Becoming My Ex's Mother In Law: Read Chapters 1-5

The day that I was released from prison, all of my fellow inmates lined up to get a hug from me. Some of them nearly crushed my spine from how tightly they squeezed, and others didn’t want to let go. They all knew that Bob was waiting for me on the outside, and we would be starting our life together as soon as I left—in marriage, in business, everything.

Then I came to Sydney. She was an older inmate, in for life for killing her abusive husband over a decade ago. We had never really gotten along, and yet there she was, her arms wide open, expecting a hug just like everyone else.

I was only happy to oblige.

As we squeezed each other tightly, Sydney whispered in my ear, “Do not trust men’s sweet talk.”

We pulled apart. I stared at her, confused. What could that mean?

Apparently, Sydney hadn’t been quiet enough for the sharp ears of the other inmates, as they all started to share their opinions of her advice.

“Oh, don’t be such a buzzkill, Syd!” one said.

“Yeah, let the girl have a little hope!” another added.

“Boo!” a third simply exclaimed.

I grinned at their antics and shook my head.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. I turned to Sydney. “I wish you nothing but the best, Sydney.”

Sydney waved me off as the door to the prison yard opened.

“C’mon, Blanchard, it’s time to go,” the guard, Tom, called.

I gave the other inmates one last wave before I followed the guard out of the prison.

* * *

With a clear plastic bag of my belongings in hand, I stood at the gate with Tom, ready to leave my literal prison. It could have been worse. At least I had gotten a reduced sentence for good behavior.

It felt so good to wear street clothes again. Even if it was only a now slightly faded red dress Bob had gotten me five years ago and a pair of flats, it was still better than that orange jumpsuit and white nurse’s shoes. They still fit me well, too.

Tom smiled at me as he held the gate open for me. I gave him a quick hug, one that he hesitantly returned.

“If you ever need any help in the future, feel free to contact me,” he said as we parted.

I grinned.

“Don’t worry, I won’t need to. Bob and I are about to live a happy life together, just as he promised.”

Tom’s smile disappeared. He nodded, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll see you later.”

Again, Tom nodded, but he didn’t say anything. As I turned to walk to the curb, I could’ve sworn that I heard him sigh behind me.

I stood on the edge of the curb, certain that it wouldn’t be long before Bob pulled up. Bored and without much to do, I looked around curiously at how the world around me had changed.

On a towering building across the street, the news played on a LED screen. Though the voices boomed, I couldn’t quite decipher what was being said. The screen, however, told me all that I needed to know: the man on the left was the United States President, and to his right was the Alpha King of the Werewolves.

The last I had known, the Alpha King was an old, white-haired man limping on his last leg. This new Alpha King seemed very different. He was tall and elegant, and even without understanding what he was saying, I could feel the charm and charisma pouring off of him.

I could not avert my gaze. An eternity must have passed before I finally ripped my eyes away from his beautifully dark features.

My, how five years had changed everything! The low-cut necklines I had preferred in my dresses now seemed out of style, replaced by one almost like a turtleneck with a jewel in the center of the throat. So many women in this new fashion craze passed me that I was almost embarrassed to be seen in such an old style—even if it accented my breasts perfectly.

Then I saw how many of the men turned my way as they walked by. A few even cat-called and wolf-whistled. I would have normally boxed them for being so publicly inappropriate, but it felt good knowing that I hadn’t lost my looks.

“Hey, sweetheart,” one man said as he parked his black Ford mustang beside me. “How’s it going?”

“Fine, thank you,” I replied.

“What’s someone as pretty as you doing all the way out here by yourself?”

The man lowered his sunglasses, and his eyes roved over me. Our eyes met.

“Eighty-eight,” Susan, my wolf, said, confirming my suspicions. This man liked what he saw.

I wasn’t like most werewolf-hybrids, who got their wolves at 18. Mine did not awaken until I was 22, on the day of my imprisonment. She gave me the ability to assess the level of people’s fondness for me, and I trusted her implicitly.

“I’m waiting for my boyfriend,” I said, hoping he would get the hint.

“Oh,” he said, disappointed. “I’ll just be on my way, then.”

With a slight wave, the man took off.

I grinned. Yup, I still had it.

