While we continue to dance, from a few feet away, Kade’s eyes find mine, and that’s how I know what he does next is intentional. Noah turns with him easily, her body following the guidance of his hand at her waist, themovement smooth enough that no one watching would spot what’s about to happen, and then his grip loosens at the exact second her momentum carries her past him.
She doesn’t realize she’s been released until she isn’t where she expects to be. I spin Sage into Kade’s waiting arms, and my hand catches Noah mid-turn. Fingers firm at her waist, I draw her closer before her balance slips. The sound she makes when her body collides with mine isn’t loud, but it lands hard all the same, breath knocked loose. Her palm flies to my shoulder and holds on like she needs something solid to keep her upright.
For half a second, she just stares at me, shock cutting through her expression before she has time to gather herself. The song shifts around us without announcement, bleeding into something slower, heavier, the kind of melody that sinks instead of floats, and when the first line threads through the noise—something about how broken hearts are supposed to hurt—it feels personal in a way it has no right to.
I don’t step back. If I do, she’ll take the space and run with it, so I keep her where she is, one hand steady at her waist, the other settling at her back as if this is still the dance she agreed to, as if the ring flashing on her finger when she tightens her grip doesn’t change anything.
With my lips hovering closer to her ear, I tell her exactly what I’m thinking. “Blue ain’t your color, Noah.”
Her brow furrows and her gaze drops to the dress,fingers brushing the fabric like she’s looking for something wrong she can fix, and the breath that leaves me isn’t quite a laugh, more a sound dragged from my chest.
“Not talkin’ about the gown,” I grit, knowing she has to hear me whether she wants to or not. “It’s the way you’re standin’ here, knowing you’ve made the worst mistake of your life.”
The reaction is immediate, even if she tries to hide it, her body goes rigid against mine, shoulders locking down as if she can brace her way out of what I just said. When her eyes lift back to my observant gaze, there’s defiance there, sharp and wounded and furious, telling me I don’t know a damn thing. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Rhett. It was never my intention.”
My head tilts, studying her the way I always have, like I’m trying to see what’s still there beneath the years, the distance, the ring she’s wearing like a line she’s daring me to cross.
“If you got everything you ever wanted”—not breaking eye contact, my voice lowers—“why do you look like a song that doesn’t ever wanna be sung?”
That one lands where I aimed it.
Her breath stutters, barely noticeable if you’re not looking for it, like something inside her just slipped and she’s scrambling to keep it from showing.
“If your life is everything you hoped it would be,” I continue, even though my chest is starting to burn, “whydid you look at me in the rearview like your future’s somethin’ you’re already afraid of?”
The room keeps moving around us, music swelling, people laughing and swaying and celebrating, but Noah goes still in my arms, not frozen, not panicked—just caught.
As the song comes to a close, I spot Bradley approaching, two flutes of champagne in hand. Knowing this might be the last time I have the chance to get the closure I need, my lips press to her forehead. “Goodbye, Starlet. I’m finally letting you go like I should have a long time ago.”
Bradley cuts between us, handing Noah one of the glasses. His eyes narrow on me. “Hope you got that out of your system. It’s the last time you’ll ever have your hands on my wife.”
Noah tenses as her husband claims her with a hand to her lower back. It takes everything in me to be the bigger man and control my composure. “Congratulations. I hope you know the value of what you’re holding.” And with that, I turn on my heel and make my way to the hotel bar.
I need a fuckin’ drink.
NOAH
21
I don’t havea clue if my disappearance from the reception was noticed and don’t care. Huffing out a disturbed chuckle, the door opens to the honeymoon suite. It’s lavish. Beautiful. And makes me completely sick to my stomach.
Bypassing plush couches, I head into the bedroom where an ornate mirror taunts me from the far side of the room. My picture-perfect reflection stares woodenly back at me. I’ve become something unimaginable. A liar. A deceiver. Acoward.
The lace skirt of my gown scratches under my palm, and I itch to rip it from my body. My skin crawls. This dress belongs in the trash, just like this pathetic excuse for a marriage.
In front of my parents, Sage, Grandma Jo—people who are important to me—Ilied.
Thedevastation on Rhett’s face as I walked down the aisle is something I’ll never forgive myself for. When we locked eyes, the world altered. For a split second, the contract I signed, my career, all of it could have burned down around me. Words didn’t need to be spoken. Pleas radiated from the man I know so well. There was a promise in his chocolate gaze—a sacred oath that if I chose him, I’d never regret it. The temptation was right there to ask him to run away with me. To save me.
I wouldn’t have cared if everything else was lost because I knew I’d have him. And that would be enough.
But then, fear crept in and reminded me Bradley is not a man who would take disgrace lightly. Inviting Rhett to the ceremony was a power move to unnerve me. And if my new husband is sadistic enough to lure Rhett here to watch this shit show, who’s to say he wouldn’t use him as punishment if I didn’t comply.
Doing what was best for both me and Rhett, I promised to love a man who is a narcissistic abuser—all in the name of saving my career and the only man who’s ever held my heart.
Here lies Noah Lane, buried beneath the wreckage of the choices she’s made.
Rhett’s final goodbye was a bitter pill to swallow. He knows me better than anyone and had taken one fucking look into my eyes and saw right through the bullshit. Heknew I was hiding something and didn’t hold back letting me know how he felt about it.
