Laney I woke to the warmth of sunlight pouring through the curtains and a strange pressure on my chest. It felt like someone had dropped a weighted blanket on me while I’d been sle eping, but the blanket was vibrating. Blinking against the brightness, I sat up slightly and gasped when I found myself staring straight into the eyes of a very large gray cat perched proudly on top of my ribs. “Oh, hello. Who are you?” I blinked a few more times, half convinced I still had to be dreaming, but the cat didn’t flinch. He also didn’t disappear, which meant that somehow, a real, live cat had made its way into the fortress of a penthouse and decided to take up residence right on top of me. The cat didn’t move as I stared at it, just sitting there like one of those stone gargoyles on the side of a cathedral. It was purring like an idling engine, which explained the vibrations I’d felt when I’d woken up, but then, with the most casual sense of entitlement ever, it reached out a paw and tapped me on the cheek. Almost like it was curious as to what I was doing here, or maybe like it was wondering where I’d suddenly come from. In fact, it was looking at me kind of like I was the one who’d invaded its bed. If this made any sense at all, it would’ve been hilarious, but considering that I was a million stories up in the air, in a neighborhood not known for gardens and pets, and a cat had magically appeared in Sterling’s bedroom, I was too confused to laugh. “What in the actual n —” “He likes you,” Sadie’s voice chimed cheerfully from the door, confusing me even more. I blinked again and turned my head to see her standing there, grinning like she’d just dropped off a winning lottery ticket. Perfectly put together again, her red hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail right on top her head, her blue eyes lined with coal, and she wore a gorgeous, floral-printed sundress. Meanwhile, I’d put on one of Sterling’s shirts and a pair of pajama shorts before I’d fallen asle
Ep I probably looked like a complete disaster in comparison, but there was a strange cat on my body and a girl I didn’t really know but who had decided we were going to be friends in my bedroom. I would survive looking like a wreck. The confusion, however, was possibly going to kill me. “What is that?” I asked, half-asle ep and seriously wondering if perhaps I was still dreaming after all. “Where did it come from?” Sadie strode into the room with that grin still plastered to her lips and perched herself on the edge of the bed. “Laney, meet Jack. He came here with me, but he’s yours now.” “He is?” I glanced back at the cat, noticing that he had yellow flecks in his eyes and some darker gray tufts of hair on his chest. Jack blinked slowly right back at me, but I couldn’t tell if it was out of affection or judgment. It felt like it might possibly be both. “Uh, why did you bring me a cat?”
“You needed the company and he needed a home. Plus, he’s gray, like this apartment.” Sadie waved a hand around the room like this was all perfectly normal. “Jack is also as emotionally unavailable as your husband, so I figured they were a match made in heaven.” I stared at her, wondering if the cat—Jack—would be offended if I sat up a little more. “You adopted a cat for me because he reminded you of Sterling?” She leaned against the foot of the bed, entirely unaffected by the chaos she’d potentially just dropped into my life. I didn’t even know if Sterling was allergic, let alone if he actually wanted a pet. “I mean, why not?” Sadie shrugged and smiled at me. “I asked if you liked animals and you said yes. Plus, Jack likes strong, ind ependent women with minor control issues and gentle voices. That’s you in a nutshell. Him being exactly like Sterling is just the cherry on top.” I opened my mouth to argue, to ask her if she had any idea whether Sterling was allergic. Jack shifted his weight on my chest and let out a de ep, contented sigh. I scrubbed a hand across my face before gently lifting him off me and setting him down on the mattress so I could finally sit up. “He crawled onto my chest like he owns it.” “Well, he kind of does. At least, you own him now. Legally speaking, that is. I had his chip re-registered this morning, which means he owns you right back.” I groaned. “Sadie n —” “Don’t fight me on this,” she said with her eyes going wide just like a puppy’s. “He’s even named after Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining. Isn’t that still Sterling’s favorite movie?” I closed my eyes and tried