Chapter 2
chapter
two
Mike
The call to my brother, Mitchell, goes through just as I settle into my seat in first class. This is not how I thought I’d tell Mitchell about my impending nuptials, but nothing about this week has gone as planned. Thus, the last-minute flight to Japan.
“Yeah,” he answers.
“I’ve got a situation,” I say, keeping my voice even. Calm. Assured. If he thinks I’m uncertain, he’ll try to talk me out of this. “And I need your help. I need you to drive to Houston and pick someone up.”
There’s a pause on the other end. Not a hang-up pause. A what-the-hell-are-you-about-to-ask-me pause.
“You can’t find anyone else?” he asks. “Valor Springs is hours from Houston. Are you in trouble?”
I exhale slowly. “Not me. But someone is.”
“Mike,” he says, already suspicious, “what the fuck is going on?”
I stare out the airplane window at the runway lights, feeling the weight of what I’m about to say settle fully in my chest.
“I’m getting married.”
Silence.
Long enough that I wonder if the call dropped.
Finally, “What?” he says. “You hate marriage and everything it stands for.”
I scoff. “I never said that. I just don’t think marriage is for me. But this is… a very unique situation.”
“I feel like I need to sit down for this conversation.”
“You probably do,” I say dryly.
I run a hand through my hair, already bracing myself. “Do you remember Harrison Crawford from back home?”
“Yeah. I always thought his sister was cute. What about him?”
“A few years ago, I asked him for a favor. Someone at my gaming company was in a sticky immigration situation. Needed a practical solution.”
I hear his intake of breath before he speaks. “You didn’t.”
“I did. I asked him to marry her.”
“Jesus, Mike. That’s a big ask.”
“I know,” I say. I chuckle. “But it worked out. Turns out they were soulmates.” I shake my head. “They credit me for their marital bliss.”
“Sounds more like dumb luck.”
“Agreed.”
The timing feels cruelly symbolic.
“They came to me recently,” I continue. “Birdie’s best friend from back home. She’s a princess.”
He goes quiet again, then slowly, “A what?”
“A princess,” I repeat. “Small island nation. You’ve probably never heard of it. Her parents have arranged a marriage she doesn’t want. This”—I pause, choosing my words carefully—“is her way out.”
“How is trading one marriage for another a way out?” Mitchell asks.
“It wouldn’t be permanent,” I say immediately. “It would just allow her to stay in the States until things settle down. Then we dissolve the marriage. She’s free to live her life.”
I can hear the judgment in his silence.
“You’re saying this like it’s a logistics problem,” he finally says.
“Because it is,” I reply. “One I can solve. While repaying a giant favor.”
“By marrying her.”
“Yes.”
I hear him exhale. “You’re really just going to marry a stranger?”
“It’s not forever,” I say—too quickly, maybe. “And I owe Birdie more than I can ever repay. The company wouldn’t exist without her. She asked for help. I’m helping.”
Even as I say it, something in my chest tightens.
“What if you hate her?” he asks.
“I don’t hate anyone.”
He snorts. “That’s not true. You hated Dad’s third wife.”
“Missy,” I say, grimacing. “She tried to give me a sponge bath.”
Mitchell releases an uncomfortable-sounding laugh. “You weren’t even a kid.”
“No. I was twenty-two. Which somehow made it worse.”
The laughter fades, and reality presses back in.
“I had last-minute travel come up that couldn’t be handled by anyone else,” I continue. “I’m in Tokyo for the week. She flies in today and needs to be kept safe until I get back.”
“You’re asking me to drive to Houston.”
“Yes.”
“And then to Vegas.”
“Yes. I know it’s a lot, Mitchell, I get it. But you’re the only one I trust to do this.”
He sighs. “So let me get this straight. You want me to escort a royal bride across state lines while you’re being wined and dined in Japan.”
“I want you to protect her,” I say firmly. “It’s what you do. It shouldn’t be that different from your regular assignments, right?”
There’s a beat. I know that silence. It’s the one where he’s already said yes and is rearranging his life around it. Because my younger brother is a stellar human being.
“Will you do this for me?” I ask. Then, quieter, because this matters more than pride, “Please.”
That’s the word that seals it.
“You know I will,” he says. “Send me her details.”
Relief loosens something in my chest. “Thank you.”
“I need to call Greyson,” he adds. “Make arrangements.”
“We can make it official,” I say. “I can pay, if that needs to happen. Just let me know.”
He scoffs. “Let’s see what Grey says.”
The plane begins to move, engines roaring. The flight attendant gives me a dirty look.
“I’ll be on my way to Houston in less than an hour,” he tells me.
“I owe you,” I say.
“I might take you up on that.”
The call ends, and I sit there staring at my phone longer than necessary. I send out a few quick texts, including the one to my brother with my “bride’s” name and flight details. Then I power off my phone.
Mitchell’s not wrong when he says I’ve never been interested in marriage. Our dad is a serial marrier, and his cavalier attitude kind of soured me on the whole idea. Add that to the fact that over the last few years, my business has grown and I’ve amassed quite a fortune.
It makes dating completely transactional when you’ve been named one of Austin’s most eligible bachelors and hit a Forbes list in the same month. Word gets out. Women don’t see me anymore; they just see my black card with its limitless shopping.
A knot forms in my stomach I can’t quite explain.
I don’t know this woman. I don’t know what kind of fallout our marriage will have with her country. With my reputation.
But one thing is certain.
By the time this is over, my life will be very different.
And for reasons I refuse to examine too closely…
I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing.