Chapter 38
PSA: IF YOUR EX HEARD YOU GETTING ROMANTIC WITH YOUR FAKE FIANCéE, MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T HAVE DIRT TO SHARE … #REVENGESERVED
DAKOTA
Rebecca had transformed the space into something that belonged in a magazine spread.
Okay, I’ll give her this one. The woman knew how to sell a fantasy.
The table had been extended to accommodate our ridiculous guest list: Axel and me (the happy couple), Blake, Jace, Ryker, Faith, Tessa, Scarlett, Frank and Carl from Axel’s business deal, three influencers, two reps for my brand deal, and of course, Mathew.
Because nothing would make us less nervous than having a massive audience for this performance.
The crisp white tablecloth cascaded to the floor like fresh snow, and the centerpiece—a cascading arrangement of white peonies and peach roses—filled the air with their sickeningly sweet perfume.
Every detail screamed money and romance.
The peach napkins were folded into perfect little swans.
The bone china gleamed under the dining room light’s warm glow, each plate positioned with military precision.
The lighting had been dimmed to that golden-hour magic that made everyone look like they’d stepped out of a skin-care commercial.
Even the waiter—yes, Rebecca had hired actual staff—stood at attention in his pristine tuxedo, hands clasped behind his back like he was guarding the Crown Jewels instead of waiting to serve overpriced wine to a group of preplanned witnesses.
I ran my fingers along the stem of my wineglass, the crystal cool against my suddenly clammy palms. Everything was beautiful. Everything was perfect.
Everything is fake, I reminded myself, trying to push what happened in the living room out of my mind. Because honestly, how could I think about anything with the memory of Axel’s fingers inside—
“So, why don’t you tell us about how you two met?” Frank suggested, leaning back with his wine like he was settling in for story time.
I smiled, hoping it looked natural. Hoping no one else noticed the major death glares Mathew was shooting at Axel. Hoping that Axel and I hadn’t ruined everything by making Mathew even more upset than he’d already been before he got here. Honestly, how could I have been so reckless?
“I actually met him when I was visiting a friend.”
“But it wasn’t until years later that we reconnected,” Axel said smoothly, taking my hand.
The second his fingers intertwined with mine, two things happened: First, a jolt of heat shot through my skin, engulfing my chest in the best possible, albeit unexpected, way. Second, Mathew’s eyes snapped to our joined hands and narrowed.
Crap. This couldn’t be easy on Mathew, witnessing the love of his life with another man. Nor could it have been easy seeing whatever part of our romantic encounter he’d seen between me and Axel. Guilt clawed at me, and I wished I could pull him aside and apologize right now.
“Jace was in the hospital,” Axel continued, his thumb tracing a small circle on my hand, as if to say, Breathe. We’ve got this.
“I think I read about that. You were attacked, right?” Carl asked, leaning forward with morbid curiosity.
“I was.” Jace cleared his throat while even more guilt clawed through my chest. Jace didn’t like talking about that day he’d been airlifted to the hospital. He’d almost died, for God’s sake.
“Anyway,” I continued, “we reconnected, and what can we say? Sometimes, fate takes the wheel.”
Axel brought our joined hands up to brush a kiss across my knuckles.
Poor Mathew. I couldn’t even shoot him an apology stare without risking everything.
“And when did you get engaged?” Frank pressed.
Axel’s voice dropped to that soft tone that made my insides go liquid. “I came home one night after the day from hell. Dakota was in our kitchen, singing while she baked cookies. Off-key, I might add.”
“Hey!” I protested, but I was fighting a smile. Because he was talking about a real memory, and somehow, that made this fake moment feel … very much not fake.
“She was wearing this ridiculous apron with flour in her hair.” His eyes found mine, and suddenly, the room felt smaller. More intimate. “I’d had the worst day, was ready to burn everything down, and then I walked into that chaos, and … everything else just disappeared.”
The sincerity in his voice was doing dangerous things to my chest cavity.
“I originally had this elaborate proposal planned,” he continued, still holding my gaze like we were the only two people in the room.