convincing myself that it was fate. Jack was so ugly that he was cute and I really did like animals. She’d also mentioned that he’d needed a home, which meant that if I didn’t acc ept him, he wouldn’t have anywhere to go. “It is still his favorite movie.” I opened my eyes and looked at her again. “You wouldn’t happen to know if Sterling’s allergic, do you?” “Oh, he’s definitely not. I used to pick up any stray kitten I found on the way home from school, and sometimes, he helped me carry them. He is going to hate it, though.” She grimaced. “For some reason, he’s not overly fond of cats.” I glanced at Jack and reached out to scratch behind his ears. When he started purring again, I smiled and turned my attention back to her. “Nah, Sterling’s going to pretend to hate it but get emotionally attached within the next thirty-six hours. He’s going to have built Jack a custom window seat before the end of the week.” Sadie pumped her eyebrows at me, looked smug as hell. “Exactly.” Jack stretched languidly and settled against me as I k ept scratching behind his ear without really thinking about it. His purr went from an idling engine to full-on revving. Sadie’s entire face lit up with her smile as she flicked her gaze between the two of us. “I knew it. I told you that it was meant to be. You’re soulmates.” I couldn’t deny that it felt pretty good having him at my side, but that didn’t mean she’d done the right thing, bringing him here. This wasn’t
exactly a good time. Although Sadie and I really didn’t know each other that well, I decided to level with her, knowing I needed to be honest. “I have a husband I barely understand, a company under siege, and now you’ve brought me a cat named after a character from a horror movie.” She nodded. “The cat is like, the best part of what’s happening in your life right now, but admit it, you’re thriving. You and Sterling have faced your first real obstacle together as a married couple and you overcame it together. Your company was under siege, but it’s not anymore, and now, you’re at the part where there’s no such thing as bad publicity. It’s not really where you are that matters, Laney. It’s how you look at it.” I gave her a flat look in response, but the corners of my mouth were fighting to form the shape of a smile. “Okay, fine. He can stay, but I’m going to have a shower. Don’t let him eat my phone or something while I’m gone.” “He’d never do that.” She giggled. “Don’t worry about him. I’ll babysit and whip us up something to drink for when you’re done.” I shuddered to think what she meant by that, but I nodded and got up, striding over to the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. After I turned on the water, I stripped but then just stood there for a moment to catch my breath. As I stared at my reflection in Sterling’s massive mirror, I realized that I looked marginally better today. Still tired, maybe still a little raw, but not quite as broken. I glanced at the shower, but since I didn’t see any steam yet, I looked around to familiarize myself with the space I was in. Up until today, I’d never even been inside the master bedroom at the penthouse. I’d avoided this level of the place like the plague, at first not wanting to intrude on his private space, but later on, because I hadn’t wanted to be tempted to wait for him naked in his bed. We’d moved past that now—to the point where he’d asked me to move in here. I hadn’t done it yet, but I had brought the bag I’d packed when I hadn’t known how long we’d be staying at his parents’ place up here. At least that meant I had some clothes in the room that I could change into when I was done in the shower, but still. Officially moving into his bedroom was a big st ep. But I wasn’t scared. It felt too right to be wrong. Sterling and I had taken several big st eps over the last few days and all of them had brought us closer together. We were married—literally for better or for worse, for now—and I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could get. Kind of like somewhere along the line, we’d become actual newlyweds. Maybe Jack was part of that too, Sterling and I slowly building our lives together as a couple. By the time I emerged from the bathroom, the gray ball of fur was curled up in the middle of the bed like a Viking who’d claimed it as his territory. I didn’t know how Sterling would feel about a cat sle eping on his bed, but I didn’t try to move Jack either. He looked so comfy and at home already that it felt like it would be criminal to disturb him right now.