* * *

Orange and pink gently painted the sky as the sun began to set. My legs ached from standing, and sweat had smeared my already inelegant makeup job. Anxiety ate at my stomach and throat.

Where was he? He couldn’t have possibly forgotten.

I started pacing to stretch out my legs. Besides, what else was I going to do? Even if he had forgotten, I had nowhere else to go.

No, he couldn’t have forgotten. He had promised to be here the minute I was released.

I continued to pace as the sky darkened around me. I thought about Sydney’s final words to me and how hesitant Tom had looked after I had brought up my plans with Bob. My heart ached worse than my legs.

Bob hadn’t just forgotten me. He had purposefully left me.

I sank to the ground as night fell. I had no clue what I was going to do. Why would Bob do this to me?

Just as I fell deeper into my dread, a pair of headlights pulled up to the curb, blinding me. After I blinked away the spots in my eyes, I stood up and got a good look at the car: a black Porsche. The window rolled down to reveal Bob’s face.

Even after seeing him every week for the past five years, Bob somehow looked both unfamiliar yet familiar.

He was better groomed than usual, with his characteristic Van Dyke gone, leaving nothing but smooth skin behind. His typical collared shirt had been replaced by an immaculate three-piece suit. Even the expression he wore was harder than I was accustomed to.

“Sorry, Crystal,” he said, although it didn’t sound entirely sincere. “I just finished a meeting. I’ve been really busy—”

“Who is she?” I asked, motioning to the woman in the passenger seat.

The woman wore the trendiest purple Chanel suit, an expensive gold and diamond-encrusted watch, and enormous dangling diamond earrings. Her makeup was exquisite, as though an entire team had spent the day perfecting her smokey eye. Her dark hair had been pulled back into a tight, impeccable bun with an amethyst scrunchy.

She turned her head slightly. Her gaze drifted over me, as though scanning a trash can on the street. Our eyes locked.

“Her affinity towards us is zero,” Susan said. I tensed. “She dislikes us.”

Since the day she emerged, Susan had never been wrong about someone’s affinity towards me. I wasn’t about to doubt her now.

Unease began to grow in my heart.

“Should we get in the car first?” Bob offered. “This isn’t the right place to talk.”

I stood in place, frozen.

“I think you need rest and a good meal right now,” he continued. “What do you think?”

He smiled, but I could tell it wasn’t genuine. It did not reach his eyes.

He had not answered my question about who the woman was, but I could probably guess. I just didn’t like the answer.

I glanced into his eyes. He tried hard to look away, but he could not avoid my stare.

“Twenty,” Susan said.

He didn’t love me anymore—maybe. I hoped in my heart it wasn’t true. Yet even my heart knew better than to doubt Susan.

* *

Bob took us to Amour, an expensive French restaurant downtown—a very expensive restaurant. Last I knew, the average cost per person was $3,000. Even five years ago, when I still had a substantial inheritance left from my mother, I would only go there on special occasions.

A part of me hoped that this meant my release was something special to Bob, something to celebrate. The rest of me could not forget the 20 that Susan had revealed as his affinity towards me.

When we walked in, we were surrounded by elegance and refinement.

Chandeliers hung from a high, ornate gold ceiling over onyx tables. Black carpeting stretched before us with a red walkway leading down the center of the restaurant. Golden statues of Greek gods and goddesses were scattered throughout the building, and a massive bar was tucked into the rear.

Everyone was dressed in designer suits or dressers. Some were tame, black-and-white affairs, while others were more exotic, colorful pieces straight off the runways of Paris and Milan. All of them, however, were upscale…far more upscale than a dress that had been waiting five years to be worn.

As the maître d’ escorted us to our table, curious gazes turned our way. I shifted uncomfortably. In such a faded dress with sweat-smeared makeup, I had to look dingy compared to my surroundings…and my cohorts.

The young woman whose name Bob still hadn’t mentioned yet clung to Bob in a way that made my heart drop. He disentangled himself from her to pull out both our chairs, but I could feel the woman’s glare burning a hole into me as I sat down.

I looked around to see people still staring at us—at me. I had never felt so low before. Everyone was looking at me as though I were some piece of gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe, and at that point, that was how I felt.