“Dinner at that rooftop place she loves, roses, the works. But standing there, watching her sing to cookies that were definitely going to poison us both, I realized I didn’t want to wait another second. ”
The table had gone silent, hanging on every word.
“So, right there in the smoky kitchen, with cookies burning, I got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life creating beautiful disasters with me.”
Jesus. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe every word.
“And what did you say?” one of the influencers asked breathlessly.
“I said yes. Of course I’d marry him. Though I made him turn off the smoke alarm first. I have standards.”
The table erupted in laughter, but Mathew’s anger launched into a new stratosphere. Could everyone else see his neck going red?
Scarlett gave me an uh-oh look.
“When’s the wedding?” Frank asked.
“We’re still deciding,” I said, grateful for safer ground. “We don’t want to overshadow Blake and Tessa’s big day.”
“You two are engaged too?” Carl turned to Blake with renewed interest.
“We are.” Tessa beamed.
“She’s planning the whole thing herself.” Blake’s chest practically puffed with pride. “Every detail.”
“Tessa Kincaid, as in the wedding planner?” Carl’s eyebrows shot up. “I’ve heard great things about you. I have a niece who just got engaged. It would mean a lot to me if you would consider talking with her.”
“Tessa has a three-year wait list right now,” Blake interjected proudly.
“But I’d be happy to at least take a look.” Tessa placed her hand on Blake’s. “No guarantees I can squeeze anything in, but I’d be happy to try.”
Look at our friends, winning everybody over. They were phenomenal, and they were taking the heat off our story.
And off Mathew’s growing anger …
Frank raised his glass. “Well then, to the happy couples!”
“To the happy couples!”
As everyone drank, I caught Axel’s eye and silently communicated to him, Holy shit, we might actually pull this off.
Don’t jinx it, his wink replied.
Mathew’s eyes glared at my engagement ring like it was an infectious disease and then locked eyes with me.
“I’m just curious,” Mathew started. To everyone else, his tone probably sounded curious, but I could hear the bite in it. “You two were rivals for years. Couldn’t be in the same room without arguing. What changed?”
The businessmen leaned forward, suddenly very interested. The influencers practically had their phones out. This was exactly the kind of drama that would make great content.
Shit.
“You’re right,” I said slowly, buying myself time. “We did argue constantly.” I glanced at Axel, who was watching me with those intense eyes. “But maybe … maybe I was picking fights for a reason I didn’t want to admit.”
“Such as?” an influencer pressed eagerly.
Axel leaned back in his chair, a slow smile spreading across his face. Either he didn’t sense Mathew’s hostility or he enjoyed it. “She liked getting me riled up. Liked seeing the effect she could have on me.”
“That’s not—” I started to protest, but he cut me off.
“It’s true. You’d walk into a room and immediately find something to goad me. Your eyes would light up when I’d bite back. Like you were collecting reactions.”
Jesus, he’s good at this. Too good. Because he was right, and we both knew it.
“And you?” one of the influencers asked breathlessly. “What was your excuse?”
“Easy,” Axel said, his gaze never leaving mine.
“I liked seeing the fire in her eyes when I would do something that would get under her skin. And I loved seeing her reaction. The way she’d square her shoulders and jut her chin out.
She’s a tiny, beautiful woman, but she has the force of a hurricane.
Especially when she’s angry.” He paused. “It was intoxicating.”
My cheeks heated.
“But that doesn’t explain the rivalry,” Mathew pushed, drumming his fingers on the table and cocking his head. “What started it all?”
The million-dollar question. The one Axel had never answered.
But now, with the whole table watching, with everything on the line, he looked directly at me and said, “Because when you want something so badly that it scares the hell out of you, when you’re terrified you’ll destroy it just by getting close … it’s easier and safer to be the villain.”
My heart stopped.
Holy shit.
“Well,” Frank said after a moment, clearly charmed by the whole exchange, “that’s quite the love story.”
“Isn’t it just?” Mathew muttered, but I barely heard him.
