Casey’s POV
___________
I pressed the phone tightly to my ear, my fingers gripping it like a lifeline as I sank deeper into the couch. My pulse pounded, each beat was a hamr against my ribs. I sucked in a slow, shaky breath, trying—desperately—to steady myself, to keep my spiraling thoughts from consuming .
But it wasn’t working.
Ever since Liam uttered those words—we’re being sued—sothing inside had cracked. My mind reeled, flipping through every possible scenario, every consequence, every worst-case ending. The walls of the room felt like they were closing in, pressing against , suffocating.
I had lost control.
It had gotten so bad that I had to cut the call, my hands trembling too much to hold the phone steady. My vision had blurred, my throat tightening with the kind of panic I hadn’t felt in years.
And now, here I was, calling him back, forcing myself to face it, to hear those words again.
But as the line rang, an unsettling thought crept into my mind—
What if this wasn’t just a lawsuit?
What if this was sothing more? Sothing worse?
Now, with him on the other end, I took another deep breath, "are you serious about this?"
"Of course I am, I know what being served looks like."
"Shit... I can’t deal with this right now, Liam. I’ve got so much going on at the mont."
"Exactly, Kira’s wedding is too big and too important for us to be dealing with this right now."
I froze, my breath catching as a sudden realization hit —Kira’s wedding!
For the past several hours, my mind had been consud by Jace and Maven, tangled in a web of uncertainty, fear, and things I wasn’t ready to face. The wedding—one of the most important days of my best friend’s life and my career as well—had been shoved into the background, eclipsed by the chaos unraveling around .
How had I let this slip so easily?
A groan escaped my lips as I reached up, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to will away the pounding in my skull. My shoulders sagged under the weight of everything pressing down on .
I let my gaze fall to the floor, watching as my feet sank into the thick rug beneath , the soft fibers swallowing them whole. It was strange how sothing so small, so simple, could feel grounding in a mont like this.
But no matter how deeply I breathed, no matter how much I tried to focus on anything else, the unease remained.
Because this wasn’t just about a forgotten wedding.
Sothing was wrong. And I could feel it, creeping closer like a shadow I couldn’t shake.
"We have to get on this, right now." I said after a while, "So, who is this that’s suing us?"
"You’re not gonna like it, Casey."
"Just fucking tell !"
"It’s Catherine," Liam said.
"Fuck... I should have figured." Catherine was the florist I was supposed to work with for the rehearsal dinner. However, all the flowers she delivered turned out to be defective, they all began to die the night before the dinner. As a result, I had to change all of them at once. Getting a new florist to deliver such a large amount of rare flowers to the Royale Hotel at such short notice was no easy feat, but I managed to get it done. And that ant my contract with Catherine was null and void.
I could have sued her for giving defective flowers, but I simply chose to let it go. My plan had been to let her be, so I could focus fully on planning the main dinner and the wedding ceremony that would be the biggest events of Silicon Valley. However, it was beginning to look like that was a mistake. When she threatened to sue , I had figured it was simply her being pissed at losing out on all the publicity that ca with the rehearsal dinner.
"This is why I told you not to let her be," Liam said. "If we had served her then, she would not be the one suing us right now."
"No, we don’t go about looking for trouble right now. Liam, the last thing we want is to be embroiled in a lawsuit when we have so much riding on the coming dinner and wedding."
"Okay, so what do we do?"
I closed my eyes for a few monts, trying to collect my thoughts, "For now? There’s nothing we can do tonight, the day is already over. However, you need to set up a eting with the lawyers for tomorrow morning, they’ll decide the best course of action to take. We need to let Catherine know that we have enough reasons to sue her, and we can even make her pay for damages."
"Well, she’s claiming that her flowers weren’t defective and we only changed florists at the last mont because we were playing favoritism. Then, the switch cost her the flowers, and also so damage to her reputation."
"What a load of crap!" I said angrily, "Honestly, I don’t think I can deal with all this tonight. We’ll have to handle Catherine and everything else tomorrow. Set up the eting with the lawyers and also set up a eting with Kira’s office. We have to make a decision on this dinner once and for all. It’s in less than a month, and we need to start making the final moves if she’s really increasing the number of guests."
"Okay, when would you want that?"
I paused before I replied Liam, I glanced over at the kitchen where Jace was still busy cooking. The night was off to a great start and I knew that Jace still had a lot of tricks up his sleeves. I had no idea when we would be done.
"Set it by ten," I told Liam.
"What about the et with the lawyers?"
"Fuck... that’s equally important. You know what, set that by ten instead, but make it flexible. In case sothing else cos up tomorrow morning. If I don’t see them then, I could et them up in the evening. But it must happen tomorrow, I need to end this Catherine issue once and for all."
"No worries, we’ll put it to a stop." Liam assured , "You can go to bed now. Let handle the rest."
"Thank you, Liam," I said as I cut the call.
When the silence settled once more, I let out a slow breath and sank deeper into the couch, my head tilting back against the cushions as I stared up at the ceiling. My body felt heavy and exhausted, yet my mind refused to quiet.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to rest, but the events of the day crashed over like a relentless tide, refusing to be ignored.
Today had been chaos. Pure, unfiltered madness.
It had started with Jace—his touch, his presence, the way he seed to consu every thought in my head. I had fought it at first, resisting the pull he had on , but then... the tension had snapped. We had fought. We had gone to Ethan’s. We had taken on Ramon together. And now?
Now we had spent the night devouring each other like we were the only thing keeping each other alive.
It was dizzying to think about. Overwhelming. And yet... I craved more.
Even now, as I tried to push it from my mind, the mories sent a slow, wicked heat curling through .
I clenched my jaw, my fingers twitching against my thigh before I slapped it, trying to snap myself out of it.
This was why I had left the kitchen in the first place.
I needed space.
I needed to breathe.
But no matter how much distance I put between us, the truth clawed at the edges of my mind—
Jace was becoming an addiction.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to be saved.
Just then, a shadow fell over my face and I was looking up at Jace as he stood over . He was so handso, and the apron he was wearing gave him a hoy and sexy appearance. He smiled at , causing my breath to seize in my throat as I stared at him. Yet again, I was finding it hard to believe that the richest man in Silicon Valley was right here in my humble ho, cooking for .
I stood up then and slowly cradled his face, "what did I do to deserve you?"
He grinned at , "I think I should be asking you that. From the first mont I set my eyes on you, I knew then and there that there was no one else for . And every day, we seem to be working hard to prove that fact."
I kissed him hard, and he kissed with as much fervor before pulling away, he wrapped his hands around my waist, holding close as he stared into my eyes.
"Are you done cooking?" I asked him.
"It’s all set in the kitchen, we’ll eat there. But there’s sothing I would like to ask you."
"I tilted my head to the side as I looked at him, "what’s it?"
"Well, we’re serious, now, right? We’re exclusive."
I nodded slowly, wondering where his questions were leading.
"I wanna take you ho."
"What do you an? I’m ho."
"No... I an my ho. I want you to live with in Paragon Park."
Reviews
All reviews (0)