"I do," said Muse.
Her reflection stared back at her. Golden-brown eyes dim under the bathroom light, full lips parted. The words hovered in the air between her and the mirror. She could almost feel them, like some kind of invisible heat. Fake vows, fake marriage, fake wife.
What had she done?
This was supposed to be purely professional. And she'd fucked up by falling In love. She braced herself on the bathroom counter. Pure white marble beneath her fingertips―more expensive than all her savings. If she added up everything she had ever owned in her life, it would still fall short of how much this one bathroom cost. And Adrien owned the whole damn resort.
She was in way over her head. Stupid billionaire and stupid deal.
If somebody had asked her two months ago what she pictured her life looking like now, she would've said she'd still be making ends meet. She probably would've been choosing between the water bill and the gas bill.
She wouldn't be in Greece, at a private five-star resort owned by the CEO Adrien Vitale, an hour away from getting married to her.
Muse inhaled again. Her makeup had been perfected by one of the stylists. And the dress she thought she'd ruined with the ocean water had been magically restored. The stylist had patted her shoulder and told her to bet money Adrien would cry upon seeing her at the altar.
She was getting married. It hit her in full-force now. She knew she'd propositioned the deal. But she was suddenly so terrified of the reality of it. She inhaled again, and her chest trembled.
Pegasus purred from within the bathtub. Muse startled back a step.
"How in the world did you get here?"
Pegasus blinked.
"I swear to God you weren't in here when I closed the door. Crazy little cat." Muse knelt down by the tub, eye-level with him. "I'm getting married to someone who doesn't love me back. It's not her fault, though. It was supposed to be just a contract."
Pegasus opened his eyes wide, and purred almost in question.
"Is this going to hurt my feelings?"
It almost seemed as if Pegasus nodded. God, Muse was losing it.
"I think I need fresh air."
Pegasus seemed to nod again. Muse scooped him out of the bathtub and unlocked the door. The suite was still empty, but Adrien's suit had disappeared from the bed. She was probably getting ready somewhere.
Outside, the sun glistened golden-orange. It would start setting in an hour. And then the wedding would begin.
One more hour left until Muse was a married woman. That couldn't be real.
She didn't realize how quick and shallow her breathing had become until Pegasus meowed and darted away from her. He settled onto the bed, curling in on himself into a furry little white ball.
She knew the wedding wasn't real. Why was she freaking out anyway?
"Fresh air," Muse repeated. She assessed her options. It was too risky to venture on the beach. The guests were probably going to sit down soon. And she couldn't go anywhere Adrien might be, because it was bad luck to see each other in their wedding clothes before the ceremony. What did that leave her with?
She'd just stepped into the hallway when she heard a soft voice say, "Muse?"
"Sherry? How did you―"
"One of the maids told me this is the hallway to your suite. I wanted to talk to you."
"Why are you hiding behind a flower plant?"
Sherry's cheeks were pink, but her face seemed determined. She stepped around the plant. Baby Grey Junior was tucked against her chest, his little cheek pressed against her. He had to be a little over a month now, still so tiny and cute Muse immediately wanted to hold him.
She thought about Adrien's joke of getting her pregnant, and imagined what their baby would look like. She hoped it would look just like a mini Adrien.
"I snuck into the hallway between security guard shifts," Sherry said.
Muse had to shake herself. She couldn't be imagining her and Adrien's kid. She was only hurting herself.
"I didn't realize there was security posted outside."
"Muse," said Sherry, as if she had hit her head and was experiencing a severe concussion. "You have had your own personal security detail for almost two months now."
"What are you talking about?"
It seemed as though Sherry were on the verge of asking her if she were crazy. Instead, she said slowly, "You're engaged to a billionaire. Of course you have a security detail."
Muse shook her head. "You're wrong. I've never noticed any―"
"Adrien wouldn't have hired them if they weren't the best at their job. I'd bet she's even got a tracker on you. Grey said you work a night shift, don't you?"
"Yeah, Adrien always stays up and waits for me to get home―"
Sherry seemed exasperated now. "She has unlimited money, Muse. She's definitely having you followed around with a blackout-level security team. You're hers. And that's just who she is."
You're hers. Muse could feel her heart start to pound again.
And the realization hit her like shattering glass: She wanted to get married to Adrien. But not like this.
Not for a contract.
Sherry stroked Grey Junior's little head. He was still asleep. Upon seeing the expression on Muse's face, she said, "Are you upset? I'm sorry. Don't take it the wrong way, Muse. She's a multibillionaire. Her father's a multibillionaire. She's got enemies who would love to get at the person she's engaged to."
