Prologue

Autumn sat on the tufted bench avoiding making eye contact with herself in the mirror on the vanity. She knew what she'd see and wasn't sure she was ready to face it. Tears pooled in her eyes before dripping down her cheeks when a strangled sob escaped.

It was her wedding day. She was supposed to be happy. Any tears she shed should be from the joy of marrying the man she loved. Instead, she was trying to figure out how she could go through with marrying Russell knowing what she knew. After seeing him in the arms of someone else, professing his love and telling the woman nothing between them would change.

The previous night

The nerves, which had sent her to Russell's place to see him, morphed into something completely different when the woman turned in his embrace, giving Autumn a clear view of her face. At the same moment Autumn recognized her, the woman became aware of Autumn's presence. Her eyes widened marginally before her lips stretched into a smile.

"Russell, baby. We have company."

Further crushing her heart, Russell's face scrunched into a scowl once he noticed Autumn standing there.

"Autumn, what the fuck are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with your bridesmaids?"

Instead of answering him, Autumn fired back her own question. "Is this why you didn't want a Bachelor party? So, you and your ‘cousin' could do...whatever it is you two are doing?"

Autumn put air quotes around the word cousin. Because, unless they were the kissing kind, there was no way Russell was related to Lucy as he'd told her in the beginning of their relationship. Autumn had been leery of dating the upper classman and had taken notice of Lucy always seeming to be in his orbit. Russell had laughed off Autumn's concern, assuring her there was nothing between the two of them except for a close family relation.

The fact that the two looked nothing alike could be easily explained since Autumn had cousins she shared no obvious familial features with. Not everyone's relatives were cookie cutter replicas of each other.

"It doesn't matter why I didn't want a party. You said you did . So, why are you here instead of with them?"

Tears clouded Autumn's vision, and she swiped at them, staring at Russell in disbelief.

"Are you seriously going to act like you weren't just tonguing Lucy down? That you weren't telling her nothing between you two would change once we got married? How could you do this to me, Russ?"

Russell's handsome face was a mask of fury. "I didn't do anything to you. You did it to yourself when you decided to show up here unannounced. All of this could've been avoided if you'd stayed your ass where you were supposed to be."

Autumn was almost too stunned to speak. Was he truly blaming her? His words fully penetrated, and she was nearly bowled over at the implication. He wasn't even slightly ashamed of what he was doing. He was simply annoyed she'd complicated things by finding out.

Slowly, Autumn started backing away, shaking her head. She had to. If she'd stayed where she was, she was going to completely fly into a rage and destroy everything in her path—including the two of them. Especially the two of them.

"I can't do this. I won't do this."

Autumn pushed the words past the cotton and gravel lodged in her throat. She could barely breathe. Hurt and anger had control of her basic autonomous functions.

"What do you mean you can't do this?"

The entire time he'd been talking to her, Russell hadn't budged from his position next to Lucy, with her practically plastered against him. That is until Autumn made her declaration. Then, he none-too-gently set Lucy aside as his long legs covered the distance between them in a few strides.

Jerking away when he attempted to touch her, Autumn shook her head again.

"No. Don't touch me. I don't want your hands on me, and I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

Alarms were blaring in her head, telling her to get away. Encouraging her not to listen to a lying word coming from Russell's deceitful mouth. Autumn couldn't explain why she didn't keep going. Why she stopped. Why she allowed him to say even one word. But she did.

Present

Autumn could no longer avoid her own reflection. Staring into her red eyes, she took note of her puffy eyelids and the red splotches on her face from her crying jag. Why had she listened to Russell? Why did she let him get to her, reminding her of all the people who'd been invited to the wedding? Her extended family, her parent's professional connections. The people who hadn't just driven an hour to see her get married, they'd gotten on planes and rented hotel rooms for the occasion.

Not to mention all the money her parents spent on the venue and the million other things which were a requirement for someone of their social standing to have at their wedding. With her parent's wealth, one would think the money spent wouldn't be something that could sway Autumn. But, she hadn't been raised to be careless with how she spent it. Besides, it wasn't just the wedding. Since Autumn was fresh out of college with her bachelor's degree, and Russell was in his first year of practice after law school, her parents had purchased them a starter home as a wedding present.

