Chapter 1

1

Madeline

@thetea_gasp

Bestie, giddyap! Strap on your riding boots, we're in our cowgirl era now! Ya'll know that the country music scene isn't really for us, but then there's country superstar @madelinemontana and we adore that girl so we're always on #MaddieWatch and today is her wedding day! We've loved having front row seats for the magical love story between Maddie and Country King @tuckerbrandt over the last three years and can't wait to see them get hitched and start making beautiful babies together. Tucker has talked openly about his desire to see Maddie with his baby in her belly and we are here for all of this. I mean, the #daddysigh is a real thing and he always makes us sigh when he talks about wanting to be a daddy. Stay tuned for all the updates on this celebrity wedding. We're all over it!

I pace my hotel room and take a deep breath as I read the Instagram post from The Tea, my anxiety over today spiking to all new levels. I've never suffered high anxiety until this past year. Planning my wedding to Tucker has been one anxious journey and here I am today feeling it in every bone of my body.

Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the best days of your life but I've already vomited once and I think I could spend the rest of the day being sick. Reading social media posts like the one I just read only makes everything worse.

Since the day three years ago that Tucker released a duet he recorded with me, his rabid fan base has been all over us. Tucker is the reigning King of Country and has been for five years. I was a nobody songwriter sent to write a song with him and our instant connection helped us write a song that debuted at No. 1 on the Top 100 chart and stayed there for twenty weeks. Tucker took me under his wing and literally propelled me to instant country superstardom. His fans also took me under their wing, especially since he started a relationship with me and moved me into his home five weeks after we met.

Our whirlwind love story has been a story both our fan bases have been heavily invested in for years which has me all twisted up because what I'm contemplating doing is something that would shock them all and likely harm my career.

I can't marry Tucker and I really wish I hadn't spent the last six months burying my head in the sand on this decision because now I have two hours before I'll be saying "I do" and joining our lives together in ways I know deep down I don't want them to be joined.

I'm lost in these thoughts when my phone rings, my manager's name appearing on the screen.

"Shit." The word barely whispers from my lips as my thoughts and feelings crash their way around my head and heart. My voice seems too soft. It comes nowhere close to conveying the confusion and conflict consuming me.

The call ends but starts up again almost immediately. Darren is nothing if not persistent. And resourceful. If I don't answer his call, he'll find another way to get what he wants from me.

I put the phone to my ear. "Darren."

His voice comes on the line clipped as usual. "Tucker is on his way and I'll be there in about twenty minutes. Make sure you're ready for the wedding then because there won't be any free time after we arrive."

God, I hate this man. With a burning passion.

"No, I've got two hours and I'm not giving up even a second of them. Whatever you have planned for me can wait until after the ceremony."

"Today isn't the day to dig your heels in on whatever rebellion you've been waging with me for the past month, Madeline. We've got problems with the tour that can't wait to be fixed. Just be ready by the time Tucker and I get there."

I open my mouth to argue with him but the call ends and I'm left staring at my phone like I always am when this man manipulates me into doing what he wants. Which, if I'm honest, is also what my fiancé has been doing for three years. Manipulating me.

"Shit, shit, shit." Still a whisper. Still not loud enough. But then, I've always stayed quiet, smiled, and gotten on with it. Neither of these men have heard me get loud. The world has never heard me get loud.

I draw a long breath in and eye myself in the full-length mirror. Placing my hands to my stomach, I attempt to calm my nerves and the anger that's gathering.

My long blonde hair falls in beautiful curls down over my white mermaid wedding dress that's made of antique lace crotchet. The dress has a low back and plunging neckline, revealing more skin than I've ever shown in public. It hugs every curve of my body and I hate it. But Tucker and Darren agreed it was perfect. For our fans, that is. Darren especially wants to give them something they've never seen from me. He wants to cultivate a whole new level of interest in us and is convinced a new sexy look will achieve that.

I've wanted to scream at him that a wedding is about love not commerce.

I've wanted to scream that I didn't say yes to Tucker so I could put myself on display for the world on the day that's supposed to be just about us.

I've wanted to scream that I'm done.

Because I am done.

And I'm so angry at myself right now for ignoring that fact for six months.

I pull in more air trying to find my center. The problem with trying to do that when you've given your center away for so long is that you have no clue where to even begin finding it.

Grab your purse and your phone. That's all you need. And then get the hell out of here.

My mind is a mess but I know these thoughts are right.

I need to leave before Tucker or Darren arrive. It's the only way I have a shot at figuring out what I truly want to do because I need space and that's not something either of them have ever given me.

I'm halfway out of the hotel suite when a text comes through from Tucker.

Tucker: Babe. Darren's on his way to go over some tour bullshit before the wedding. I was gonna make it there before him but I've been held up so just start without me.

This text slows me down for two reasons. Firstly, it's not the kind of text I ever imagined a man would send his soon-to-be wife on their wedding day. It's certainly not what I would have hoped to receive from my fiancé. Second, I know why he's been held up and the fact that I'm relieved rather than furious tells me everything I need to know right now.

My fiancé is going to be late because he's fucking another woman and he's just inadvertently given me the go-ahead to skip our wedding.

I gather up the short train of my dress and keep hold of it while I run even though running in a mermaid dress is almost impossible. I have no idea where I'm heading but for the first time in my life, I don't care. Anywhere would be better than where I am.