Couldn’t Bob have at least taken me somewhere to get changed into something nicer if we were going to Amour? And why were we there, anyway? It was far too expensive for either of us.

Did this have something to do with this new mystery woman? Was Bob trying to impress her? Belittle me in front of her?

I had never doubted going to jail for Bob before now, but all this…it didn’t really feel worth having wasted five years of my life.

Once Bob sat down, I could take the waiting no longer.

“Bob, what is going on?” I demanded, my voice more bitter than I had intended. “Who is she?”

Bob sighed and set down the menu that he had just picked up.

“I’m sorry, Crystal. Perhaps I should’ve told you earlier. Lisa is my girlfriend—”

“Girlfriend?” I said, aghast. “I’m your girlfriend. When did we break up?”

Lisa frowned, her eyes darting between Bob and me.

“Bob, you didn’t break up with her?”

“Darling—” Bob took her hand in his— “she was in prison. I was her only hope for parole. She doesn’t have any family, and she was all alone in there.”

His words stabbed my heart like a knife.

“How pitiful,” he whispered, though I could hear him clearly.

Lisa eyed me for a moment but nodded and put her hand over Bob’s.

“I know, Bob. It’s just…you’re too gracious sometimes, too kind,” she said. “You gave her false hope.”

I growled low at Lisa before I could control it. Bob and Lisa glanced over at me, but otherwise, they did not pay me any heed.

Tears pricked the edges of my eyes. How could Bob do this to me? After what I did for him, after all those promises that he made to me?

I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to storm out of the restaurant and find some way out of there on my own. Anything to show him how badly he had hurt me and to tear him out of my life for good.

Instead, I shook my head and let my tears fall unchecked.

“How-how could you?” I sobbed.

Bob tentatively reached out and touched my arm, glancing at Lisa as though for permission. Her lips pursed, but she nodded her consent. Bob squeezed my arm gently.

“I had no choice,” he said, his voice calm and soothing. “She’s my fated mate.”

I paused at those words. I couldn’t really be mad at Bob for that. If a werewolf finds their fated mate, then they must be together.

It stung that Bob and I were clearly not fated mates. Nevertheless, I had to try to be happy for Bob that he had found his, no matter how much it hurt. Maybe, someday, I would find my fated mate as well.

“You still should have told me,” I said, the pain evident in my voice.

“I know, I’m sorry. I promise that I will make it up to you.”

The look in Bob’s eyes seemed earnest. Maybe he truly meant it. There was only one way to know for certain.

He just had to grant me what I wanted.

“Well then,” I said slowly, “I would like to reclaim our company.”

Five years ago, I had invested all of my inheritance into a clothing company that I had co-founded with Bob. Since I ended up in jail, I asked Bob often how things were going with it, and Bob had ensured me that the business was thriving.

Maybe if I couldn’t have love, I could still have a career.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of being a businessperson on my own. With Susan’s ability to tell how much someone likes me, it would give me a huge advantage in the sales department and with making partnerships. It might even be fun to try my hand at designing clothes again, even if that had always been more Bob’s side of the business.

It was a little scary to think about navigating the modern business world without Bob, but maybe he would be willing to help me in the beginning. He was trying to make it up to me for this whole messed-up situation, after all. There wasn’t any reason why our relationship couldn’t end amicably…as amicably as possible, given the circumstances.

Then I noticed Bob’s eyes cast down to the table.

“Crystal, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Bob pulled out a file from his satchel and set it in front of me. When I opened the file, inside were documents detailing our company’s bankruptcy shortly after I went to prison. My stomach clenched.

“I-I don’t understand,” I stuttered. “You told me that the company was doing really well. Excelling, in fact.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to worry you.”

His voice and expression became sad, but something about it seemed…false. It was as though his face were a mask, and only his eyes betrayed his true emotions. In those eyes, I saw deception and the fear of being discovered.

“The company I have now is with Lisa,” he continued. He hesitated, as though contemplating whether to share the next part with me. “To be honest, I was buried under so much debt because of the bankruptcy that if Lisa hadn’t reached out to her father for help, I would’ve jumped off a building.”

That last revelation should have made me feel bad for Bob, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying to me. All those years, he told me the company had excelled…just to spare my feelings? Like how he didn’t break up with me, to spare my feelings?

