Chapter 9 - Wedding Morning
I barely slept.
Alexander and I stayed in a suite at another Hale property across town.
At six in the morning, I woke to sunlight crossing the carpet and found him sitting near the window with coffee and a laptop.
“You’ve been awake all night.”
“So have you.”
I sat beside him.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question I had avoided.
“How bad is it?”
Alexander closed the laptop.
“Financially?”
I nodded.
“Bad.”
“Criminally?”
“Potentially worse.”
I stared at my hands.
“I don’t want my mother arrested at Lucas’s wedding.”
Alexander’s expression remained gentle.
“Then we don’t make that decision today.”
“You can stop it?”
“I can stop my people from escalating anything that isn’t urgent.”
I looked at him.
“But?”
“But if someone tries to destroy evidence or move money, I won’t help them do it.”
Fair.
At eight-thirty, my phone started vibrating.
Unknown number.
Then another.
Then another.
Alexander’s phone followed.
I opened social media.
My face was everywhere.
A photograph from the previous night showed Alexander holding my hand outside the hotel.
The headline read BILLIONAIRE ALEXANDER HALE’S SECRET WIFE REVEALED.
The second article was worse.
FAMILY SOURCES CLAIM MYSTERY BRIDE HID MARRIAGE FOR FINANCIAL REASONS.
I stared at it.
“Family sources.”
Alexander read over my shoulder.
His jaw tightened.
The article claimed I had hidden Alexander because I wanted access to my family’s assets while secretly marrying into enormous wealth.
It called the trust dispute “a convenient misunderstanding.”
Only three people outside our room knew enough to say that.
Lucas.
Marlene.
My parents.
My phone rang again.
This time it was Sophie.
I answered.
“Did you see it?”
“Yes.”
“It was your mother.”
My heart sank.
“How do you know?”
“She told the wedding planner an hour ago that she had given a statement to a reporter.”
I closed my eyes.
Sophie continued.
“She says she’s protecting the family.”
Of course she did.
My mother could turn a knife into an act of service.
Alexander reached for my phone.
Not to take it.
To steady my shaking hand.
Then Sophie said something unexpected.
“I’m still getting dressed.”
I opened my eyes.
“You’re having the wedding?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Sophie.”
“I’m putting on the dress because I refuse to let Catherine make the decision for me.”
That was the first moment I truly understood why Lucas loved her.
Before we ended the call, she lowered her voice.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Lucas is missing.”
I stood.
“What do you mean missing?”
“He left the hotel at five this morning.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“No.”
“But he took a box from his mother’s room.”
My stomach tightened.
“What box?”
May you like
Sophie paused.
“The one containing all the company records.”
