ON MY SON’S WEDDING MORNING, OUR FAMILY DRIVER PUSHED ME INTO THE TRUNK AND THREW A BLANKET OVER …
Brett Collins.
According to the mailbox.
He looked at Natasha with desperate resignation.
“He called again. If we don’t pay him by Monday—”
“Not now.”
Natasha cut him off, sharp.
“Blake is inside in the front room.”
Brett’s face crumpled.
“You’re really doing this. Marrying him.”
He shook his head.
“He seems like a good man. He doesn’t deserve—”
“His goodness won’t pay Randall.”
Natasha’s words were ice.
“His family’s money will.”
“The Hayes estate. The hotels. The accounts.”
“That’s what keeps our daughter safe.”
She stepped closer.
“One year of marriage. A clean divorce. And we’re free.”
“Randall gets paid and we disappear.”
I pressed my fist against my mouth.
His family’s money.
Bernard’s legacy.
Blake’s inheritance.
Everything my husband had built.
She wanted to steal it all.
Brett stared at the ground.
“I don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to like it.”
Natasha pulled him close and kissed him.
Not the polite gesture she gave Blake in public.
But something real.
Years together.
Shared history.
A family.
“You just have to trust me, Daddy.”
The little girl tugged his shirt.
“Can we have pancakes?”
“Sure, baby.”
Brett’s voice broke.
“Go inside. I’ll be right there.”
As the child skipped away, something shattered inside my chest.
That innocent girl had no idea her mother was about to destroy another family to save their own.
Natasha, Blake’s voice called from deep inside the house.
“You ready? We should get to the church.”
I watched Natasha transform.
The hard edges melted away.
The calculating gleam disappeared.
Suddenly, she was the gentle fiancée again.
The woman who’d held Blake through his grief.
Who’d promised him a future.
The mask fit perfectly.
She slipped back through the side door without a word to Brett.
Thirty seconds later, the front door opened.
Natasha emerged with Blake at her side.
Glowing.
Radiant.
Blake wrapped his arm around her waist, completely unaware that she just kissed another man, just outlined his financial ruin.
“All set,” Natasha’s voice rang out cheerful. “Sorry for the delay. My friend’s cat escaped, but we found him.”
She pulled Blake toward a silver sedan parked in the driveway.
“Let’s take my car, baby. I want to drive us to the church together.”
“Just you and me, before everything changes.”
Blake’s face softened.
“Yeah, that’s really sweet.”
He glanced toward the street where Frederick waited.
“I’ll text Frederick to meet us there.”
“Perfect.”
Natasha kissed his cheek.