Muse could barely hear above the blood roaring in her ears. She shook her head faintly. No, she wasn't upset about that.
She didn't mind that Adrien had been having her followed, even without telling her. It seemed so Adrien she should have expected it already. And she would never admit it, but―she thought it was sweet. God, she was losing it.
"Is it about the wedding contract?"
At that, Muse's head snapped up. The sound of her heartbeat vanished. Silence―so pure it was almost static―erased every thought from her mind.
Sherry wasn't supposed to know about that. Nobody did, except for Julien and Adrien and maybe her friend, Ezra.
Was Sherry going to out them? Was that why she had hid behind the plant and cornered Muse right before the wedding?
"Don't get married," said Sherry.
Now that was familiar.
"How do you know about the contract?" said Muse instead.
"I've been married to Grey for a while now. You want to survive in their world, you can't be helpless. I keep tabs on Grey, and keeping tabs on Grey means keeping tabs on Julien and Adrien. You're getting married for a million dollars, aren't you?"
The word yes hovered on Muse's lips. But she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Sherry seemed to take her hesitation as shock. "I'm trying to help you, Muse. I wish somebody had told me not to get married to Grey. I wish somebody had stopped me. But there's no money in the world that can help me now."
"The wedding's in less than an hour, I can't―"
"I'll give you ten million dollars right now, Muse, if you pack your bags and go home."
Grey Junior woke up and began to cry.
Sherry shifted him into her arms, rocking him side to side. She glanced back behind her, as if security would dart in any second.
"That's what you wanted, right? The money? Well, I'll give it to you free of charge. Pack your bags and go home now. You can use Grey's private plane. I'll handle the fallout."
Muse could hardly think. Hardly process anything. "Why do you care so much?"
Here was a way out. Here was a chance to have her financial stability, without the marriage and the deal and the messy billionaire blackmail.
She could say yes, and this would all be over. She didn't know almost anyone at the wedding, anyway. They were all rich billionaire associates―fancy lawyers and bank owners and celebrities. Besides Phoebe and Agnes, she wouldn't really miss anyone. And so what if the wedding was cancelled last-minute? It wasn't the first time a bride had fled before her wedding, and it wouldn't be the last.
If she went home now, she'd never have to see any of them again. Including Adrien.
It would be easier, too, than getting married to someone she loved and who she knew didn't love her back. It would be so much easier.
And she wasn't afraid it was just a ploy on Sherry's part. The desperation in her eyes was real.
Why didn't Muse just say yes?
Grey Junior continued wailing, so high-pitched it sounded like a shriek. Sherry continued feverishly rocking him back and forth.
"I wake up," she said, "every morning, and I roll over. Grey's sleeping next to me. He doesn't touch me anymore. Not since I gave birth."
The baby in her arms wailed louder. The sound, in addition to the haunted look in Sherry's eyes, made Muse feel like backing away.
"And this baby," she said softly, near tears herself, "is always fucking crying. And I know you're supposed to love your baby. But I feel like he's not mine. The doctor said it was postpartum depression. But I look at him, and I see him grow up into Grey. I see him transform into his father, bit by bit. Do you know that look in Grey's eyes? Have you seen it?"
Muse didn't say anything, but she knew. That nothingness in Grey's black eyes, on what would otherwise be a movie-star handsome face. The eyes betrayed him.
"They say most doctors are psychopaths. I wish Grey had gone to med school."
Grey Junior cried harder.
"I get out of bed," said Sherry, "and I pray to God every damn day that Grey Junior isn't like his father. That he didn't get that gene. I keep checking his eyes, like I can see if something's changed every hour. Like I'll see that same look that I see when I look at Grey. The nothing." She closed her eyes. "And it's so fancy, our house. I sleep in sheets made from real silkworms, and I eat cereal that costs more than dinner at a steakhouse, and I have a personal trainer that charges a grand an hour." She opened her eyes. She was trembling so hard Muse was worried she would drop Grey Junior, who had ceased crying. "And it's still empty. My life is still so fucking empty. It doesn't matter they're rich, Muse. Take the money I'm offering and get away. Go so far nobody ever finds you. Please do what I couldn't."
"I love her," was all Muse could think to say, a whisper.
Sherry only shook her head. "It doesn't matter, dear. They're all the same, deep down. Grey, Julien, Adrien. And it's only a matter of time before she hurts you. Leave now, before you have to pick up the pieces."
***
MY GF IS SO CUTE
From the moon and back,
Sarai