All Chapters of Marrying Her Rented Groom: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Before I could process what was happening, a notification chimed from my laptop behind me.In the “Operation Cover-Up” group chat, Tyler had just dropped a message.[Look who finally came out of the bridal suite. Good luck making babies.]My entire body trembled as memories from five years ago flooded back like a broken dam.That was Mandy's third attempt at a wedding.I had been studying abroad during her first two, so she never invited me. When I got back, I even complained that she was not treating me like a real best friend.She had given me a forced, tight smile back then. She told me there was this absolute psycho obsessed with revenge, and she did not want me traveling all that way just to watch a trainwreck.I had naively tried to comfort her. "What psycho? Maybe he’s just into you and acting out to get your attention."Her face turned deathly pale. She shook her head fiercely. "Maya, don’t say stuff like that. His best friend died because of me. He hates my guts."Tha

Before I could speak, Leo pressed the end button on the call.While he went into the bathroom, I leaned back against the headboard and opened my phone.I uploaded a picture showing our marriage certificates. I typed out a quick caption with just three words. [We got married.]Over in New Zealand, Mandy was curled up in Logan's arms, scrolling through her phone. Seeing him repeatedly try to call me, she pouted playfully."What’s wrong? Is Maya mad?"She tapped his chest with her fingertip."Come on, you know what she’s like. She’s completely obsessed with you. She’s just acting out, hanging up on purpose to mess with your head."If you want to go running back to her right now, I’m not gonna stop you."Her words smoothed over the sudden spike of anxiety in Logan's chest. He locked his phone screen.He leaned down, kissing the crown of her head with absolute confidence.It made sense.Every single time he and Maya had an argument over the years, did it not always end with him

Ethan’s last words were so soft that Logan did not hear them.His mind was completely consumed with flying back home with Mandy to attend her post-wedding family dinner.When their plane landed, Logan opened Instagram.Maya’s story from three hours ago popped up with just three words. [Visiting home today!]The photo showed clouds outside an airplane window, with no one else in sight, but looking at it made a heavy, sickening knot in his stomach.Mandy posted about her post-wedding dinner, and now Maya posted about her visiting home. This petty back-and-forth felt far more serious than any of her past tantrums.That subtle, faint anxiety inside him suddenly expanded into full-blown panic.As their car approached Mandy’s family house, he dialed Ethan’s phone."Are you home yet? Tell your sister to stop making a scene. I have had like five clients and friends asking if I got married without telling them."The background on the other end was chaotic, and Ethan’s voice sounded p

The post-wedding family dinner had just wrapped up, and I was sitting in the living room having coffee with my grandfather when I brought up Ethan directly.I laid out every single detail without holding a thing back—ditching class, flunking out, getting held back a year, and working with Logan to keep me in the dark like a traitor.By the time I finished, my grandfather's face was dark. He whipped out his phone and fired off a text to Ethan right on the spot.In less than five minutes, my phone vibrated three times in a row.It was a string of frantic begging messages from Ethan. That very same day, he slunk back to his college in London to make up for his failed credits."I never bothered fighting for control of the family business before because I thought he was my brother, and taking care of him was just my job as an older sister," I said, lightly tapping the rim of my coffee mug."But since he never saw me as a sister, he shouldn't get too comfortable thinking he’s inheritin