No, something didn’t feel right. I just couldn’t prove it.

I sighed and closed the incriminating folder.

“Do you have any other bombshells you want to drop on me while we’re in such a public setting and I can’t make a scene?”

Bob chuckled nervously.

“Now, Crystal, there’s reason to get nasty,” he said.

I sighed.

“I’m sorry,” I said reluctantly. “But seriously, is there anything else that you need to tell me?”

I wasn’t sure if I could take any more news, but it was better to rip the entire Band-Aid off now than to peel it off little by little.

He nodded.

“Actually…we’re getting married.”

Lisa grinned and waved the back of her left hand at me, flashing an enormous diamond engagement ring.

My heart felt as though it had been ripped out of my chest and stomped into the ground under Lisa’s heel, all while she stared me straight in the eyes and smiled.

“Oh, really?” I managed to say with fake cheerfulness. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Bob and Lisa said together, then shared a kiss. I wanted to vomit.

“You’re welcome to come to the ceremony,” Bob continued. I wasn’t sure if he meant what he said. “Lisa’s father is officiating it.”

“Who is Lisa’s father?” I asked.

They both laughed. Lisa then gave me a look of genuine confusion.

“You really don’t know?” she said.

I shook my head.

Bob sat a little taller and puffed out his chest.

“He’s the Alpha King, Andrew Dubois,” he announced with more pride than I had ever seen in him.

My mind flashed to the man I had seen on the LED screen earlier that day. He was this—what, 21-year-old?—woman’s father? He looked like he was in his 30s, at the most!

I repressed my shock, and all I said was, “Oh, that’s nice.”

At least I got some satisfaction from Bob’s disappointment at my lack of reverence.

“Let’s just order,” he mumbled as he picked up his menu.

* *

Three months passed after my release. My best friend, Lily, took me in and gave me a job at her wedding planning company. It turned out to be a perfect fit.

With Susan’s ability to perceive other people’s affection levels, making a connection with clients and meeting their needs was much easier. Lily also told me that I had a natural charm, intelligence, diligence, and beauty that attracted people to me—her words, not mine. All that combined with Lily’s teachings made me an expert wedding planner in almost no time.

None of that, however, could prepare me for the fact that we were planning my ex’s wedding. That meant seeing Bob—and, worse, Lisa—much more often over the past three months than I had planned to for the rest of my life.

I was still convinced that Bob had lied to me about our company going under, but there was nothing I could do to prove it. I couldn’t sabotage their wedding, either, not without taking Lily and me down with them. Besides, I wasn’t that vindictive.

So, I was stuck helping them pick out a theme, a menu, a wedding dress, all the while hiding my pain under a false smile.

Then came a day when they were going to come in and check on Lisa’s dress. We stayed open late for them, and I was the only one left in the bridal shop with the wedding dresses.

“Are you sure that you can handle them on your own?” Lily asked me over the phone. “I can be there in 15 minutes.”

“I’m sure. If I’m going to be a wedding planner, I have to be able to handle all sorts of nightmare clients, right?”

Lily laughed.

“How adult of you. I don’t think I’d be able to plan my ex’s wedding.”

I sighed.

“Well, it’s a job, and a well-paying one, at that. It’s not exactly like either one of us can turn it down, right?”

“Right. Just try not to rip anyone’s throat out, okay? That wouldn’t be very good for business.”

“Well, I’ll do my best, but if either one of them mentions one more time that Lisa’s father is Alpha King…”

“Crystal,” Lily warned.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” I said. “Well, mostly. I promise that I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Good. Like you said, it’s a high-paying job that neither of us can afford to turn down—or to lose. Understand?”

I didn’t need glasses to read between those lines.

“Perfectly. You don’t need to worry about me at all.”

“All right. Good luck.”

“Thanks. See you at home.”

After hanging up with Lily, I decided to organize the dresses while I waited for Bob and Lisa to come by. I kept Lisa’s at the front of one of the racks to avoid losing it among the sea of white and off-white. With this dress costing twice as much as the average wedding dress, I didn’t want anything to happen to it.

It was nearly seven o’clock, the sun starting to set, when I heard the door open.

“Finally,” I muttered.

