In Bed With My Ex's Brother-in-Law

na'

ed haze. Groaning, I dragged myself from the tangle of sheets, my body

tion. Finally, a day off. I swung the door open. A man

oice was impersonal

ing my eyes. "Y

ton's orders. You are required to

ir, nonsensical. Mr. Da

escaped my lips. "This ha

per and flashed it before my eyes. A written

words sticking in my throat. "Mark is my boy

with Thompson Crest Enter

al term sliced through

I stood frozen in the doorway, disbelief curdli

burst out, my voice rising

m, grabbed my phone, and dialed the number I knew by h

to the door, my earlier bravado crumbling. "I have to speak

s watch. "You have ten minutes to g

the fear making my tone razor-sharp.

k contrast to my unraveling composure. Then, dropping the words li

from under me. The air

ossed his eyes. "You truly had no idea?

s of work, surviving on coffee and deadlines. Mark had praised my

brilliant. Just push through these final day

surprise" for all my hard work. And t

street, a massive digital billboard, usually fla

Union: The Weddin

screamed in s

boss-was today pledging

*

through a social media feed I never had time

I devoured articles with a morbid hunger, each detail a piece of a

-was marrying someone else, and

to showed a woman of ethereal beauty, but it was

midable Alpha in the Northeast, leade

sickening clarity. Of course. This wa

ower, a legacy woven into the very f

culously crafted business proposals, pos

tter emotion surged beneath the

ng? Even if this was some fated mate bond I'd heard

ante and his haven. And my reward was an eviction notice delivered b

e statement, not a polite dismissa

, a vision of Gothic grandeur-towering spires, windo

d "Elena Dalton" on a notepad, imagining a day li

unbreachable authority. A human girl with puffy eyes and a broken heart didn't stand a chance. But then, I spotted it-a cateri

activity, I slipped inside the van's dark interior, pressing myself flat betw

before emerging, my simple dress starkly out of place amidst the staff's crisp unif

t stand there," a sharp v

man clutching a clipboard and a headset. Her

ith the groom's family. Just arrived from out of town. A bit lost. Could

the mention of "family" and the desperate hope in my eyes seemed to sat

urtyard, the ivy-covered building. Room 25. B

words barely audible over the

ast the distracted perimeter guards and into the groom's preparation suit

here

ure of polished perfection, exactly as I'd once dreamed he would be on our day. His eyes met mine in the glass.

othering to fully turn around. "I was wonderin

he strap of my purse until t

?" My voice was tight, a

look that lingered with palpable distaste. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, he gestured to t

ried." His tone was flat, matter-o

I forced the words out

y perfect tie. "I'm marrying Bella. I can't afford to be associated

ng a counterpoint to the humiliation burning throug

ase. Don't tell me you actually believed the sw

nient, admiring, always there. But let's be real. You were holding out like some V

to my own naivete. This wasn't just heartbreak; it was annihilation, the

irror, a final dismissal. "Leave, Elena. You're only embarrassing y

darted around the room, landing on a half-full flute of champagne

hink. I si

m. The golden liquid arced through the air, catching the light before it splash

recoiling as the champagne dripped, ruining the perfect pict

and politely wish you well?" My voice was low,

rified gaze i

e it to the altar on time? Or should I pay a visit to your blushing br

nged for a towel, frantically dabbing at

he strode towards the door and wrenched it open. "Get

, lost in the opulent hallway as they dragged me, kicking and clawing, toward the elevator. With a final, contemptuous shove, they

attered heartbreak and unspent fury. Drawing my knees to my chest, I clutched my ba

t of the future I'd so foolishly believed in. The will

surdly at odds with my internal ruin. The do

Oxfords stepped into the periphery of my b

, grew heavier, charged with a pre

na G

d in my throat. Slowly, p

ithout contest, the most devastat

han brute bulk, he was elegance personified in a tailored

s eyes were a penetrating, storm-cloud grey, holding an inten

Alpha Eri

pson Crest

l Alpha of the S

that was not one of pity or disdain, but o

tuttered to a dead halt before gallopi

im? W