-HUNTER’S POV-
{PLAYLIST SUGGESTION: “YUKON” by Justin Bieber}
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The first thing I registered when I woke wasn’t the re of the Vegas sun filtering through the curtains. It was her.
Celine, stretched out across my chest, her hair a dark spill of silk, the weight of her ring hand pressed against me like an anchor.
For a moment, I let myself do something I rarely allowed: ‘breathe.’
No meetings. No responsibilities. No shadows. Just the steady rhythm of her breath, the faint scent of champagne and hotel sheets, and the quiet certainty that for once in my life, I hadn’t let something good slip through my hands.
I traced my thumb over her ring, the diamond catching slivers of morning light. She stirred, blinking awake, hershes brushing my skin.
“Morning, Mrs. Reid,” I murmured.
Her lips curved into a sleepy smile that damn near knocked me t. “Morning, Mr. Reid.”
God, if I could freeze this moment, I would.
We ordered breakfast in bed–croissants, fruit, eggs, coffee. Celine teased me for attempting to butter her toast like some lovesick idiot, but sheughed, her eyes glowing with something I didn’t think I deserved but was selfish enough to take anyway.
She admired her ring again and again, as if it might disappear. Each time, she nced up at me with disbelief, as if still trying to reconcile the man she thought I was with the one who had dragged her into a Vegas chapel and made her his wife.
“You’re staring,” she whispered after a while, cheeks warming under my gaze.
“Get used to it,” I said simply. And then–because fate has a twisted sense of humor- the world intruded.
My phone, abandoned on the nightstand, started buzzing like a ho’s nest. Then
2:07 pm
Celine’s did. Then the suite phone rang.
I ignored them. At first. Until Vincent’s name lit up my screen with the kind of persistence only he could manage.
I answered with a growl. “This better be life or death.”
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Hisugh crackled down the line. “Oh, it is. For your reputation, at least. Congrattions, lover boy—you’re trending worldwide. #ReidWedding is the number- one topic on Twitter. And before you ask, yes, the tabloids already got their ws on it. Check your feed.”
I ended the call without a word, jaw tight. My thumb flicked open a news alert.
FRONT PAGE: BILLIONAIRE HUNTER REID MARRIES EX–MAID IN VEGAS!‘
Beneath the headline were grainy paparazzi shots of us outside the chapel. Celine’s veil slipping sideways, my shirt rumpled, herugh frozen mid–motion.
‘Cheap. Sensational. Dangerous.‘
I scrolled.
“Who is Celine Brown?” one article red. They spected about her past, dredged up half–truths and t–out lies.
Some pieces called her a “Cindere story,” others whispered “gold–digger.” The ugliest ones mentioned Caesar–my son–with a lurid knick–knack.
“Secret child,” the headline read.
My vision tunneled.
I set the phone down with more force than necessary, and Celine flinched at the sound. Her eyes scanned my face, searching.
“What happened?”
I swallowed hard, forcing my rage into words. “They know. Aboutst night. About us. About this whole trip.”
Her face went pale, her hand trembling as she reached for her phone. I caught it before she could see.
“No.” My voice was sharp. Final. “You don’t need to read this.”
2:08 pm <fn4664> This content belongs to Find[F]ovel</fn4664>
“But Hunter…..”
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“They’ll twist everything, Celine. They’ll take what we have, what we built, and drag it through the mud. And I’ll be damned if I let them do that to you. Or him.”
Her lip trembled, but she straightened her shoulders. “I can handle whispers about me. But Caesar…..”
That was it. The breaking point.
I cupped her face, tilting it until she couldn’t look anywhere but at me. “Listen to me. Let theme. Let them write. Let them dig. I’ll burn down anyone who touches you or Caesar. I don’t care if it’s the media, the shareholders, or half the goddamn world. You’re mine. He’s mine. That’s all that matters.”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She pressed her forehead to mine, whispering, ‘I don’t want you to fight every battle for me.”
‘Toote,” I said softly. “This is the only war I’ve ever wanted to win.”
We sat in the wreckage of our fragile bubble, phones buzzing endlessly, the city outside roaring obliviously.
Celine’s hands twisted in herp, her gaze darting to the ring again as though drawing strength from its weight.
‘I knew this would happen,” she admitted, her voice breaking. “Part of me always knew. But I thought maybe… maybe we’d have time. Just a little time before they tore it apart.”
Her honesty cut me deeper than the tabloids ever could.
I pulled her onto myp, holding her close. “Then we’ll make time. They can try to ruin us, but they don’t get to touch what happens in this room. They don’t get to touch what’s ours.”
She breathed out shakily, then nodded. Slowly, like she believed me.
The suite door mmed open without warning.
“Jesus Christ,” Vincent announced, striding in like he owned the ce. He looked from the half–eaten breakfast tray to Celine perched in myp, then at the ring glittering on
her hand.
2:08 pm
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“Well, well, well. I leave you alone for one night, and you two manage to break the inte. Congrats, newlyweds. Vegas weddings are cute until yourst name is Reid.”
Celine stiffened, color rising to her cheeks.
I red. “Do you knock?”
“Nope.” He grabbed a croissant off the tray and bit into it like it belonged to him. “Too busy watching the live feed of you trending worldwide. Oh, and by the way–Eleanor’s PR team? Already scrambling. The board? Furious. Investors? Panicking. You’re wee for the update.”
He smirked at Celine, who looked like she wanted to sink into the floor. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. This’ll all blow over in a week. Or a year. Depends on how many skeletons you’ve got hiding in that maid closet of yours.”
“Vincent,” I warned, my voice dropping into lethal territory.
He threw his hands up in mock surrender. “Kidding. Rx. Sort of.”
Then he leaned against the wall, watching us with too much amusement for my liking. “You two better brace yourselves. The honeymoon phase?” He pointed toward the window, where cameras already shed from the street below.
“It’s officially over.”
****
Celine looked at me, her eyes wide and uncertain, and I knew she was thinking exactly what I was: “The world had found us.’
And it wasn’t going to let <i>go </i>easily.