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Paige wasn’t just my executive assistant who’d been working for me for the last five years, but she was also one of my closest friends now, and now she was my maid of honor.
“He’s playing a part, Paige.”
“I don’t think he’s faking anything.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?”
“I see how he looks at you. There’s love in his eyes.”
“It’s not love you’re seeing, it’s control. Tristian thrives on it. I’m just another conquest for him, so please don’t let him fool you.”
“Alright, but what happened between the two of you anyway? You’ve never talked about him before.”
“It’s not important.”
“It’s obviously important to you, or why else would you be holding a grudge against him?”
“You think I’m holding a grudge?”
“Aren’t you?”
“I… I… I don’t know anymore. It’s not like I ever expected him to come back into my life.”
“Do you love him?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Did you?”
“I was sixteen, Paige. I also loved N’SYNC back then too.”
“Eh.” She shrugged again. “I was more of a Backstreet Boys kind of girl.”
I laughed, feeling grateful I still could at a time like this. I opened my mouth to reply, but my grandmother and mom walked in.
“Oh, sweetheart!” Mom greeted, walking toward me with my grandmother beside her. “You look perfect! Absolutely perfect!”
“Wow,” Grandmother breathed out, taking in my wedding gown. “You’re stunning, Belle. Pictures aren’t going to do you justice. That dress on you… Tristian is going to lose his mind when he sees you.”
“Are you only saying this in hopes that I’ll be happy about this arranged marriage of convenience?”
Paige spun around. “I’m going to give you guys some privacy.” She left, closing the door behind her.
Once she was gone, Grandmother confessed, “I understand more than anyone what you’re going through. I didn’t get to meet your grandfather until our wedding day, so you can imagine—”
“Your wedding day? That’s horrible.”
She agreed, “I thought it was too at the time, but your grandfather was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“If you think I’m going to follow in your footsteps and fall madly in love with Tristian, then let me stop you right there. The only emotion I have for that man is hatred. Deep. Rooted. Hatred.”
“Belle…” Mom coaxed.
“Ugh! Why is no one on my side?” I threw the paper on the coffee table and then sat on the couch. Leaning forward, I placed my pounding head in between my hands. “I grew up with no say in anything. Not in what I wore, who I talked to, where I went, or what I did. Nothing! I fought so hard for this life I’ve made for myself. Proving to everyone, including our family, that I wasn’t just Chance Montgomery’s granddaughter.”
“And we’re so beyond proud of you for that, Belle.”
“I know, Mom.”