I emerged from the aisles of lace and satin to see a tall, muscular man standing in the doorway. Twilight wrapped around his captivating figure, making him appear almost god-like. His very presence made me freeze in place and my heart race.

I recognized the man immediately: Andrew Dubois. I hadn’t expected him to show up to check on his daughter’s dress, not with his hectic schedule.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said. His deep voice sent shivers down my spine.

Andrew stepped fully into the store and out of the fading sunlight. The scent of Labdanum and sea salt rushed over me as he approached. I trembled as the sensation struck me straight to my groin.

Our eyes met.

Susan’s voice suddenly appeared in my mind, lower and with more of a sensual growl than usual.

“Mate.”

“Shall we take a seat?” Andrew asked, motioning to the table we had set up for client meetings. “Or will we be discussing the wedding standing up?”

I was taken aback.

“Of course,” I said with a smile. “After you.”

As Andrew took a seat, I couldn’t help but notice how unmoved he seemed to be by my presence. If he were truly my mate, surely he would be as stunned by me as I was by him. Maybe Susan was wrong this time.

I grabbed the binder for Lisa and Bob’s wedding and sat across the table from Andrew.

“So,” he began, “what have you and the happy couple gone over so far?”

“Probably the most important thing we’ve discussed so far is the budget, which they provided at $2 million.” I looked up at him under my lashes. “Is that correct?”

He laughed heartily.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Okay, I just wanted to be sure. The average cost of a wedding these days is about $30,000—”

“Don’t worry, I’m well aware.”

“Very well. We also discussed themes—”

“Like what, pirates?”

I couldn’t help giggling at that.

“Well, no, not for your daughter’s wedding, but you’d be surprised at the kinds of things that people want for their weddings.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ve heard about the Disney princess weddings—”

“Disney princess weddings, Tim Burton weddings, and, yes, pirate weddings.”

Andrew laughed again. My heart fluttered at the sound.

“For Lisa’s wedding,” I continued, “the ‘theme’ more consists of things like the color scheme.”

“And that is?”

“Blue and gold.”

“Very royal colors.”

“That’s the idea. The bridal party will be dressed in various shades of blue, as will Bob and his groomsmen. Their outfits, as well as your daughter’s, will also contain accents of gold.”

“And where will the wedding be?”

“It’s going to be at this grand ballroom downtown…Here, let me show you…”

I flipped the binder open to a page with a picture of a Victorian-style ballroom in a skyscraper. It was quite the eclectic building, actually—slick and modern on the outside but a different era of interior design on each floor on the inside. It was designed specifically for hosting parties and weddings like Lisa’s.

It was also the most expensive venue I could find. The Victorian ballroom, with its penthouse view of the city, was the most expensive floor in the building.

“Beautiful,” Andrew said. He flashed me a smile, and I fidgeted nervously.

As we went over the flower arrangements and menu, my eyes drifted to his left hand where a wedding band should be. There was none. Then I remembered what I had heard about Andrew Dubois.

Andrew Dubois, the Alpha King with powers so strong that he could not control himself, with powers so strong that he would go on a killing spree at each full moon. Andrew Dubois, the Alpha King who had killed his three previous Luna partners.

Yet these rumors did not match the Andrew Dubois who sat across from me. He was so elegant, so kind, and so polite that there was no way that he could be the vicious killer that everyone claimed he was. Still, the thought of a vicious beast lying just beneath that beautiful surface thrilled me.

I could not puzzle out what was truth and what was fake.

“You’ve done a fantastic job here,” Andrew said, though there was a hint of hesitation to his tone that put me on edge, “but I thought that Lily would be handling this wedding. It is for a princess, after all.”

I tried to maintain my charming smile.

“Since Lily is pregnant, we have all had to take on more responsibility here at Ever After Weddings,” I explained. “Lily appointed me for this wedding herself because she believes that I am the best for the position.”

“Yes, but you are relatively new to the company, correct?”

“I have been with the company three months, but for those three months, I have been under Lily’s tutelage and have worked both at her elbow and on my own planning weddings. I assure you, I have not had an unhappy customer.”

“Even when working on your own?”

“Even when working on my own. Trust me when I say that working a few months with Lily is worth more than years of experience anywhere else.”

