Page 2 of Scarlett and the Big Bad Billionaire
“No. I’ll go.” I shook my head back and forth rapidly. My legs felt wobbly, like I was wading through pudding while on stilts.
“Where is he?” I asked my niece. “Where did you see Uncle Bryce?”
“Follow me,” she said and turned to walk back down the aisle.
Unfortunately, she’d been a littletoowell-trained in the art of the wedding procession walk.
Trina took one slow step at a time, pausing dramatically between each of them to sprinkle flower petals onto the sand.
Spotting her and noticing me walking slowly behind while carrying my bridal bouquet, a few of the guests stood.
Which made more of the confused guests stand.
Which I guess made the string quartet I’d hired panic. They began to play the wedding march as my flower girl and I walkedawayfrom the arch.
A few guests whispered to each other, clearly wondering what was going on. I wish I could have told them. All I could do was try my best not to cry as I marched slowly toward my no-show fiancé.
Maddie caught up to Trina, scooping her up and apologizing profusely as we walked together toward the resort hotel. As soon as we stepped into the lobby, I spotted Bryce.
He really did look bad. He clearly hadn’t showered after his night of debauchery, and he wasn’t wearing his tux.
My ribs compressed, crushing my lungs and making it even harder to breathe than it already was in the dress’s tight bodice.
Bryce didn’t rush over to meet me. Instead, he stood there, holding his stomach and waiting for me to cross the lobby in my wedding dress and bare feet.
I must have been a spectacle, because everyone stared, from the employees to the guests checking in and out. All of them gave me sappy smiles, and some even applauded.
I raised a hand and forced a smile. “Thank you so much.”
When I finally reached Bryce, Maddie took a step back, encouraging Trina to go check out the lobby fountain with her.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Bryce. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and his eyes reminded me of a stray dog who expected to be kicked and chased away. He would barely meet my eyes.
“I had a talk with David before we left Anoka,” he said.
“And?”
Had my stepfather secretly warned Bryce I was a nightmare or something? I doubted it—David and I adored each other.
It was more likely he’d threatened my husband-to-be within an inch of his life and scared the hell out of him. My stepdad, though a teddy bear to me and Maddie, could be intimidating to others.
He owned Mixitall, the manufacturing company Bryce and I worked for, and demanded excellence from all his employees, including his stepdaughter and future son-in-law.
Or was itformerfuture son-in-law?
“He told me he’s not going to give me the promotion to Operations Manager,” Bryce said.
“Oh. Well, that’s okay. With both our salaries we can easily cover our bills—especially once we move in together. We might have to put off buying a house for a while…”
Bryce’s expression caused my rah-rah consolation speech to trail off into nothingness.
“Why are you telling me thisnow? Why do you not have your tux on? Just tell me what’s going on in your brain.”
Bryce twisted his mouth to the side and blew out a loud breath. “It’s just that… I thought if we got married, I’d be a shoo-in for the position. I really wanted that promotion, Scarlett. I was counting on it.”
For a few minutes I was quiet as competing sensations of a spinning head and a rolling stomach vied for my attention.
“What are you saying?” I finally asked. “You were only with me because you thought it would help you get ahead at Mixitall?”
