Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 138

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Chapter 138

Then her lips parted. But befoer de croid w

here he wked warmly

Moore’s head turned so fast it ximent supped. ‘Inddy”

#

She stepped back at once, pulling her public face ingether.

much that the champagne shivered

Fred’s hand settled on her shoulder to stop her from shaking as his eyes themed s

“What’s going on**

I turned my gaze to Moonie.

Her face had recovered, mostly. But not her eyes.

Her eyes still carried the answer she hadn’t given me. Answers the wa yaq o pe me de

“I’m glad we could keep this on track despite the noise this week. Fred sad w

“What noise?” I asked.

He held the second glass toward me. “You know how these things are. Farshes Bos at once. People talk a lot.”

I stared at the glass until he lowered it slightly.

Then I took it because refusing would turn the moment into a scene, and

in that room a scene worth remembering

Fred stepped closer.

His cologne was clean, expensive, and irritating

“I spoke to a few people because I was concerned; that’s all.”

“Concerned,” I repeated.

“Yes” He sighed softly. “About Kisarel.”

There. The only topic that was capable of bringing out the worst in re

My hand closed around the glass so hard the stem pressed into my palm

was already seconds

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Chapter 138-

red save it and the warner of his mouth barely moved.

“What about her?” Tacked.

“She’s young,” he said. “Under pressure. Her wedding is approaching faster than anyone expected. Lordy wiggeded a medi be better for her to step away from direct office duty for a white” He tilted his head. Tonking so fatherly reammuble au poisonous at the same time. “Give her room to focus on her marriageTM

Her marriage…

The words crawled under my skin.

“She is about to become another man’s wife. Surely even you can see how inappropriate it looks for her to remain so ren attached to your office.”

Attached.

My vision narrowed.

Kiss was not attached to my office. She was in my bloodstream. She was in the spaces between my thoughts. She was tire reason I had not walked out of this room and ended the whole performance before the first toast.

And she still was not here.

“Careful,” I said.

Fred’s smile softened. “I am being careful. That is the point. For your sake as much as hers.”

“My sake.”

“Tonight should be beautiful and undistracted.” His eyes stayed on mine. “My daughter deserves that. Your shareholders deserve that. Your father’s legacy deserves that.”

My father’s legacy…

There they go again with the one thing they knew was my weakness.

I stepped closer, but Fred did not move back.

“Do not use my father,” I said in a very calm voice, “to sell me your cowardice.”

We both held each other’s gazes without saying another word until the door slid open again, and for one stupid, violent second, I thought it was her.

But, fuck. It wasn’t.

Fred noticed that millisecond I turned to look at the door, and his lips tilted a fraction.

“You should enjoy your night, Oceans.” His smile returned. “Some absences are blessings.”

I looked back at him slowly.

“What the fuck did you say?”

Fred’s face gave me absolutely nothing. And before I could ask further, Moonie hurried up to us and touched my arm sweetly, as if she had totally forgotten the heated exchange we just had a few minutes ago.

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Chapter 138

she sand brightly to Fred. “They’ll be calling us to die stage any minute.

Fred’s eyes stayed on mine

“Of course,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to keep everyone waiting

They called us up.

Moon’s hand slid into the crook of my arm and stayed there, steering me toward the raised platform at the head of the tall like she could feel me trying to drift.

Maybe she could.

Fred took the microphone and smiled like a noble man.

“Family,” he began, and the room went obligingly soft. “Tonight, two houses become one.” He let it sit his eyes moving over the crowd. “I have watched Oceans Stark build something extraordinary out of a vision, his late father believed in long before the world did. A legacy. And legacies deserve to be protected by alliance, by loyalty, by the right people standing beside you at the right time.” His fond gaze found Moon. “My daughter has always stood beside destiny. Tonight, destiny makes it official.”

He’d wrapped the savior–debt and the legacy and the leash into one gracious sentence I couldn’t touch without becoming the villain of my own engagement.

The applause came, and Moon glowed under it.

Fuck.

Why had I come to hate her more than I used to?

Suddenly, her saving my life didn’t matter anymore.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and every muscle in my body locked.

Kiss.

She could be the one. It had to be her.

I reached for it immediately, but Moonie’s hand shot down and caught my wrist before I could pull the phone out. Her nails pressed into my skin. To anyone watching, she looked like a nervous bride holding onto her fiance. I

“Not now,” she said softly.

I pulled the phone out anyway.

It wasn’t Kiss. It was a message from Reeves.

Reeves: ‘All exterior teams in position. No disturbance reported.

My jaw tightened.

I typed with one thumb.

Me: ‘Do you have eyes on Kisarel?

Chapter 138

Tum tree over the send buton for **roud f.theg

Not because I didn’t want the answer, but because 1

the ring ever touched Mooni finger

4

Fred was watching me keenly, his gaze dropping to my phone for half a second

He knew I was close to doing something reckle and he looked pleated by t

In that exact moment, he turned to me fully, extending the microphone with his sole as

see.

“I think we’d all love to hear a word from the man of the hour”

I took the microphone.

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