Andrew stared me straight in the eyes.

“And if anything were to go wrong?”

I held his gaze, despite the fact that butterflies attacked my stomach.

“If that were to happen, I am prepared to handle anything and everything, and Lily is just a phone call away if you want her assurances as well.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Looks like my little girl’s wedding is in the right hands.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, don’t thank me just yet. Every bride is liable to become a bridezilla, even the sweetest ones,” he said with a teasing grin.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“Susan, I don’t think he’s as terrifying as everyone says,” I told my wolf.

Susan rolled her eyes.

“His liking rate for you right now is 60, whereas yours for him is already an 80. You’re completely smitten by him.”

“How about I show you the gown?” I said to Andrew as I stood up.

I walked over to where I had hung the dress as I continued talking to Susan.

"Oh my goddess, he's so sexy,” I said. “Is this drop-dead gorgeous man really our mate?"

"Well...he didn't show any reaction. Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe older men are good at pretending...who knows?"

"Even though he's 15 years older than me, he doesn't look old at all. He’s more handsome than any other man I’ve ever seen."

I turned around, the dress in my arms, and opened the bag for Andrew to see it.

“Here we are.”

Andrew’s eyes widened, making him look like an adorable puppy seeing his very first treat.

“It’s…remarkable.”

I knew it was. Custom-made for the bride in question, this dress had a sweetheart neckline, a diamond-encrusted bodice, and a billowing silk-and-lace skirt that swept the floor like swan’s feathers. The veil, also made of sheer lace and accented with diamonds, completed the assemble.

It was the wedding dress of every fairytale-loving girl’s dreams.

Andrew went to pick it up in his steady, muscular hands. I was almost overwhelmed by his beauty in that moment—but I had to rein it in. A plan for him had formed in my mind, one that would come to fruition with a big surprise for him at Bob’s wedding.

I collected myself before I gently moved his hands away.

“Sorry, sir, but we need to be very careful with this before the big day,” I explained.

Andrew nodded his understanding.

“Of course. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”

I carefully placed the dress back in its bag, zipped the bag back up, and placed the outfit on its rack. I turned around to find Andrew staring at me. I blushed.

“Did you have any other questions for me today, sir?”

He shook his head.

“No, you seem to have everything handled very well. And please, call me Andrew.”

“Okay, Andrew.”

He seemed to contemplate something, then said, “Can I have your number? In case I have any questions about the wedding, that is.”

I nodded a little too enthusiastically and had to force myself to rein it in again.

“Yes, of course.”

I rattled off my number, which he immediately dialed. I got a call from what I assumed was his phone.

“This is my personal number,” he said with a smile.

My heart beat a little faster.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leak anything,” I assured Andrew.

He smiled.

“Thank you. I don’t give my personal number out to just anybody, so I’m trusting you here.”

“Your trust is well placed.”

“I know.”

I could have sworn that he winked at me, but it was probably just my imagination.

Later that night, I returned to the apartment I shared with Lily—at least, I had shared it with her until recently, when she got married. Now, I had the place all to myself, so long as I paid the rent.

That night, though, Lily was coming over to pick up some stuff she had forgotten in the move and to spend the night. She needed a girl’s night, she claimed, before the honeymoon and birth. I wasn’t about to deny her that.

After my prison release, Lily had been the only friend to stick by me. No one would hire me—despite my prestigious university degree and entrepreneurial experience—and no friend would spend time with me, let alone lend me a hundred bucks. As my once luxurious life lay in shambles around me and I was driven to the edge of despair, Lily invited me into her home and gave me a job.

I owed her everything.

I entered the apartment just as a notification appeared on my phone. As I fumbled with the lights, I checked the notification and saw that Andrew had friended me on social media. I grinned and giggled like a schoolgirl.

Lily knocked on the door just as I set my purse on the couch. I rushed to let her inside.

“Come in, come in! I have something to tell you,” I said as I pulled her in by the arm.

Lily laughed as she stumbled through the door. Even though it was still early in her pregnancy and she was barely showing, she glowed with the light of an expectant mother.

“All right, all right! I haven’t seen you this excited in a long time.”

Her eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Is it about a guy?”

“Actually,” I said as I pulled her onto the couch, “it is. A very nice, charming, incredibly sexy man just friended me on social media.”

