28. Lottie

My ribcage compressed again. "I can't breathe."

"I can literally hear the air going in and out of your lungs, Lots," Dana deadpanned, her hands giving another swift tug on the laces of my corset. The tailor had done a good job of modernizing Mom's dress—they had removed the puffy sleeves, lowered the neckline, and took out some of the fabric in the skirt so I didn't look like I was playing a Disney princess. The corset was quickly becoming an uncomfortable feature that I wish I had removed.

Grumbling under her breath, Dana finally secured the laces in place and spun me toward the mirror. The woman reflected before me was barely recognizable yet all too familiar.

My dark hair hung in loose waves around my shoulders and breasts. With my makeup perfectly done and my veil in place, I looked strikingly similar to the photographs of my mother on her wedding day. It shouldn't have come as a surprise—I was her flesh and blood—but the stark difference in why each of us wore this dress sat heavy in my heart.

I wondered if Mom had wanted to vomit up her intestines on her wedding day, too.

My nails sunk into the stems of the dozen dark red roses and baby's breath that made up my bouquet as the handle on the door clicked open. Carol's head of deep brown curls peeked through, her nurse"s uniform just barely visible behind the door. "Someone would like to say hello before you get started," she grinned.

"Oh, just let me adjust the train first." Our photographer, a woman named Ella whom Hunter had hired, stood from where she sat with her camera around her neck and fiddled with the bottom of my dress. "Got to capture Dad's first view of his little girl, right?"

My stomach churned harder and bile crept up into the back of my throat. "Right."

"Ready?" Carol called.

"Ready," I breathed.

I watched in the mirror as the door opened fully. Dad's feet came through first, then his knees, and finally the rest of him as he sat propped up in his wheelchair. I wasn't sure what they'd given him, but he certainly looked more alert than he had in the past couple of weeks. There was a sparkle in his eye and his cheeks looked like they had a bit of natural color to them. The camera clicked and the flash of the light boxes around me blinded me before I could even see his reaction.

"You look just like?—"

"I know, Dad." I faked a smile just before another flash went off, guaranteeing myself at least one good photo of Dad's reaction. I turned to him, keeping that muscle-aching smile in place, and took in the sight of my father. "Do you like it?"

"I love it." The wrinkles in his face deepened as his grin widened. He'd been resting as much as possible in preparation for today, swearing he'd make it, that he'd escort me down the aisle. I'd thrown up four times in the last week alone because of my thoughts surrounding it.

Of course, I didn't want him to die. The thought of it, even though I was preparing myself, scared the living daylights out of me.

But if he hadn't made it to today…

Well, I wouldn't be getting married to someone who didn't give a shit about me.

"I'm so happy," I lied. The tears that welled in my eyes could easily be dismissed as tears of joy, and as much as it hurt, I kept a smile on my face as I wiped them away. "Is everything ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Dana chimed.

I nodded. It'll be okay. It'll be fine.

"Twenty minutes, Charlotte," Erin, our wedding planner, called from the hallway.

I let out a slow, steady breath like I was breathing through a straw and stepped down from the little pedestal in front of the mirror. There was one thing I wanted to do before I walked down that aisle, one thing that was hanging over my head.

"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.

Jared stumbled out from the doorway, his brows furrowed as he glared back inside at what I could only assume was Hunter. His hand caught himself against the far wall of the hallway, his gaze flicking to me briefly. Words spilled from his mouth but didn't reach my ears over the ringing, and as he righted himself, his lips curled into a sickening smirk.

Hunter stepped out of the room, looking so handsome in his perfectly tailored, all-black suit. He didn't notice me as he stepped toward Jared. His sights were too set on grabbing him by the collar and shoving him toward the entrance of the chateau.

"Hunter," I said, but I couldn't hear my own voice in my head. Anything could have come out of my mouth and I wouldn't know it.

Deep green hollowed eyes met mine in a flash.

Jared disappeared out of sight as Hunter took a step toward me. "Hunter," I said again, the sound barely cutting through the ringing now.

His nostrils flared. "Get inside."

None of it is real anyway, Lottie. Calm down. He can't be that angry.

My body finally broke free from its invisible shackles, my feet carrying me into the room before I could tell them to. I could hear the clicking of my heels, his heavy breaths, and when the door slammed shut behind me, it sent a shock through my system.

"Does any of it even matter?" I asked. The burning in my throat from the acid had died down a little but speaking still felt like glass cutting me. "I'm just a business transaction to you."

Hunter stepped around me, his eyes glued on mine. He wouldn't even look at my dress. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The anger behind his stare was enough to send me back into that place of panic. I knew he'd be upset, but thismuch anger wasn't Hunter. He looked the same as he did when I'd told him about what had happened with my ex in confidence back in Austin. He didn't know it was Jared at that time. His anger wasn't directed at me then.

But now, it was.