Page 8 of Three Billionaire Grooms and Not the Right Bride

Cristian Harvey opens the door on the passenger side, and Dayton dumps me inside, then both he and Cristian slide in beside me on either side.

“Look, you have the wrong girl,” I say, fighting for my life to climb over them and out of the car. But I’m already being taken to a second location when Edison Dunn gets into the driver's seat and takes off.

This is so, so, so bad.

“Oh, we have the right girl,” Edison says from the driver's seat, looking at me through the rearview mirror. For a moment I get lost in the darkness of his eyes, pulling me under like a current, but all I want to do is follow. I shake my head to clear it.

They know.

Scratch bad. This is beyond catastrophic.

I have no idea what to do. Do I call Mrs. Neal? What do I do? I’ve never body-doubled a marriage before, for crying out loud. Is there a handbook for it?

“Okay, but where are you taking me to?” I ask in a small voice.

“Italy,” Dayton says and gives me that bone-melting smile of his.

“We think you’ll love it there,” Cristian says, his voice so smooth and deep that my nerves start to hum.

No. I won’t. I would absolutely hate it there so unimaginably much.

Chapter Seven

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Hadley

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My brain hurts, and that’s putting it lightly. I spent all the time in the car trying to get out of the situation. How much do I say? Do I tell them about Tatiana’s allergic reaction? Mrs. Neal threatening me with a large sum of money to stand in for her daughter, who needed urgent medical help in the meantime?

Maybe Mrs. Neal threw me under the bus. And now I would have to face off with Tatiana, their bride. And she’s going to rip my face off because I listened to her mother and married them on her behalf. But doesn’t she know it means nothing? She’s still their bride.

Maybe they’re just kidnapping me to another country just to appease their new bride. I should just shut my mouth until we reach Italy and see what’s in store for me. Yes, that would be the best thing to do.

I try to be as compliant as possible when they load me onto their lush private jet, hoping they’ll put in a good word for me with Tatiana. Also, is she better already? She must be, and she traveled overnight to Italy herself.

My strategy to stay silent was no hardship at all. I was served the best-tasting meal in the world, and then I took the most luxurious sleep ever and woke up a new person in Italy.

Show time. My silence served me well, but now I need to gather my wits and face the Neals. Hopefully only one of them. Two would be a war.

The villa is nothing short of a sun-drenched, quaint little palace. I’m so in awe of the place; my eyes sparkle against the terracotta facade, surrounded by gardens that just take my breath away.

But no. I can’t be awed. I’m going to face an execution squad, and I need to have my defense ready. How am I going to get out of this? Mrs. Neal made me do it. She did. She said she would make my life very difficult. It’s true. But also, why am I really here? No harm, no foul—isn't that the saying? Yeah, I’m going to be roasted alive.

For a moment, my panic is so consuming I contemplate running off into the countryside, adopting a new identity and living out the rest of my life in a small fishing village.

But I’m startled out of my panic when I see Cristian carrying my bags. The ones I was supposed to take with me to the Maldives. Paradise, I won’t be coming after all. Hell, here I come.

I’m shown to a large, airy living room, the furniture chic and vintage and so fitting.

If I expected to see Tatiana or Mrs. Neal or both waiting for me there, I was wrong. Things are going to get real very soon.

Except there I am standing in the middle of the room, wringing my hands, while the three of them are just so relaxed as their gazes’ glide over me. As if they can’t look away. As if they’re undressing me.

I cannot afford to lose my mind right now. I need to know what the Neals have said so I can react accordingly. But minutes go by, and still their bride hasn’t arrived yet. Is she making me deliberately stew?

“Umm... Tatiana... I mean Mrs. Skycrest here?”