“Oh? And who is this magnificent man?”

I blushed and hesitated.

“Well, it’s Andrew Dubois.”

Lily’s smile disappeared.

“Andrew Dubois, as in the Alpha King and Bob’s future father-in-law?”

I nodded.

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea? Not only are you planning his daughter’s—and your ex’s—wedding, but, again, he’s the Alpha King, and he…”

She didn’t need to finish that sentence for me to catch what she was referencing. She was worried about the rumors regarding his past three Lunas. I still couldn’t bring myself to believe that the man I spoke with that day could do what everyone accused him of.

“Don’t worry, Lily,” I said, placing my hand over hers. “I can handle it. All of it.”

Lily stared at me for a moment, then sighed.

“All right, I trust you.”

A few minutes of silence passed before I said, “But I’m still going to investigate the truth behind my company’s bankruptcy. I don’t think that Bob told me the truth, or at least all of it.”

“Oh! That reminds me. I actually know someone who could help you with that, if you’re interested.”

It took all of my self-control to not leap at Lily and hug her before getting the information.

“Of course I’m interested!”

“It’s my cousin, Noah.” She pulled a business card out of her purse and handed it to me. “Here’s his contact information.”

This time, I did leap at Lily and hug her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Lily laughed.

“Okay, okay. Don’t crush the pregnant woman.”

* *

I immediately called Noah and arranged to meet him at a café near the bridal shop after work the next day. I wore a long red dress with a jeweled turtleneck neckline, much like I had seen other women wear the day of my release, and my iconic bright gold earrings. As I looked in the rearview mirror, checking my makeup one last time, I could see my turquoise eyes burning with the flame of revenge.

I was more than ready for this.

I stepped out of the Honda Civic—borrowed from Lily—and strutted my way towards one of the café’s outdoor tables, where sat a man who looked like the picture Lily had shown me of Noah: 29 years old, my height, mousy hair and brown eyes, and dressed in an old-fashioned black suit and tie. He hunched over in his chair until he saw me approaching. Then he suddenly sat up straight and waved me over.

“Crystal?” he called out.

“Noah?” I replied, smiling broadly.

He flushed, which made me smile wider.

“Woah,” he breathed. “You look just like your picture. Beautiful.”

His eyes widened behind his spectacles.

“What I mean is…by ‘beautiful,’ I mean—”

“It’s okay. I appreciate the compliment.”

I laughed, and he seemed to relax a little, but only a little.

“So, you wanted to investigate the bankruptcy of your company?” Noah asked as I sat down across the table from him.

“Yes, I do. Do you think you can help?”

He nodded enthusiastically.

“I will do everything in my power to help you.”

Our eyes met.

“Eighty,” Susan said.

I was taken aback. We had just met and already he liked me that much?

Yes, the man outside the prison had a liking rating of 88, but that had been purely sexual. This felt…different. Deeper, more emotional.

“He’s smitten with you,” Susan continued. “Trust me, he’s willing to do anything for us.”

“He’s a good man. Unfortunately…”

I sighed.

“Unfortunately, he’s not Bob’s goddess-damned future father-in-law,” Susan finished for me.

I didn’t want to admit it, but Susan was right. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I knew that seducing Bob’s future father-in-law would be to my advantage. Besides, I wanted to know for sure if Andrew really was my mate, and I did not have enough information for that—yet.

Susan was right. Noah was willing to do anything for me. It made my heart hurt to drag him along like that, but if it helped motivate him to find out what happened to my company, then I was going to let his crush go on for as long as needed.

Our meeting finished after an hour, and the rest of the night was mine. Just as I got into the Civic, I got a call from Andrew. My heart raced.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Crystal?”

“Yes?”

“Hi, this is Andrew. I was wondering if you could meet me at the presidential suite on the top floor of the Lexington Hotel at nine o’clock.”

I chewed on my lower lip. The Lexington Hotel was the most luxurious hotel in the entire city. Andrew wanted to meet me there…at the presidential suite…

“Okay. I’ll see you there at nine.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you then.”

After I hung up, I glanced at the clock. 6:30. That gave me two-and-a-half hours to go home, get changed, and get to the hotel.

I had to hurry.