Instead, I padded softly around the bed to my bag, got dressed, and then followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen. What I walked into, however, didn’t look anything like Sterling’s usually immaculate, polished space with every surface wiped down so there wasn’t a crumb in sight and every dirty dish immediately placed in the dishwasher. It looked like a caffeine-covered crime scene. Sadie had absolutely wrecked the kitchen with whatever she’d wanted to whip up. A milk frother was tipped over like it’d been in a bar fight, three different kinds of alternative milks were lined up like suspects on the counter, and the espresso machine was hissing steam like it was called Karen and was about to file a complaint with the manager. “What the heck happened here?” I asked as I strode up to the island. “Are you hurt? This looks like someone might’ve been injured in the behind-the-scenes of it all.” Softly humming to herself, Sadie smiled at me over her shoulder. “Latte art is a discipline, Laney. You can’t rush greatness.” “I would’ve been okay with a black coffee.” She shrugged, her features completely blank. “Well, I wanted to make you a masterpiece.” Turning her attention back to whatever she was doing, she hummed for another few seconds before she turned and presented me with a mug. It had some kind of abstract leaf design on the surface of the liquid masquerading as coffee inside. She motioned for me to sit as she wiped milk foam off the marble counter with the sleeve of her shirt. I took a seat at the bar, wondering how much it would cost to r eplace half the kitchen appliances before Sterling got home. “Is, uh, is anything broken?” “Nah.” She winked at me before picking up her own mug. “Only your sense of humor, it seems.” “Ha. Thanks a lot. Like my life could get any weirder at this point.” “Just roll with it,” she suggested as if it was the sagest advice that had ever been offered. “How are you doing?” Jack materialized out of nowhere and leapt onto the stool next to mine, not even bothering to hesitate before he climbed into my lap like he’d been robbed of it before. He was heavier than he seemed, all muscle and entitlement, and he kneaded my thighs for a moment before he turned in a half circle and lay down. In that moment, I decided to take her advice and just roll with it, stroking his impossibly soft fur as I glanced down at him. “I’m fine, but is he? He’s really heavy. I thought it was just his position earlier, but nope. Still heavy.” She shrugged. “Oh, yeah. That. I forgot to tell you, but he’s supposed to be on a diet. I brought some of his food so you’ve got that for later. For now, I think he deserves some cream.” “Sadie.” I groaned. “If he’s supposed to be on a diet, he can’t have any cream. That’s not how life works.” “Neither is waking up next to a billionaire you’re now married to after not knowing him three months ago,” she shot back cheerfully, popping open the fridge like she owned the place and pouring cream into one of Sterling’s crystal tumblers. “Yet, here we are.”
Jack launched himself off my lap like a torpedo and trotted over to the cream immediately. I took a sip of my latte, which was annoyingly delicious. “So, uh, you said my company was under siege, like it’s in the past. Sterling made it sound like it was all taken care of and his family didn’t seem overly concerned anymore this morning either. Do you have any idea what happened? He asked if I wanted to know, but I didn’t at the time.” Sadie sighed and cocked a hip against the counter, her expression darkening like a thundercloud had rolled in over her head. “It was Cassandra.” “Yeah, Sterling made it sound like it was her.” I sighed. “What about the Baby Blossom stuff, though? I assumed she’d posted that picture of me because no one but her and her friends were there at the time, but did she really come after my store too?” She grimaced and dipped her chin in a curt nod. “Honestly, I knew she was behind all this before Sterling’s team even confirmed it. She’s always been the type to smile to your face but sharpen the knife behind her back so she can stab you in yours as soon as you turn around.” Shock cooled my blood. I’d taken her for a garden variety schoolyard bully and it really didn’t come as a surprise that she was responsible for that meme, but the stuff with my business? That went way beyond destroying someone’s r eputation. It was still possible that she’d wrecked my very livelihood. “Why would she do that? How would she do that? She’s just one girl.” “And Sterling’s just one boy, but he has power and so does she.” Sadie rolled her eyes. “You married the guy she’s been chasing since high school, Laney. Sterling is the crown jewel of the Westwood family. He was unattainable until you came along, but