Chapter 100

Chapter 100:

“None of your business,” I said, already turning away now that the show was over.

Rhys barked, “Stop! I’m not done talking to you p>

“But I am p>

“Don’t you have something to say p>

“Like what p>

Rhys was scrutinizing my face as if he were searching for a crack in the wall. “Cathy’s pregnant p>

I pointed at my ear. “I know. I heard. Not deaf p>

“We’re getting married p>

Catherine, who had been busy scowling at me, snapped her head toward him. Her jaw dropped. Her eyes went wide, suddenly so bright they outshone the lights overhead.

“Good for you,” I said. “Guess that means wedding bells. Do us both a favor and leave me off the guest list p>

“Rhys! I p>

Catherine beamed. She looked radiant. Maybe it was the pregnancy, maybe it was his love—who could tell?

“Shush.” Rhys disentangled her arm from his and stepped up to me. “You don’t want to come to our wedding p>

“Why not? Are you afraid it’s going to be awkward p>

“Yeah, I’m afraid there won’t be enough seats for all your exes p>

“You’re not just one of my exes. You’re Cathy’s sister, which means we’ll be family p>

It took a heroic effort not to gag.

Did he hear himself? Or was it some kind of honor to brag that he used to sleep with his sister-in-law? Ugh.

“I’m happy for you,” I said dryly, though my tone was anything but. “Hope you two go the distance, because once this one tanks, there aren’t enough single women left in Skyline City for you to date. Not unless you start recycling p>

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖: gⱯ𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀⩵ℭ𝗈𝗺

His brows drew together. The corners of his mouth turned down. He shifted his shoulders as if his jacket had suddenly stiffened into cardboard.

“Is that all?” I glanced at my nonexistent watch. “I’ve got stuff to do, so p>

“Just a moment p>

Catherine’s eyes kept ping-ponging between me and Rhys—gloating at me one second, beaming lovingly at him the next. She was like a human traffic light with only two colors.

Rhys looked over my shoulder. “You’re here alone p>

I shrugged. “Seems that way. But, once again, none of your business.” If he’d shown half this much interest in me back when we were dating, my heart might have done somersaults.

Now? Nothing.

Catherine chimed in, “That’s depressing. No one came with you? You’re here all by yourself p>

“What about your husband?” Rhys spat the last word like it had an aftertaste.

There was no “s” in it, yet he still managed to hiss.

“He’s busy.” Ruling his business empire from two floors up.

“I see.” Rhys’s tone lightened, as if pleased. “So that’s the kind of man you picked. Can’t even bother showing up for a hospital visit p>

I let out a short laugh. “As if you ever came with me. Name one time.” That shut him up.

The few times I’d had a fever and called, he’d said I was faking it for attention and hung up.

I learned not to bother after the second time.

Catherine cut in, clearly sensing we were drifting into dangerous nostalgia. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? We’ve got a room tour scheduled. Can’t stand around all day talking p>

Rhys shook off her arm and eyed me again—my outfit, my hands—and something flickered in his expression. A smug glint.

“Mum told me you showed her a wedding certificate. Said it looked… knew it was fake p>

“Oh? Because you’re such an expert in document forgery p>

“Because you’re not wearing a wedding ring,” he announced, his big discovery. “If you’re really married, and to a man like Ashton Laurent, why didn’t he give you a ring p>

He did.

I wore it to Edouard Laurent’s party as part of the charade.

But somewhere between falling into the pool, getting dragged out, and the mad dash to the hospital, it must’ve slipped off.

Mental note: Ask Ashton about it later.

“No clever comeback?” Rhys tilted his chin. “I don’t know what you did to rope Ashton in, but it won’t hold. Not forever p>

Catherine looked more than ready to cut the conversation short. She tugged at Rhys’s sleeve again. He ignored her.

“If you’ve really got Ashton under control, I’ll eat my shoes. You two have been married how long, and no one’s seen a single photo, no statement, nothing. You ask me, you got lucky pulling that bluff, but it’s not going to last. Once whatever hold you have over him wears off, he’ll come after you—hard p>

“What kind of hold do you imagine I have over him? Nude selfies?” I looked down my nose at Rhys, which was hard to do considering he had the height advantage. “You think he’s the type to cave to blackmail p>

“Still, you’re supposedly married and he’s not even here,” Catherine backed up her boyfriend. “You never brought him home. He hasn’t even met Mum and Dad. No one knows you two are married p>

No one? Try the four hundred guests at Edouard Laurent’s house.

I was about to point that out, then stopped.

Why was I even engaging in this argument with the sister I couldn’t stand and the ex I’d rather see under a bus?

I shook my head. “Like I said: none of your business. Stay out of my life, and I’ll stay out of yours p>

“What’s the matter? Running off now that we’ve seen through your lie?” Rhys’s grin was obnoxious. Then he softened his voice into something mock-sympathetic. “I get it, Mira. You’re trying to save face. You don’t have to fake a marriage just because Cathy and I p>

“Save what face p>

“Just because Cathy and I are getting married doesn’t mean you need to conjure up some fake husband. It’s not a contest p>

“Fake? I wasn’t aware I was fake p>

We all turned.