Page 114 of Forty, Flirty & F*cked

"Touch my lapel one more time," I warn, "and you'll be explaining to Alex why his Best Man is missing fingers."

"Such violence," Callum drawls from where he's lounging in a leather armchair. "Though perhaps our friend is simply eager to find his wife? I hear the garden's east conservatory has excellent... acoustics."

Luke snorts into his champagne.

"Funny how things work out," Grayson muses, finally stepping back from my lapel. "Will gets arrested, leaving an opening in the wedding party, and suddenly your accidental wife is a bridesmaid."

"Pure coincidence," I say dryly.

"Of course." Callum's smirk grows. "Just like it's purely coincidental that Mac immediately asked Ariana to step in. Almost as if someone had been plotting this since Vegas..."

"Mac's very strategic that way," I concede, checking my watch. Twenty minutes until the ceremony. Twenty minutes to find Ariana, to steal a moment before the chaos really begins.

"Go," Grayson sighs. "But if Mac asks, I tried to stop you."

"No, you didn't."

"No," he grins, "I really didn't."

I slip out before they can start another round of commentary on my love life, navigating The Evergreen Gardens' winding paths. The glass-enclosed walkways offer protection from Seattle's spring rain while maintaining the illusion of being surrounded by nature. Somewhere in the distance, I hear the murmur of arriving guests.

My phone buzzes:

YASMIN: East conservatory

YASMIN: Your wife is doing that thing again

YASMIN: Where she pretends she's not compulsively-organizing everyone's lives

I find Ariana exactly where Yasmin said she'd be, standing among rare orchids and trailing vines. She's still in her getting-ready robe, dark hair falling in waves down her back, and something in my chest does that thing it always does when I see her—like my heart's forgetting how to beat properly.

She's staring at her phone, lips curved in a way that means trouble.

"Should I be concerned?" I ask, moving closer.

She jumps slightly, then relaxes when she sees me. "Depends.”

She wordlessly holds up her phone, and I lean in to read:

BREAKING NEWS: Wellness Empire Exposed! Drake-Patel Enterprises Founders Arrested for Fraud

“How do you feel about karma?"

I shrug. “Generally? Or specifically regarding your ex-fiancé getting arrested for running a predatory wellness scheme through medical support groups?"

Her eyes widen. "You knew?"

"I might have had something to do with the SEC investigation." I step closer, breathing in the vanilla scent of her skin. “We’re days away from the IPO. I had to make sure the SEC knew all the recent developments at Clearwater.”

“And then?”

“And then, I shared a few of Will’s ‘recent developments’.” I lean in, pressing my lips against hers for a quick kiss. “Consider it a wedding present."

"You got Will arrested as a wedding present?"

"Technically, Will got himself arrested." My hands find her waist. "I just made sure the right people were paying attention."

"And now look at us," she muses, fingers playing with my tie. "Both in the wedding party. Almost like someone planned it."

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