Page 74 of The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

Aubrey: Make it make sense! What aren’t you telling me!

I can’t type it. I can’t tell her that I’m marrying Jeremy so he will leave Caleb’s reputation alone. I can’t confess to her my plans to marry Jeremy only to divorce him as fast as I can. If anyone were to learn of my ulterior motivation, I’d worry that it would derail before I can see it through.

If I hadn’t come home with Jeremy and agree to marry him, I would have signed a life sentence, ruining the rest of my life. He would’ve chased me down until the day he died, that’s how obsessed he is with getting my money. I know that. I don’t doubt Caleb could handle him and resist him messing with me, but it’s the overhanging worry that I can’t ignore.

Even if I were to tell Jeremy no and leave him, then suffer his persistence, I could get a restraining order. Something. I know my situation is not entirely helpless. But when Jeremy told me he had a friend who could “prove” Caleb was a criminal, I had to bend. When I called him and he made that threat, I didn’t believe him. I know Caleb, and while Marian was right to describe him as wayward at first, he’s not a bad man.

Even if Jeremy was just blustering, he had a voice, just like anyone else online. All it would take is one person—anyone—to sow a seed of cancel culture, and negativity would spread like wildfire. It wouldn’t matter if Jeremy spouted complete nonsense and lies. If he was so determined to attack Caleb, he could, and unfortunately, with his current scandals already out there and known to the public, it was easy fodder for Jeremy to use against him.

Jeremy sent “proof” though. Showing me images of the ways he could hurt Caleb. It seemed my ex hadn’t only hunted me down, he also looked into the man I was with. He’d spotted me in town when Caleb and I had breakfast, and he’d quickly looked him up.

Jeremy had a friend who could fuel the flames of the scandals Caleb was hiding from. Something about paying off the woman who accused Caleb of cheating, to get her to make up stories that Caleb drugged her and raped her. Then bribing authorities in Atlanta to make it look like Caleb was committing insurance fraud by burning his own house down. The images of the news stories about Caleb were real, and I didn’t doubt the validity of the screenshots of text messages Jeremy had started up with his schemes to attack Caleb.

His threat was clear. If I didn’t marry him, he’d go after Caleb. And that wouldn’t do.

But he didn’t say I had to stay married. If I go through with this wedding, all I have to do is wait for my trust fund and divorce his ass. Then he can’t renege. He can’t hurt Caleb if I marry him. I’m not stupid. Jeremy doesn’t want me. He wants my money. And once my trust fund is available, that’s it. I don’t want it. I only need enough of it to leave this bastard, and he can have all the damn money. I only want my freedom and to be with Caleb.

And this is the only way to go about getting it.

Aubrey would understand, but I’m too scared to put those plans into a traceable text. Jeremy snatched her phone before, and he very well could do it again.

I hear the door unlocking, and I scramble to shove my phone under my pillow before my mother comes in.

“You ungrateful little bitch.”

I’m so sick of hearing her say that. She’s just like Jeremy, loving the sound of her own voice. And as she has every day since I’ve come “home,” she berates me. She ridicules me for wanting a “pathetic simple” life. She condemns me for even thinking of trying something like that again. She harasses me for daring to suggest I don’t have a perfect life here. I almost lose it and snap when she tells me how insulting it was to tell everyone that the wedding didn’t happen, and the best they could think of was an illness as an excuse.

I let her words float through the air and fall to the floor. I don’t let them enter my mind. I can’t.

“The wedding is in a few days, Lauren. You won’t get out of it.” She paces, scowling. “We had to tell everyone you’re gravely ill. The story is that you’ve made a miraculous recovery with Jeremy’s help. Your doting groom. So when people ask, you damn well better act like it. You better show your gratitude and tell everyone how thankful you are to be healthy and marrying the love of your life.”

He isn’t.

“Do you hear me?” she screams.

Her voice slices through me, worsening the headache that has taken up residence since I returned.

She doesn’t wait for an answer, hurrying out the door and slamming it shut before locking it.

I quickly power off the phone to preserve the precious little battery power left and replace it back under the pillow. Then, I close my eyes and don’t move. I haven’t gotten out of bed in days, and I see no reason to try to change that fact.

I will sleep to come quicker. In my dreams, I can see Caleb. Regret teases at the edges of my conscience, and I pray with all my heart that leaving him won’t be something that I’ll regret forever.

Chapter 29

Caleb

It’s strange coming back to New York. It’s always been home, but reacclimating to it isn’t easy. I left part of my heart in Colorado at the Goldfinch Ridge Bed-and-Breakfast. Another even bigger part of it ran off with Lauren when she got into that car with Jeremy.

I don’t feel whole, and before I can let that bother me or drag me down, I stick to my mission of working until I drop.

The pair of scandals that prompted my publicist to send me to the remote B&B have mostly fallen to nothing. Just like anything juicy and hot in the news, it lacked staying power. Politicians being caught in corruption, celebrities sharing news about their projects, and even the uptick of natural disasters. People don’t care about Felicity trying to make me look like a cheater, and the model she tried to claim I was sleeping with and cheating on her with has since come out with photos from the paparazzi that proved that woman wasn’t even anywhere near me to have been in my bed. That story fizzled out faster, but I didn’t ask my lawyer to stop looking into the vengeful woman that I considered an accidental and mistake of a fling. Women could be vindictive; I’ve learned over the years. Just because Felicity’s attempt to disparage me failed—this time—I wasn’t stupid enough to believe she would take that loss and give up. Some people never learn, even after spending time in jail.

My party house would be missed. Each time I see a document about it on my desk, I shake my head in anger again. Felicity could have really hurt someone setting that fire, and I wonder if whatever sentence she would get will be enough to teach her a lesson.

“How come you backed out of this, though?” my CFO asks. The first week home has flown by, but it feels like twice as long. Every minute back here drags with a restless energy.

I glance at the screen she’s showing me. Jamie Hendrickson’s vineyards.

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