Chapter 2 - The Wife Nobody Expected
The three men outside the suite were not federal agents.
That became obvious when Graham's head of security, Marcus Hale, called the hotel security desk from the bedroom and confirmed that no federal agency had requested access to our floor.
Graham silently pointed at the bathroom.
I shook my head.
He pointed again.
“No,” I whispered.
“Avery.”
“If somebody is trying to break in, I'm not locking myself in a marble box with no exit.”
His expression said he hated my logic.
The pounding came again.
“Mr. Reed! We have a warrant!”
Marcus appeared from the connecting security room carrying the calm expression of a man who had spent twenty years expecting trouble.
“Fake,” he said.
Graham nodded once.
Marcus spoke quietly into his radio.
Within two minutes, hotel security officers filled the hallway.
The men vanished before anyone reached them.
One abandoned a maintenance jacket inside a service stairwell.
Another left behind a burner phone.
By 6:45, Graham's attorneys, private investigators, and the real Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department knew about the incident.
By 7:10, the entire internet apparently knew Graham Reed had gotten married.
I discovered this when my phone came back online.
Seventy-three missed calls.
One hundred forty-six text messages.
My younger sister Chloe had sent fourteen of them.
The first said:
PLEASE TELL ME THAT ISN'T YOU.
The last said:
AVERY COLLINS IF YOU MARRIED YOUR BOSS IN VEGAS AND I FIND OUT FROM THE INTERNET I WILL PERSONALLY FLY THERE AND KILL YOU BOTH.
I showed Graham.
He read it.
“She seems protective.”
“That's the polite interpretation.”
News sites were already publishing photographs.
REED GLOBAL CEO SECRETLY WEDS EMPLOYEE IN LAS VEGAS.
ICE KING MELTS FOR MYSTERY BLONDE.
CORPORATE ROMANCE OR BILLION-DOLLAR STRATEGY?
I almost threw the phone.
“I'm a mystery blonde now?”
Graham looked over my shoulder.
“They used an old company headshot.”
“That is not the problem.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His face changed.
“Yes.”
The quiet answer stopped me.
He walked toward the windows.
“My entire adult life has been public property whenever someone believed publishing it could affect a stock price. Yours shouldn't have become public property because of me.”
That wasn't the Graham Reed I knew from conference rooms.
That man could destroy a vice president with three questions and a raised eyebrow.
This man looked ashamed.
“Did you leak it?” I asked.
He turned sharply.
“No.”
“Your family?”
“Almost certainly.”
A knock sounded.
Marcus entered carrying a small evidence bag.
Inside was the burner phone recovered from the stairwell.
“We pulled one outgoing number before the device wiped itself,” he said.
“Whose?”
Marcus glanced at me.
“Reed Global corporate security.”
Graham went still.
Someone inside the company was involved.
The private plane back to Chicago departed before noon.
I expected Graham to spend the flight surrounded by attorneys.
Instead, he sat opposite me in the rear cabin while Marcus occupied the front.
Between us lay a slim folder.
“Our marriage certificate,” Graham said.
I stared at it.
“What every girl dreams of receiving the morning after her wedding.”
“You joke when you're frightened.”
“You become even more emotionally unavailable.”
“I didn't know that was possible.”
That earned the faintest smile.
Then he pushed another document toward me.
An annulment petition.
My stomach dropped.
“You already prepared this?”
“I had legal draft it.”
“So this is over?”
“When you want it to be.”
I stared at the signature line.
“You need the marriage now that the shares transferred?”
“The trust only required it at execution.”
“So you got what you wanted.”
His eyes hardened.
“No.”
I looked up.
“I got control of twelve percent of voting stock. You got drugged, threatened, photographed and dragged into a family war you never asked to join.”
“You didn't drug me.”
“No.”
“You didn't break into my room.”
“No.”
“And unless that video was created by extremely talented artificial intelligence, you didn't force me to marry you.”
Something shifted between us.
Dangerous.
Quiet.
Personal.
I looked down at the annulment papers again.
“What happens if I sign?”
“The marriage ends.”
“And if I don't?”
Graham leaned back.
“Then we're married.”
“Thank you, Counselor.”
“You asked.”
I almost smiled.
Then Marcus appeared.
“We have a problem.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
An email had been distributed to every Reed Global board member.
The subject line read:
URGENT ETHICS DISCLOSURE — GRAHAM REED
Inside were photographs of Graham and me entering the chapel.
A copy of our marriage license.
My employee file.
And an accusation.
Graham had allegedly diverted $48 million from the Southwest Transit acquisition through a company secretly owned by my father.
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was insane.
“My father owns a hardware store in Wisconsin.”
Graham was already reading.
“They created corporate registration documents.”
“Can they do that?”
“They can create anything long enough to cause a scandal.”
Marcus nodded.
“They don't need the accusation to survive. They need the board to suspend Graham while an internal investigation begins.”
“And who becomes acting CEO?”
Graham didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
“Preston.”
Marcus nodded.
The marriage had protected Graham's voting shares.
So Preston had found another path.
Destroy his reputation.
Remove him from operational control.
Then find some way to break the trust.
My phone rang.
Chloe.
I answered immediately.
“Are you okay?”
Her voice came fast.
“Forget me. Mom just called.”
My chest tightened.
“What's wrong?”
“There are reporters outside Dad's store.”
I stood.
“What?”
“They're saying Dad helped you steal millions.”
Every ounce of blood drained from my face.
Graham was already on his feet.
“Give me the address.”
I covered the phone.
“No.”
“Avery—”
“My family is not another Reed Global problem you get to manage.”
“They're being targeted because of me.”
“They're being targeted because somebody wants me to run.”
He studied me.
I realized that was exactly what Preston wanted.
He wanted humiliation.
Fear.
Family pressure.
He wanted the ordinary project manager from Milwaukee to decide corporate warfare wasn't worth it.
I sat down again.
“Tell your lawyers we're not filing the annulment.”
Graham stared at me.
“Avery.”
“Not yet.”
“Don't do this because you're angry.”
“I'm not.”
That was a lie.
I was furious.
But anger wasn't the only thing holding me there.
Someone had forged documents using my father's name.
Someone had threatened Graham's company.
Someone had drugged me.
Running now would only tell them their strategy worked.
I pushed the annulment papers back across the table.
“If we end this marriage today, Preston tells everyone you used me to save the trust and discarded me afterward.”
Graham said nothing.
“If we stay married,” I continued, “he has to prove we're lying.”
“We are lying.”
“About why we married. Not about being married.”
A slow, dangerous understanding appeared in Graham's eyes.
“What are you suggesting?”
“We stop looking terrified.”
He leaned forward.
“And start looking like what?”
I raised my hand and looked at the platinum ring.
“A happily married couple.”
For several seconds, the cabin was silent.
Then Graham Reed—the coldest executive in Chicago—actually laughed.
Not politely.
Not sarcastically.
Really laughed.
And to my horror, I liked the sound.
By the time we landed, our strategy had been decided.
We would stay married for thirty days.
We would appear together.
We would cooperate with the board investigation.
And privately, we would find the real evidence against Preston.
There was only one complication.
Thousands of reporters were waiting outside the Chicago airport.
Graham looked at me before the cabin door opened.
“You can still change your mind.”
I swallowed.
“Can you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
His gaze dropped briefly to my mouth before returning to my eyes.
“Because someone made the mistake of threatening my wife.”
My heart stumbled.
The door opened.
May you like
Cameras exploded in white light.
And Graham reached for my hand.
