The Perfect Heart (Unspoken Secrets Series, #1) by Lexy Timms

Author:Lexy Timms
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense, thriller, contemporary romance, new adult, romance, billionaire obsession, contemporary romance and sex, romance billionaire series, true love, coming of age, overcoming, women's fiction, billionaire, Alpha male romance, Alpha Bad Boy, bad boy, hot romance, hot and steamy, happily ever after, sleeping with the enemy, troubled past, mistrust, danger, mafia, payback
Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
Published: 2024-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Halle

IT WAS STILL DIFFICULT to believe I was here—I wanted to pinch myself because part of me couldn’t believe it was real. Was the woman staring back in the mirror really me?

My hands smoothed down the white satin that followed my curves before flaring out, slipped over the lace accents, hand-sewn, before reaching up to brush the pearls at my throat and ears, each earring with a dot of a diamond to add to the richness.

From downstairs, I could hear strains of music and even the clinking of glasses which I knew were full of champagne so expensive it had been flown in for the event. Pale golden and full of tiny bubbles, it had gone straight to my head, part of why I had sought this upstairs room in the villa to get ready. Where a photographer had taken stylized photos of me, of my mom, of me with my mother-in-law, who’d fussed over me, and more specifically, the dress.

It had been her favorite pick. And Jack’s, of course.

Not that I didn’t like it, I was very quick to remind myself. I loved the dress. It cost much, much more than I could have ever dreamed of spending, more than my mother made in a year. Yes, it was more conservative than I would have picked for myself. But when Jack’s mother had gushed over it and Jack, who had bucked tradition and joined us for the appointment at the bridal boutique, had shown his appreciation, I had agreed to it.

It wasn’t really about me, anyway, was it? I wanted to look good for Jack, and it was more a party for friends and family, for us to celebrate our love and vows with everyone who had supported us.

The other reason I had sought the room was that I needed a moment to breathe. I’d barely had a moment to myself this entire wedding weekend, from the welcome dinner to golf on the course overlooking the ocean to luncheons with all of my in-laws’ friends, all CEOs and West Coast bluebloods, to the rehearsal dinner the night before where I’d had a little too much to drink to calm the nerves that had built until I’d barely been able to eat. My mother-in-law-to-be had woken me at dawn to begin preparations for the day, she and my wedding party, Jack’s sisters and friends, buzzing around me. I’d barely had a moment to spend with my own mother and hoped to grab a few hours with her before she left the next day, after the post-wedding brunch.

From my vantage point in one of the high rooms of the villa, I could see the Pacific stretching out to the horizon beyond the grassy prominence where we’d held the ceremony and on which the reception was now taking place. One that would no doubt go into the early hours of the morning—this was only the cocktail hour, and dinner was several hours away.

It was a landscape so different from the one

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