All Chapters of Accidentally Married As The Wrong Bride: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

ROMY'S POVI paid a man five thousand dollars to marry me, and he didn't even have the decency to show up.I had been standing outside the marriage license office of the Los Angeles County courthouse for two hours in a white dress I had altered myself the night before, and my groom was still not here. My thumb tapped the screen of my phone. I dialed him again, and it went straight to voicemail without a single ring."Hey, it's Brice. Leave a message.""Brice, it's Romy. I'm still at the courthouse. Please, just text me back."My battery dropped to nine percent. Four couples had arrived after me, signed their paperwork, and left as husband and wife. The security guard near the double doors had stopped pretending not to stare at me. I knew what I looked like standing there: a woman in a white dress, completely alone, checking her phone every thirty seconds. A woman who had been stood up in a public building on a Tuesday morning.The worst part of it was that none of it was supposed to b

ROMY'S POVI didn't sleep at all that night. I lay awake staring at the photo until three in the morning, and then I deleted it, and then I wished I hadn't.Paloma had to be behind it. She had laughed too hard when I said Brice didn't show up, and she had wanted that lipstick far too badly.So at ten the next morning, I took a taxi to Bel Air.The Pembroke Residence wasn't a house you could see from the road. There was a black iron gate, a long wall covered in ivy and a guardhouse with two men in dark suits who watched the taxi pull up without blinking.I rolled down the window. "Hi. I'm here to see Mr. Pembroke.""Name?""Romilly Ashcombe."The guard checked his tablet, and then he checked it again. "You're not on the list.""I know, but I was told to come in three days, and I need to speak to him today. It's important.""Ma'am, nobody gets through this gate without clearance.""Can you call him? Please. Tell him it's the woman from the courthouse."The guards looked at each other, a

ROMY'S POV"Ma'am," the driver said quietly, "is anyone supposed to be following you today?"I didn't turn around. "Silver Audi?""Yes, ma'am.""No. Nobody is supposed to follow me."He nodded once, and that was all. At the next light he waited until it turned red and then went through it anyway. He took two quick turns into a residential street and a third up a narrow road that climbed into the hills. When I finally looked back, there was nothing behind us but a gardener's truck."Lost him in Bel Air," the driver said. "He'll know which neighborhood, but not which house."That was almost worse. Brice knew I had gone to Bel Air, so Paloma would know within the hour, and Paloma knew I was supposed to be on a plane to Atlanta.The gate opened as soon as we reached it this time, and the guards didn't ask my name. Mrs. Quarles met me at the front door. She smiled warmly, but her eyes went over my face again, slowly, the same careful look she had given me two days before."Welcome home, Mr