Chapter 1

I was over at my best friend Emily Grant's house for dinner. Even though I was allergic to seafood, I was pressured into eating a piece of shrimp.

Right then and there, I threw up.

Emily's face instantly dropped. She snapped at me, "Are you pregnant? Whose is it? How could he be so irresponsible?"

Her parents glared at me with pure disgust.

I was about to explain, but Emily's brother, Alexander Grant, the golden boy of Jelasburg's elite, pulled me behind him.

He looked right at me, his voice low and steady. "The father just found out, too."

*****

My stomach was in turmoil. I clapped a hand over my mouth and bolted for the bathroom.

At dinner, Emily kept insisting I try the Butter-Glazed Jumbo Shrimp her mother made.

I tried to brush her off, saying my stomach wasn't feeling great, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She picked up the biggest shrimp, beaming, and held it right up to my lips.

She said, "Sloane, one bite, please? My mom went out of her way to get the freshest tiger shrimp for you. If you don't eat it, she'll be so disappointed."

Her mom, Yasmin Grant, chimed in, her voice warm and insistent. "Sloane, I know you love shrimp. Go on, give it a try."

I stared at that plump, glistening shrimp, my scalp prickling with dread.

I was severely allergic to seafood. I'd told Emily about it more than once.

But every time, she acted like she never remembered.

With Emily and her mom staring me down, I gritted my teeth, peeled the shrimp, and stuffed it in my mouth.

The result was like this now.

I was hunched over the toilet, and tears kept coming. My throat was burning like hell.t

The bathroom door slammed open, and Emily stood in the doorway, her pretty face full of disgust and disbelief.

"Sloane, are you pregnant?" Her voice was so sharp.

I weakly waved my hand, trying to explain. "No, I'm allergic to shrimp."

"Allergic?" Emily scoffed, like I'd told the world's biggest joke. "Seriously? When have you ever puked from seafood before? This is totally morning sickness."

She crossed her arms, towering over me, her eyes brimming with contempt and judgment.

"Spill it. Who's the baby daddy? You graduated, and you're already not taking care of yourself? Don't you know who the father is? Seriously, how could you be so irresponsible?"

Her voice kept rising, and with each rise, something in my chest splintered.

From the living room, Emily's parents came rushing over.

Richard Grant's face was stone cold, his eyes full of contempt as he looked at me like I was dirty.

Yasmin was more blunt. She pinched her nose, her face twisted in disgust. "Ugh, what bad luck. Sloane, I'm not trying to be mean, but girls should really know how to behave themselves."

They had me cornered at the bathroom door, like I was being put on trial for everyone to see.

Shame and hurt crashed over me all at once.

I clenched my fists, using every ounce of strength to defend myself. "I'm really not pregnant. I'm allergic."

But my voice sounded so weak against their judgmental accusations.

Emily rolled her eyes, clearly fed up, and cut me off. "Enough already, stop faking. It's disgusting. You'd seriously come up with something like this to stick around our family?"

What? Cling to their family? Her words hit me so hard I was left gaping, completely speechless.

My mind went blank, and I had no clue how to defend myself. Then, out of nowhere, a deep, cold male voice cut through the chaos from behind them.

"Looks like the baby's father found out, too."

I looked up suddenly, past Emily and her parents, and saw him standing there.

He was in the shadows of the living room, tall and imposing, his black shirt perfectly tailored to show off broad shoulders and a lean waist.

The overhead light threw dramatic shadows across his ridiculously handsome face, making him look almost unreal. His deep, intense eyes were fixed on me, not looking away for a second.

That was Alexander, Emily's brother, the so-called golden boy of Jelasburg's elite.

And he was also my runaway husband. We'd barely met a few times before our whirlwind marriage, and then he disappeared without a trace.

The Grant family went absolutely nuts.

Emily was the first to scream, her voice full of disbelief. "Alexander, what did you say?"

Yasmin and Richard looked like they'd been struck by lightning, fixing their son with furious, shocked stares.

"Alexander, are you out of your mind? Do you know what you're saying?" Richard's voice was shaking with rage.

With the whole Grant family bearing down on me like a storm, my mind went completely blank.

I watched as he strode over, lifted me up, and kept me firmly behind him, like he was my shield against the world.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reconcile this man with the guy who'd mistaken me for his date at a bar. He stumbled into a marriage with me, and then ghosted for a month, blaming it on his company's big IPO.

Emily went totally ballistic, lunging at me like she was about to rip my hair out.

"Sloane, you bitch. When did you start hooking up with my brother?" she snapped.

Before her nails could touch me, Alexander grabbed her wrist in a death grip.

He didn't spare her a glance, shoved his hysterical sister aside with one hand, his face icy cold.

That natural, commanding aura of his shut Emily up in an instant. She stood there, glaring at me with red-rimmed eyes.

Richard slammed his palm down on the table, making the heavy wood shake with a loud thud.

"Alexander, enough with this nonsense. Did you bother to check her background? Do you know what kind of woman she is? You really think someone like her could ever set foot in the Grant family?" he snapped.

Yasmin sized me up from head to toe like I was something for sale, her disdain plain as day.

She said, "Trying to use a baby to get ahead? Do you really think you're good enough? If you think you can marry into the Grant family, no way."

All this bombshell news hit me so hard, my head was spinning, and I could barely stay on my feet.

I grabbed onto Alexander's arm, my voice barely above a whisper. "You are..."

Alexander looked down at me, his eyes full of emotions I couldn't read, but his tone left no room for doubt. "It's me. Your husband, Alexander."

It was like a bomb went off in my head. My whole world came crashing down.

I jerked back a step, my fingertips turning ice-cold and numb.

I always thought I'd married some average hottie named Michael Quinn, probably a faker who wanted a young, pretty wife to keep his family off his back.

Who could've guessed he was actually Emily's brother, the powerful, untouchable Alexander, the one I'd always looked up to from afar?

Emily was clutching her mouth, cracking up like she'd heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

"You? Seriously, Sloane, have you looked in the mirror? You really think my brother would ever fall for you? What, did you slip him something?"

I finally snapped out of my shock, frantically trying to set the record straight.

"I'm not pregnant. I puked because I'm allergic to shrimp."

But nobody bought it.

Emily wrapped herself around Yasmin's arm, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Mom, listen to her. She's making up the flimsiest excuses to cling to my brother. Seriously, this is next-level shameless."

Suddenly, Alexander whipped out his phone.

Right there on the screen was our marriage certificate photo. The photo license said it all.

He held the phone up for his parents and sister to see, his voice cold and clear, leaving no room for doubt. "She's my legal wife."