Chapter 119
-ROMAN-
The house was quiet.
:
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Success lived here like a rule. Aria a famous model. Damon the lead singer of a popular band. Miles the drummer on the same band.
We were all on tight schedules, it was rare to find us all at home at the same time.
I had three siblings and two parents who managed all of us like assets.
My father appeared in the hall before I made it to the stairs. Victor Vale.
“Office.”
Not a question.
My mother was already there. Helena did not sit in an office unless a decision had already been made. She stood behind the desk in a cream blouse that never wrinkled, tablet already angled toward the empty chair like I was late to a meeting I had not been invited to.
“Sit.”
I sat.
They turned the screen toward me. A woman I vaguely recognized from award-shows stared back. Red carpet posture. A smile that looked expensive.
“Eden Hart,” my mother said. “A model, an actress and she even has her own skincare and make-up line.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
“We want you in a PR relationship with her.”
I frowned. “Why would I do that? I already have
enough fame. I do not need more.”
My father did not blink. “You have enough for a basketball player. Not enough for the Vale name. As your managers, this is not optional. It boosts reputation. It keeps you in a good market. People have been shipping the two of you since one meeting a few years ago. Give the people what they want.”
I stared at the photo.
I could not remember a meeting with anyone who looked like her. I remembered Olivia Monroe shoving a stranger’s number into my chest and telling me it was another woman to bring to a wedding. I remembered my hand on the bare spot of her waist and the sound she made when I did not let go fast enough.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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The only woman in my head was the one I had promised myself I would stay away from. Ethan’s sister. Off- limits. A crush, I kept calling it, so I would not have to call it what it was.
“I don’t even remember her.”
“You do not have to remember her,” my mother said. “You have to be seen with her. Dinners. Events. A few coordinated posts. It is not a marriage.”
The door opened behind me.
Aria came in first, still in studio makeup, phone in her hand. She took one look at the tablet and exhaled through her nose.
“They already told you. Can’t believe I missed it.”
“Just now.”
Damon followed, headphones around his neck, the lazy walk of a man who had already done what they asked today and wanted a drink.
Miles came last, drumsticks still in his back pocket, hair a mess like he had been in the studio until they called us all over.
“Eden Hart,” Aria said, glancing at the screen. “She is pretty.”
Pretty? Olivia was pretty. No, fucking beautiful.
Damon dropped into the chair beside me. “They did the same thing to me last year. Different singer. Same speech. Reputation. Market. I smiled for eight weeks and then they let me go back to the music I actually wanted to finish.”
Miles leaned against the wall. “At least yours sings. Mine was a brand ambassador who hated loud rooms. I still had to walk her into three afterparties.”
“That is enough,” Victor said.
It was never enough. It was always this. Aria did the campaigns she hated because our mother had already signed the rights. Damon sang the singles they chose because the label sat in this same office. Miles showed up when his hands wanted a different kind of noise because the family calendar said so. We always had to go according to their schedules.
“I guess I do not have a choice, do I?” I said.
“No,” Victor said. Flat. Final. “You have a name. The name has a plan. You follow the plan.”
My mother’s voice softened the way it did when she wanted the words to sound like care. “Every Vale child is successful because they listen. Aria did not want the fragrance campaign. She did it. Damon did not want the duet. He recorded it. You will be seen with Eden Hart. You will look available. You will look taken.”
The room went still.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Aria’s eyes flicked to me. Damon stopped spinning his phone. Miles looked at the floor.
They knew.
Of course they knew. This house did not miss things.
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“It is just a PR relationship,” my mother said. “You do not have to worry. You do not have to feel anything.”
That was the part that sat wrong.
I already knew what it looked like when I did not feel anything and stood next to a woman anyway.
I had done it at Blair’s wedding. I had brought a date to keep my eyes off Olivia and failed so completely that I sent the girl home.
Now they wanted me to fake date on purpose, with cameras.
I did not know Eden Hart. I did not want dinner with a stranger so the internet could write a story about the Vale heir and the celebrity. I did not want coordinated posts. I did not want to hold a chair out for a woman I would not think about once the flash went off.
But I also wanted Olivia Monroe out of my head. I needed her out of my head. For good.
A PR girlfriend I did not like was supposed to make that easier. A public reason to stay away. A woman I could be seen with so I would not end up in another hallway with my palm on Olivia’s skin and Ethan around the
corner.
A distraction with a last name the press already loved.
It felt like a cage either way.
“When?” I asked.
“This week,” Victor said. “Eden’s team is aligned. You will be seen leaving dinner Friday. That is the start. Wardrobe will be sent. Talking points will be sent. You will not improvise.”
Aria touched my shoulder on her way out, brief, almost kind. “Smile for the first photo. After that you can hate it in private. That is the only privacy we get.”
Damon stood. “If you need a drink after Friday, I will be in the studio.”
Miles just nodded once. He understood the assignment. He always did.
I left the office with Eden Hart’s face still on the tablet and Olivia’s words still louder than any plan my parents could write.
Stay away from her.
That was the promise.
A celebrity I did not know was supposed to make it easier.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
I already knew it would not.
I was still going to do it.
Because in this house, listening was the only kind of freedom they allowed.
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14:57 Thu, Sep 17
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.