Because Axel had just confessed that our yearslong rivalry had been because he’d wanted me. More than anything else in his life.
And suddenly, everything made sense. The way he’d always seemed to know exactly which buttons to push. The way his arguments with me had an edge that was missing with everyone else. The way he’d look at me sometimes, like he was seeing something no one else could.
It took serious effort for me to swallow all that down and act normally, but thankfully, I managed to do just that.
The rest of dinner flew by in a champagne-soaked blur. I found myself actually laughing, stealing glances at Axel like we were sharing the world’s most delicious secret.
Mathew had gone quiet though, and I noticed he was still watching. Every time I laughed at something Axel said, every time our hands touched, I could feel his eyes tracking the movement like he was taking mental notes.
And then came the moment that made this entire charade worth every nerve-racking second.
“You know, Axel”—Carl set down his glass, his tone turning serious—“I’ll be honest. I had reservations after that PR mess.
But tonight? Seeing you with Dakota, the kind of people you surround yourself with …
I think the internet got it wrong.” He smiled and waited for a nod from his business partner.
“We’d like to move forward with the partnership. ”
Axel went very still beside me. Something flickered across his face, and I knew instantly what he was feeling.
He did not like the discrepancy between his fake persona and his real one.
He hated the juxtaposition it caused and hated even more that it was lying about his life that was landing him the deal he had earned.
Don’t you dare. I squeezed his hand. Don’t you dare turn this down out of pride.
Especially when most of this was real. The friends. The new … friendship/relationship he and I now shared. One component, sure, was a lie, but he had built a fantastic group of people around him.
Still, I could practically see him wrestling with his conscience, so I did what any good fake fiancée would do: I saved him from himself.
“I think this calls for another toast,” I said, standing before Axel could say something noble.
“To my ridiculously talented fiancé.” I looked directly at him, letting every ounce of sincerity I felt seep into my voice.
“I’m so proud of everything that you’ve built, Axel.
You built this business from the ground up.
It was your hard work and dedication that got you here. ”
His eyes locked on mine, and I saw the exact moment he realized these words weren’t part of our performance. They were me, speaking to him.
You deserve this. Don’t you dare apologize for it.
“And to our wonderful guests,” I continued. “Thank you for making tonight magical.”
Because it was magical. There was no more denying that I was falling in love with Axel.
No more denying these feelings or the hope that maybe there could be something real between us.
All these years, I’d convinced myself he was just a player, that his coldness toward me was proof he’d never take anything seriously.
But tonight proved me wrong. He’d held someone’s hand like they were precious.
In fact, I’d never seen him look at another woman the way he’d been looking at me all evening.
Maybe I was different. Maybe I was the first person to make him want to try.
The thought sent warmth flooding through my chest. Dangerous, reckless hope that maybe I could be the one to finally crack through those walls he’d built around his heart.
“Cheers!”
As everyone drank, I noticed Mathew’s posture shift. He went unnaturally still, and there was something in his expression that reminded me of a predator whose prey had just escaped. When he noticed me looking, he forced a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Uh-oh.
I knew him well enough to recognize the signs.
It was bad enough to witness us holding hands, showing love.
But gushing over Axel? Putting him on a pedestal?
Mathew had a big ego—that was for sure—and I could tell it bothered him that this love might be even deeper than anything Mathew and I had shared.
More than that though, there was something possessive in the way he was looking at me.
Like I was something that had been taken from him.
Mathew set his wine down with deliberate precision, straightening his napkin like he was preparing for war. When he looked up, his smile could have cut glass.
“I’m so happy for you both.” His voice dripped with false sweetness. “Dakota always did deserve someone who could appreciate her … unique qualities.” The way he said unique made it sound like a flaw rather than a compliment. “Let’s just hope Axel can actually make it down the aisle this time, hmm?”
The words hit like a bucket of ice water. The table went dead silent. Even the influencers stopped mid-giggle.
This time?
My blood turned to ice as I looked at Axel, whose face had gone completely pale.
“What the hell does Mathew mean by this time?”