relief."You just told your mother we're married," Ethan said slowly."I did." I looked at the phone in my hand. At the flood of ne

Chapter Five

OLIVIA'S POVThe flight back to New York felt like hours and seconds at the same time. Too long and too short. Giving me too much time to think and not enough time to prepare.Ethan worked on his laptop the whole time. Making calls, sending emails. Running his company from thirty thousand feet like it was nothing.I tried to sleep but couldn't. I tried to eat but my stomach was in knots. I tried to read but the words blurred together.All I could think about was facing my mother. About walking into her house with a husband she didn't know existed. About watching her face when she realized I'd actually done it.I'd actually gotten married to someone else.The car Ethan had arranged picked us up at the airport. It was black and expensive. The kind of car my mother would approve of even if she hated everything else."Are you ready?" Ethan asked as we pulled up to my mother's house in the Upper East Side."No." I looked at the familiar brownstone. "But I'm doing it anyway."He took my hand

Chapter Six

CHAPTER 6OLIVIA’S POVThe soup was cold by the time I finished it. Cold and tasteless, but I ate every spoonful because it gave me somewhere to look that wasn’t Marcus’s face or my mother’s strange stare.“So.” My mother set down her spoon with a click that sounded too loud in the silent room. “Tell us about your work, Mr. Kane.”“Ethan, please.” He wiped his mouth with the napkin. “I run Kane Technologies. We build cloud infrastructure for financial institutions.”“So how exactly does someone like you end up at a dive bar in Brooklyn?”I felt my pulse spike. We hadn’t practiced anything about last night because the cover story was that we’d been together for six months, not that we’d met for the first time twenty-four hours ago.Ethan didn’t even blink.“My grandmother passed away yesterday. I needed somewhere quiet to think.” He looked at me, and something in his eyes softened up a bit. “Olivia happened to be there. We’d already planned to meet that night, actually. Before everythi

Chapter Seven

CHAPTER 7ETHAN’S POVThe penthouse felt different.I’d lived alone for six years. Now Olivia stood in the middle of my living room at eleven at night, still in her wrinkled dress from yesterday.“This is…” She turned slowly, taking in the floor-to-ceiling windows, the skyline glittering below us. “This is a lot.”“It’s quiet. Mostly.” I dropped my keys on the counter. “There are two guest rooms. Take whichever one you want. I’ll have someone bring your things over tomorrow.”“My things.” She laughed, but it sounded fake. “Right. That’s because I live here now with my husband. Who I met yesterday.”“Technically the day before yesterday now.” I checked my watch. “It’s past midnight.”“Don’t.” She had this fake smile on her face. “Don’t make jokes. I can’t handle jokes right now.”I held up my hands. “Noted.”She walked to the window and stared out at the city, arms wrapped around herself. I watched her for a moment, this stranger who was now legally tied to me.Gosh, this world is so f

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER 8OLIVIA’S POV“Proof” turned out to mean an in-person interview.Two days after the disastrous family dinner, Ethan’s lawyer called to inform us that the estate’s executor named Patricia Voss wanted to meet with us together. To “assess the legitimacy of the marriage” before any assets were released.“This is insane,” I said, pacing Ethan’s living room while he sat on the couch, scrolling through something on his laptop. “They’re going to ask us questions and we barely know each other’s middle names.”“Ethan Robert Kane.” He didn’t look up. “Yours?”“Mei. Olivia Mei Chen.” I stopped pacing. “That’s not the point.”“It kind of is the point. We need to know these things.” He finally looked up, patting the cushion beside him. “Sit. We have two days. Let’s prep.”I sat, reluctantly, and for the next three hours we actually got to know ourselves a bit more better.We decided our first date had been at a tiny Italian place in the West Village. I picked it because I’d actually eaten

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