Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
I went because I had to, and I brought Vanessa as a favor.
A fucking favor she repaid by telling me she had so much more to offer if I’d just get over my rules and let her ride my cock all the way to happily ever after.
And damn, did she offer.
My skin crawls at the thought.
It’s not that she’s not attractive. Most men would go to war over a woman like her with straight red hair that’s almost auburn and naturally plump lips.
Still, attractive doesn’t mean insta-love.
It certainly didn’t mean I wanted to get it on in the back of a car with a relationship prop after an event I had little interest in.
On the screen, she flicks her hair over her shoulder as she tells the world her version of our relationship—how we met, which is almost true, and what happened after, which is where the lying starts.
“I didn’t even think he was interested in me at first,” she says slowly, teasing out her words. “I mean, look at him. He’s gorgeous and brilliant and so wealthy, right? I didn’t mind his past—and he hates when people talk about that, so I won’t.”
Fuck, I might just break my own jaw today.
“We kept running into each other at charity events,” she continues, batting her eyes. “But one day... one day, he pulled me aside. Shepherd kissed me and told me that he thought we could really be something special.”
“Wow. That sounds so romantic,” Martha the host says, batting her lashes back at the liar.
I snort, unable to help myself.
Bull. Shit.
“Oh, it was! I thought I was the luckiest girl.” Vanessa’s smile drops. “We went everywhere together. I mean, you’ve seen it...”
The screen changes to a press photo of the first time we went out together, over eight months ago now.
I remember that night. The first time in ages the cameras were aimed at me, but I wasn’t the focus. Also the first time in a good, long while they had something else to talk about besides my soaring star in business or dark whispers about my past.
“This is you, right?” Martha asks.
Vanessa’s laugh is more like a trill and annoying as hell. “Yes! Although I don’t know what’s up with my eyebrows.”
“So what happened between you two? You looked so happy!”
“Everything. Everything I ever dreamed of, being swept up by a man like him. It was almost like a movie, falling so fast and so hard. There wasn’t time to slow down and think until—well, I can say now, I suppose. After six months, Shepherd asked me to marry him.”
“No!” Martha gasps, feigning shock.
Like the producers didn’t have a written statement from Vanessa and an approved bullet point list of subjects before they agreed to put her in front of a camera.
“Yes, yes, and I was just as surprised as you are now. But I loved him so much, I... I just wanted to be with him forever. You know how it is. Obviously, there was no other answer.” She sighs, her face crumpling. “I thought he was just as serious about me. I thought we’d be happy together.”
“What happened?” Martha’s face lines with concern.
Vanessa glances down. “I still don’t know, really. Maybe he met someone else? Or maybe he just got bored with the sex,” she says, pulling at her finger like she’s searching for a phantom ring I never gave her.
Damn, she’s deviously good.
If my desk wasn’t topped with solid marble, my fist would be going through the thing right about now.
“You mean it was that abrupt? He just dumped you with no explanation?”
“Without a word,” Vanessa says dramatically, her voice rough.
God Almighty.
If this is her acting debut, she’s killing it at my expense.
“I don’t know what happened, Martha. I don’t know. Sometimes, I think it was all an act, whenever he said he loved me. He’s a cold man. It isn’t all his fault, no, but he’s so... so heartless to do what he did. I never knew anyone could be so cruel.”
“Funny. I never knew anyone could be so damn annoying,” I mutter, muting the interview.
Enough.
Like I’d ever consider being chained to a backstabbing creature like her for more than five minutes, never mind a lifetime.
How the hell is history repeating itself like this? Another fucked up black hole rumor mill for Shepherd Foster, CEO of Home Shepherd and apparently Bad Luck Inc.
This time, it isn’t even true.
I never wanted anything to do with her.
I should’ve listened to my gut and never made this goofy-ass arrangement in the first place.
I should’ve known. My life isn’t a rom-com movie where I’d actually fall in love, so it had to end in tragedy instead.
“Well, give it to me.” I tap the screen with my index finger. “How far has this crap spread?”
Hannah Cho, my assistant, jumps to attention by my desk.