I’m pretty sure she thought she could eventually wear him down if she was persistent enough.” I averted my gaze from hers, still finding it difficult to believe that just one jealous girl could do this much damage to someone she didn’t even know. I’d really thought she’d jumped on the bandwagon with that meme after some other company had started the smear campaign against Baby Blossom. Since I worked with so many other businesses in the neighborhood, I didn’t have many professional enemies, but there were slightly larger retailers in the same industry that had threatened me before. As I thought back to that fake smile and the venom in Cassandra’s eyes though, I realized that she was far more dangerous than any of those companies. “Did Sterling ever notice her?” I swallowed hard, a lump of dread suddenly forming in my throat. “She’s gorgeous. And rich. And obviously powerful. Were they ever...” Sadie snorted in derision. “Oh, he noticed her alright. Sterling notices everything. He just didn’t care.” A thoughtful gleam entered her eyes as she fell silent, but she didn’t seem to be done quite yet, so I k ept quiet. Moments later, she refocused on me and smiled. “I always wondered how he could be so unaffected by her. I mean, I know she’s ugly as fuck on the inside, but on the outside...” She let out a low whistle and shook her head. “She sure is something else. Anyway, after I heard about you, I finally figured it out. Sterling was never going to go after someone like her because he was looking for something else. Something real, I think. As pretty as she is, Cassandra has never been that.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “The way I heard it, you walked into his life, speaking your mind and telling him to go screw himself, and he didn’t stand a chance.” I flushed. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t n —” “Mean to make the most eligible bachelor in our world fall in love with you?” she said with a smirk. “I know, but now you have an impossibly rich, powerful husband who looks at you like you hung the stars. Don’t you get it? You’re what he was waiting for and Cassandra can’t stand it.” Turning my gaze to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her, I watched the late afternoon sunlight glint off the bay and shook my head. “I just can’t believe she’d go that far to get his attention, and if she did, is she done? Do I have to worry about something like this happening again?” “Nah. Your devoted husband will make sure she never even looks at you again. I don’t know what he’s up to, but it sounds like he’s on the warpath. My mom told me she heard that he’s tearing her down brick by brick, starting with her access to any exclusive restaurant, club, bar, and event in town. It’s pretty impressive, actually.” I swung my head back toward her and gawked. “Are you serious? Can he even do that?” “Sterling Westwood can do just about anything he wants. No one else is dumb enough to mess with him, and if they don’t blackball her from their lists, that’s exactly what they would be doing.” “Wow. I would feel bad for her, but, well, you know.” I shrugged. “Having to stand in line outside a club is hardly anything compared to destroying a business that many people, myself included, d epend on as their only stream of income.” She snorted softly. “Clearly, you don’t know much about Cassandra’s world. Standing in line outside a club or being refused access to certain restaurants is like being exiled to social Siberia and her social standing is all she’s got. No career. No real ambitions. Hell, she doesn’t even get in volved with charities unless her mother forces her to participate in fundraisers.” “That’s...” I blinked hard. “That’s pretty sad.” “Y ep.” Sadie looked much too cheerful about it, though. “Anyway, the fake reviews are gone. Social media has been scrubbed. That Megan girl put out some dumb apology video and said she’s starting a foundation for ‘victims of internet bullying’ like herself.” I sniffed. “She wasn’t really a victim, but okay. At least she’s starting a foundation for victims. Maybe she’ll actually help someone who’s really been harmed.” She crossed her fingers and held them up. “I hope so.” Nodding absently, I turned back to the water, seeing Jack padding back over from the corner of my eye. He pressed his head against my knee, purring like he was trying to take the credit and get a few ear rubs for having fixed everything. Sterling wasn’t back yet, but I could suddenly feel his absence like gravity. I couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what he was doing, and if he was still fighting my battles without even once trying to get attention or credit for it. I also wondered what I’d done to deserve him—and what it would take to get to ke ep him.