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“Where’s Hunter?”
————
The tiled halls of the rented chateau were lined with tall vases full of roses and draped greenery. My heels clicked as I walked, each step somehow quicker than my racing heart. I knew it was stupid, knew I wasn’t supposed to see him before the ceremony because of outdated traditions and so-called bad luck. But the likelihood of me still feeling stable enough to meet him in front of the officiant without speaking to him first was as small as the tip of a pin.
Just beyond the entrance of the chateau was his suite. I made it through the crowd that was pouring into the venue, trying not to pay attention to the hushed whispers and stares at the bride out and about before the ceremony. As I got further away from them and closer to Hunter’s room, two sets of voices became clear.
“You’ve got two options.”
“Three, if you include me beating you to a fucking pulp,” I heard Hunter reply.
“The Harris empire will still sink even if you leave me bleeding on the floor.”
My feet stopped before my brain had even fully registered the voice. I knew it like the back of my hand, knew how it sounded when he cried, when he screamed, when he shouted obscenities over the phone at me, when he moaned my name between the sheets. That familiarity slinked up my spine like a snake.
They were alone together. And that was far more dangerous than I wanted to admit.
“Call it off and we won’t destroy your company.”
“I’m not calling off my goddamn wedding, Keelings,” Hunter snapped. I slipped my phone from the pocket I’d had the tailor sew in from the excess material and held it against the door frame, angling my camera just enough so that I could get a peek inside without giving myself away.
Hunter stood with his back to the door, every muscle in his body tensed. On the other side of him and slightly obscured by Hunter’s massive frame, I could see the familiar mop of deep brown hair, the almost black eyes, the angry expression that seldom left his face. Jared.
“Wouldn’t it be so much easier, though?” Jared cooed. “You wouldn’t have me breathing down your neck. You could walk away from this and have every aspect of your business secured. That’s what you want, right? For it to be your business?”
My blood ran cold.
Walk away from this?
Hunter didn’t say a word.
“Don’t marry her and we can make that happen, Hunter. I’ll back down. You’ll be a hero for saving the company. Easy peasy.” His words carried venom in them, each one uglier than the last. “Of course, you don’t have to. We can carry on as we were and I will continue to take every single one of your clients. Your father can go to his grave with nothing but a bankruptcy declaration to his name.”
“Do you honestly think you’re scaring me?” Hunter laughed. The question sounded hollow, like it had come from someplace empty inside of him. “I’m not playing your games. I suggest leaving before I call security on you.”
“Don’t bother. I’m not planning to stick around.” He stepped to his left, making a move to go around Hunter. Jared’s eyes locked with the camera for half a second before I managed to pull it away, and as I heard him take another step toward the door, my heart began to feel like it would beat right out of my fucking chest. “Oh, Hunter?”
I clutched my phone to my chest and leaned back against the wall. Don’t throw up. Don’t tell him. Don’t throw up. Don’t tell him. Don’t?—
“I’m not sure if Lottie mentioned it…”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck?—
“….But I’m surprised you’d even be interested in my sloppy seconds.”
Bile filled my mouth, coating my tongue and cheeks in acid. The chill that crept across my skin only heightened the feeling that I would be sick, and with each passing second that Hunter stayed silent, my knees grew weaker. I should have told him.
Jared’s chuckle was blood-curdling. “She didn’t tell you, did she?”
“Get out.” The words were so quiet, so angry. It almost didn’t sound like Hunter at all.
“She used to work for me, too,” Jared said, “before we were engaged.”
A ringing in my ears took over. I covered my mouth with my shaking hand, no longer able to regulate my breathing and keep myself quiet. I couldn’t hear a damn thing, couldn’t tell if Hunter was shouting, couldn’t tell if Jared was still speaking, couldn’t tell if I was making a sound. I should have told him. It should have come from me. I’d had so many chances, so many opportunities to explain it from my point of view, and considering I’d never even given him a name when I told him about my ex, there was a solid chance he wouldn’t have been able to put those pieces together.
I’d fucked up.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t bring myself to step into the room and call him out on lying then dealing with the fallout later. I was frozen.
