AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Like we’d found each other when the other was lost, beacons of hope no matter the direction of the wind.
Dean liked the cheesy stuff. The sweeter the better so I poured it on like rain.
Dean had been one of my easier marks. I could mostly be myself around him, which was pretty convenient. It was always the toughest when I had to become something of a persona. The last one had liked French girls and it had been some serious work to make sure I never dropped the accent, not even once.
Before I’d even met him, I knew that Dean liked his woman to be independent, feisty, and a real go-getter. He enjoyed when I pushed him, and he especially liked it when I put myself in charge in the bedroom. He was sweet and gentle, always buying me gifts and taking me to expensive dinners whenever he could get time off work at his Fortune 500 software corporation that cleared several billion dollars a year.
It’s what bought the five-carat diamond engagement ring on my left hand and the diamond-encrusted wedding band he was sliding onto my finger right now.
Dean liked to be a sugar daddy of sorts and I was just the sort of fixer upper that he adored taking care of.
Before I even bumped into my marks, I studied them extensively. I scoured social media and the tabloids for indications of what they liked. I tailed them for more than a week at a time just to understand who they were and what they wanted in and out of the bedroom, and I was really good at it.
Dean was a very rich man, which meant that he would be a very rich payday for me. It had been less than six months since I’d accidentally knocked into him and spilled his coffee before I insisted on buying him a new one. We’d spent at least four hours together that morning and the whirlwind romance hadn’t stopped since.
I hadn’t let it.
He reached for me and took my hands in his. His hands were firm, dwarfing mine as he squeezed gently.
I slid his own wedding band on his left hand and didn’t meet his eyes. For some reason, the gleeful excitement in his face was something I couldn’t bear to see right now.
Instead I took a deep breath, stared at the floor, and feigned a nervo
us look, playing the part of an anxious bride.
Get it together, Willow. You’re fucking better than this.
“Then I now pronounce you man and wife,” the priest declared, his voice resolute and firm.
The crowd watching roared and applauded with approval. The beautiful tune of a violin sang above us, and Dean took my hand in his and held it up high in the air, putting us on display together in front of everyone watching.
Every one of them were his guests. No one was there for me.
No one ever was.
I smiled and painted my face with the joy they all expected to see. I just had to play the blissful bride for a little longer before I could disappear forever and move onto my next job.
* * *
After the ceremony, my wedding planner rushed me back to the bridal suite for a wardrobe change for the reception to follow. Whenever possible, I liked to avoid the man I married on the day of the ceremony as much as I could. It minimized the chances of getting found out at the last minute. I couldn’t have that.
My record was perfect. Each job was ridiculously expensive and horrendously time-consuming, but I nailed each one every time.
It was a special sort of talent to be a con woman like me. My skills were dangerous to the rich, no matter what was between their legs. Man or woman, they were all the same.
They all wanted to fall in love.
They all yearned for a best friend.
They all dreamed of the perfect fucking fairy tale.
They wanted it all and I gave them everything they could ever wish for.
Over and over again, because at the end of the day, I didn’t really have a choice. The moment I stopped, I was as good as dead. The organization I worked for didn’t tolerate even an ounce of disobedience and I really didn’t want to find out what it felt like to take a bullet between the eyes.
With a heavy sigh, I fingered the scarlet lace of the racy number I had planned to wear that was waiting for me on its hanger. There was a knock on the door, and I raised my voice just high enough to tell them to enter. My wedding planner’s assistant smiled, and I nodded in greeting. Time to step into Sophia’s persona again.
“Jenny,” I said lightly.
