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“I found out about her right after I started working for you.” Vanessa snapped bitterly. I studied her for a moment, recalling how she’d started working for the company right after I returned from Rome. At the time, she’d been another faceless nobody because I’d been so wrapped up in my misery that nothing mattered. That hadn’t stopped her from trying to grab my attention though. Vanessa had her sights set on me from the beginning and now, I was beginning to wonder if it hadn’t been Fate keeping Ariel and me apart. Maybe it was Vanessa that had sabotaged my attempts to find the woman at my side.
“Everyone in the office kept talking about this mystery woman and how she’d affected you,” Vanessa continued. “Greta in accounting told me that everyone couldn’t believe how you’d changed. She said that you’d gone from being the biggest manwhore in existence to a lovesick fool. Naturally, I wanted to know who my competition was so I could annihilate her and so when Greta told me about a photo that she’d seen on your social media profile, I had to see for myself. That’s when I saw that shot of the two of you in Rome,” Vanessa admitted flatly, throwing in another painful-looking eye-roll. “Imagine my surprise when I saw my ‘good friend’ Ariel kissing the man I was planning on marrying. And then Tracy in the marketing department let it slip that you’d been actively looking for her. Well, it was then that I decided that I needed to take matters in my own hands.” Vanessa raised her chin defiantly and stabbed Ariel with a pointed stare.
“What did you do?” I growled sharply before anyone else had a chance to speak.
“I went down to the tech department and gave Terry a blow job in exchange for hacking into your Facebook profile and blocking everyone that could lead back to her.”
“That’s why Lou and I couldn’t find him! You blocked us from his account!”
“And I paid off that private investigator. There was no way that I was going to let her cash in on my payday!”
“You fucking bitch!” I snarled. “How dare you do that to me? To her! To us!”
“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Ariel howled seconds after me.
“Fuck you, Lucas. And fuck you, bitch!” Vanessa spat. “I don’t regret a thing. In fact, I’d do it again, only this time I wouldn’t invite you to the wedding!”
“If you were a man, I’d choke the life out of you right now!” The angry threat poured from my mouth.
“You did all that to keep us apart?” Ariel’s warrior woman stepped back to let the softer side of her come out. I noted the hurt and betrayal and could not blame her for feeling that way. “Then why in the hell would you ask me to be a bridesmaid?”
“Because I know you, Ariel. Or at least I thought I knew you. I counted on you being your normal pathetic self and not make it to the wedding on time. I just knew that your ‘responsibilities’ would keep you delayed until it was too late. I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized that the man you love chose me!” Vanessa all but cackled.
“You asked her to be a bridesmaid just to spite her?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. With each word she spoke, Vanessa stoked the raging inferno of my anger. Behind me, Ariel went quiet as she processed Vanessa’s disgusting, manipulative plan.
“Of course, I did!” Vanessa shouted and still under the delusion that her confession would make me change my mind. “I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized that I’d won and you’d lost. That Lucas was mine and you could never have him. I wanted to witness the moment that you realized that fairy tales are just comfort food for the weak and the pathetic. Besides, I couldn’t let someone like him throw his life away on someone like you. Rich, beautiful people aren’t meant to be with gutter trash. They’re meant to be with those who are their equal. Rich marries rich. Trash marries trash. It’s that simple.
To her credit, Ariel remained silent instead of taking Vanessa’s attempt to bait her.
“So, you planned this whole thing? With the intention of marrying me? What were you going to do then, Vanessa? What were your plans if we’d gotten married?”
“The plan was to stay married long enough to make it look like I wasn’t using you for your money, and then divorce you to free myself up to explore other ‘opportunities’, while taking a nice chunk of cash with me.” Her admission stunned me to my core.
Ryan was right.
My brother was right.
Martin, my father, and the rest of the company’s employees were right.
Vanessa was only using me to make herself rich.
And I’d played right into her hands.
“You were knowingly going to commit bigamy?”
Vanessa’s face paled momentarily before it flushed like she’d spent too much time in the sun. “Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?” She laughed anxiously as she shot a hate-filled flare at Phil.
“From him.” I pointed to the other man standing with us. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but it’s illegal to marry someone if you’re already married, Vanessa.”
“You told them?” she screeched and spat in her husband’s direction.
“I didn’t mean to.” Phil wilted under her ire. “It just came out.”
“And I’m sure that you conveniently forgot to mention to them that we’re divorced?”
My eyes bugged out. Ariel’s fingers gripped my shirt as she gasped, her surprise as palpable as mine.
“What do you mean divorce?” Ariel piped up, directing her question towards her former fiancée.
