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Fucking Suzanne.
“Mom,” Marissa said. “How dare you show your face—wait, how did you get in here?”
“Turns out you can pay a roadie to sneak you backstage in a road case,” she said like she hadn’t already thrown a massive monkey wrench into the day. “What can I say? I love rock n’ roll.”
I didn’t need to know what kind of payment she’d offered to pull that stunt off.
Marissa sighed heavily into her microphone, and the crowd quieted. I could practically hear her heartbeat. I could feel her frustration in my bones, or maybe that was all my own.
So Suzanne paid a roadie to let her in. But that didn’t explain how she made it this far. She should’ve been escorted out the moment she was spotted backstage.
I was not letting Suzanne fuck this day up even more.
Go over there and deal with this, my bear demanded. Usually, Bibi wanted to keep the couples separated until the big promise, as we called it, behind the scenes.
The crowd oohed as I rose from my chair. I brought my finger to my lips, asking them to keep quiet so I could have an element of surprise. Suzanne had shown me more than once that she didn’t take me seriously. Tried unsuccessfully to bring down Bibi—but all she’d managed to do was make us all fall in love with her more. Had no respect for her daughter’s wishes. It was time to take control.
“Who is that woman?” Marissa asked as I crossed over to her side of the stage.
Like hell Suzanne snuck in here in a box. She’d definitely paid off someone, but she’d never be that picture-perfect if she’d been smuggled in the way she claimed. A woman stood with her, holding a baby that couldn’t have been more than a few months old.
The woman smiled at me. Crap, I knew exactly who she was.
Suzanne’s face lit up when she turned to me. The woman was like a viper, and she was about to strike.
“Bjorn, there’s no need to introduce you to Courtney. She tells me the two of you know each other quite well.”
“Suzanne, whatever stunt you’re trying to pull, I can assure you now is not the time.” Beebs sounded so annoyed. She pursed her lips into an angry line and stared at Marissa’s mother. How she kept the self-control to not wring her neck was beyond me because it was all I could think about doing.
“I can assure you it is. In fact, it’s the perfect time. While you were busy trying to bury your own past, you forgot about Bjorn’s.” Suzanne motioned to the lady behind her.
“How dare you,” Marissa said. “Mom, what you did to Bibi was beyond reproach.”
“I do feel bad about it. I didn’t think Bibi still had feelings for her mate.”
“I wish you had come to me privately with this information, Suzanne.” Bibi had superpowers. “But I assure you, I’ll stop at nothing to make sure Calista is found.”
“I’m sure you will.” Suzanne turned to me. “So, as I was saying, the two of you know each other. Care to tell us how?”
Fuck. “We went out a couple of times when I was working onThe Scoop.”
Courtney had gone to my gym, and she managed to show up almost every time I was there. I’d been lonely, frustrated that I’d found my mate and couldn’t act on it. So we went out a couple times. But she’d gotten the wrong idea almost instantly, and once I’d invited her to my place, it had been practically impossible to get her to leave without throwing her out.
“She says this is your baby.”
Marissa’s mouth dropped, and she looked at Bibi, shaking her head.
“That’s impossible.” The crowd practically drowned me out with their booing.
Suzanne took a step forward. “Can you prove it?”
This woman made me doubt my own memory. “Yeah.”
“Mom,” Marissa said. “Don’t you think you could have told me about this before now?”
“I could have, but I think all the fans ofThe Mating Gamedeserve to know who you almost took as your mate. It seems to me your team could have found this little blemish in the perfect bear’s past and done something to fix it.”
She wanted money. Of course, she did. I had no idea how long it took to get results on a paternity test, but the damage was done. When we thought she couldn’t go any lower, Suzanne had made me look like the world’s biggest asshole in front of my mate, my boss, the crowd, and most importantly, my family, who was seated backstage with their very own VIP monitor. I’d spent the first half of Bibifest treating them like celebrities. They didn’t quite get the queens, and heavy metal wasn’t their speed, but there was no doubt they were having the time of their lives.
