CHAPTER 82

"What's with the mascot?" Jacob asks as he makes his way across the beach to where the group of us is gathered. "He's a friend," I say, nodding to Hugo in his cage, whom the staff let us borrow. He twitters in response. Jacob goes to join the others, but I turn toward the sea. For the rehearsal, it's supposed to be our close friends, plus Haley and Dad and the kids. The officiant doing our service will walk us through. It's going to be short-half an hour-but the importance of it feels much bigger. I've always loved the sunrise more than the sunset. It's the promise of something new. But the sunset tonight was supposed to be something to savor-a symbol of the last day of my life alone and a chance for us to watch the stars. On the beach, the sun glowing like orange and pink embers on the horizon, my simple white linen dress blows in the breeze... But there's no Timothy in sight. He'll be here. The officiant arrives, holding a book under her arm. She smiles. "How are you all today?" "A couple of bodies short," Andie notes, scanning the row of villas for some sign of movement. Uncertainty ripples through my stomach. It's almost time to start. Haley appears around the corner, and the nerves dissipate. "Are Dad and Timothy on their way?" I ask, my brows tugging together. "They were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago." My stepmom stops in front of me, Mason in the stroller. Sophie spots Hugo and makes a beeline for his cage. "You haven't heard from them?" Haley guesses. "No." I swallow hard. "We're going to lose the sunset." The emotions in my stomach are reflected in her eyes. Disappointment, disbelief, anger, grief. Over my shoulder, the sun seems to sink another inch closer to the calm sea, and my hope descends with it. He was supposed to be here. Haley squeezes my shoulders, and my throat fills. I knew going in that I was marrying someone whose public star would shine brighter than mine. I even told myself I was okay with it... and I am okay with him being known, recognized, appreciated. Because he always knows, recognizes, and appreciates me. "I've been thinking all week about what you said. I've been trying to be mature, to let him take on this responsibility," I murmur to my stepmom, emotion filling my voice. I don't care about money. I don't care about the legacy we leave behind. I need him. "This isn't about maturity anymore, Emily. Excuse me one minute." Leaving Mason in the stroller, Haley stomps across the sand toward the villas. Her hair billows in the breeze behind her. Andie looks dismayed. Avery is pissed. Harrison-standing next to Rica-seems to have a hard time dragging his attention from her while her hands are clutched in fists at her chest, dark expression unreadable. "I'm going to watch," Jacob decides, but Andie grabs the back of his shirt. "This is a family moment." "The beat down of Eddie Carlton? I want to witness, or no one will believe it." Squawking has me looking over toward Hugo's cage. Sophia's talking to him, and I go over to her. "He doesn't like it," she informs me, peering up. "Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. It's for the best." I turn my back as Rica comes up behind me. "Tell me you didn't know," she says, her voice strangely flat. I blink. "What are you talking about?" But her hurt expression has my throat drying even before she says, "Harrison King is the CEO of the company that owns Echo Entertainment." Breath burns my lungs. "I was planning to tell you." "When? After the wedding so I didn't make a scene?" Her eyes flash with pain. "That's not why I didn't..." I trail off. Maybe in part that was why I didn't tell her. "Rica, I'm sorry." My friend shakes her head. "I know this week hasn't been easy for you, but I thought you had my back." "What's going on?" Avery demands, crossing to me as Rica turns and heads away from us and from Harrison. I curse through my unsteady breathing, hands clenching into fists at my sides. "I wanted this to be perfect. All our family and friends came together from all over the world." Tears slip down my face. "We all hustle our asses off, but I wanted to put it all aside and just be about love. To celebrate how we've all gone through shit but we love each other and we're here. Is that too much to ask?" A squawking sound at my back has me whirling to see the door to Hugo's cage is open. The cage is empty. I gasp. "Sophia, what did you do?" "He didn't like it in there." Her pout is defensive. Scanning the sky, I search for any sign of movement against the fading colors. "There he is!" Hugo's a dozen feet in the air, struggling to fly. "Probably flying back to the cove," the attendant weighs in. "Where his mate is." "So, that's good?" The attendant can't keep the sadness out of her voice. "He's not healed yet. He probably won't survive." My chest aches as I watch him. I've spent a lot of my life feeling out of control, but I can't come to grips with it right now. Standing on a beach in a beautiful dress with words in my heart... and no one to say them to. I watch Hugo flap, lurching and eventually disappearing around the trees and rocks. No. I'm not letting this happen. I scan the beach, my gaze landing on a jet ski.

The windowless room was supposed to be for privacy, a way to get this deal done and stave off exhaustion. I didn't expect it to be this hard. I was naive maybe-Jax has been in this industry for two decades, and he makes it look easy. I'm used to being able to make things happen myself. Army of one. "That's it. Wicked's ownership hasn't come back by now, they're not going to." I shove out of my chair. "If they do and you're not here to sign, this will be over," the lawyer weighs in. "Exclusivity will lapse, and everything we've worked on will be for nothing." He doesn't say all the money you've spent will be wasted, but it's implied. A knock comes at the door. "Yeah," I bark out. It opens a few inches, and a man appears with a silver cart covered with bottles.