How could she look them in the eyes and tell them she'd failed? At the thought, the tears she'd bitten back started up again. A few soft taps to the door had her wiping her face and attempting to sit up straighter. She'd managed to keep her mother and the others at bay, but her temporary reprieve was apparently over.

"Tummy, is everything okay, baby girl?"

Her father's voice coming from the other side of the heavy door wasn't what Autumn expected to hear. She fully assumed it was her mother looking to encourage her to let the make-up artist and hair stylist inside to start getting her ready. She was already more than a half hour behind schedule.

However, hearing her father's voice brought her tears out in earnest, a sob ripped from her throat as she nearly folded herself in half on the bench seat. She couldn't even form the words to answer him, but she needn't have worried. Autumn suddenly went from nearly lying on the vanity seat to being cradled in her father's arms as if she was five again and had awakened from a nightmare. Well, she wasn't five, but this experience was most assuredly a nightmare.

It took some coaxing, gentle reassurance, and the patience her father was known for to get Autumn to do more than paint his shirt and jacket with her tears. When she'd spilled the whole sordid tale, he nodded as he rubbed her back. After telling him, Autumn felt so much lighter. As if keeping everything to herself was an anvil around her neck. Telling her father cut the chain tying it to her.

"Autumn Marianne Daley."

Autumn sat up straight, staring at her father with wide eyes. He'd used her full name. He never used her full name. Her throat clogged again as she waited for what he'd say next.

"You are my child. I don't care how much money has been spent. I don't care if I leveraged myself to my eyeballs to pay for this shit—which I didn't—I'd never expect you to tie yourself to a piece of shit man who can't do right by you. Not simply to please me. Not to please anyone ."

Relief flooded every fiber of Autumn's being. As ashamed as she was of the situation Russell put her in, she was more ashamed she hadn't dismissed any concerns and remembered who her parents were. They had always assured her and her older brother, Nicholas, they wanted them to be happy—above all else. Her parents would never ask her to sacrifice herself to save face.

"Now, answer me this. Is this what you want? Do you still want to marry that piece of shit—I mean...Russell. Do you still want to marry Russell?"

"No, sir. I don't. But?—"

"No buts, Tummy." Standing, he held out his hand. "Come with me."

Unsure of what her father's next move would be, Autumn put her hand in his. When he opened the door, her mother, aunt, and a couple of cousins almost fell inside the room. Smoothing away imaginary wrinkles in her dress, her mother swept her gaze over Autumn.

"Autumn, baby. Why aren't you dressed? And your hair is a mess."

"Carla, stop." Her mother's gaze whipped to her father's face. In a succinct, ask-me-no-questions, tone her father informed his wife that the wedding was off.

Her mother's mouth worked like a fish processing water before she sputtered, "Travis? What do you mean? Why?"

All her father did was shake his head before saying softly, "We'll talk about it later. Can you tell the wedding coordinator so they can inform the guests and get a message out?"

Not waiting for an answer, he tugged Autumn through the outer room and into the hallway. A short distance away from the door was Nicholas, standing next to his best friend, Roth. The two were on leave from the military. Even in regular civilian suits, the way they stood, with their straight backs and squared shoulders, was a giveaway to their association with the armed forces.

Roth noticed them first. His face was normally open and friendly, but a hard mask slid into place before he tapped Nick alerting him to their presence. Her brother stopped talking. When he looked at her face, his expression shifted to match his friend's.

"What's going on, Pops?" Nick peered at their father after his inspection of Autumn's face.

"The wedding is off."

Nick immediately looked back at Autumn. "What did that fucker do to you?"

Autumn would've gasped at Nick cursing in front of their father, but knew he'd get a pass based on the situation. When she didn't answer him quickly enough, Nick returned his stare to their father, who was more than happy to supply the details he hadn't given her mother.

The next few moments were surreal as she learned where her father was taking her with Nick and Roth following closely behind. She didn't have complete clarity until he shoved the door open to the room where Russell was waiting with his groomsmen.

With her father, brother, and Roth standing at her back, Autumn told Russell again she wouldn't marry him. Only this time, he couldn't guilt her into going through with it. Needless to say, he didn't take it well. The second the first insult fell from Russell's lips, her father guided her to the door. He pushed her out and locked it behind her before she could see more than Roth using the front of Russell's pristinely pressed suit to lift him from the floor.