Chapter 3

I searched my memory.

Suddenly, I remembered a night three years earlier.

It had been my first day at my current company, right after graduation.

A college friend and I had rented a two-bedroom apartment together.

After buying everything we needed, we had a little over a thousand dollars left between us.

We bought some snacks and beer and drank in our apartment to celebrate starting our careers and this new chapter of our lives.

After a few rounds, when we were both a little tipsy, my roommate suggested going out. One wild night before we settled down and focused on work.

Fueled by alcohol, I somehow agreed.

First we went to a bar, then booked a hotel room. After that, my roommate found two women from who knew where. He put his arm around one and headed to another hotel, leaving the other woman alone with me.

That woman was the very same person who was about to marry my cousin.

We spent a wild night together in that hotel room. By morning, the room was a mess.

I assumed my roommate had picked both women up at the bar. Then, the next morning, she took the five hundred dollars I’d left beside the bed and walked out.

Only then did I realize the woman I’d spent the night with was a paid hostess.

And now, here she was, about to become part of my family.

Once I remembered, the dark cloud hanging over me vanished. Derek would never dream that the cousin he’d bullied and despised had already spent a wild night with his fiancée.

What would all these friends and relatives think if they knew what she used to do?

Honestly, even after realizing who she was, I had no intention of using it to get back at Derek.

After all, most of that had happened when we were kids.

I was actually worried she might recognize me. I lowered my head and pretended to focus on my phone.

But Derek apparently had other ideas.

As though determined to show her off to me, he got everyone seated, then brought her straight toward my table.

My heart pounded. I didn’t dare look up.

To my surprise, he first squeezed out a few children sitting beside me. Then he had her sit next to me and took a seat himself.

“What’s with you, Ethan? You’ve been staring at your phone since you got here.”

“Keep that up, and I’m not letting you off easy tonight. We’re having a few drinks.”

“Come on, let me introduce you. This is my girlfriend, Claire Bennett. Soon to be my wife.”

There was no getting out of it. I braced myself and prayed she’d met enough men to have forgotten someone as insignificant as me.

I forced myself to look up at them.

“Hi, Claire. I’m Ethan.”

“Hi, Ethan…”

No such luck. The instant Claire saw my face, her smile froze.

Panic, disbelief, and even a trace of fear crossed her face.

Derek noticed something was off.

“What’s wrong?”

Claire quickly turned to him. “Nothing, honey. Why didn’t you tell me you had such a handsome cousin?”

The corner of my mouth lifted. I knew she was trying to confirm whether I was the man she’d spent that night with.

Derek laughed. “Handsome, my ass. He doesn’t look a tenth as good as me. What kind of taste do you have?”

He sounded like he was joking, but the contempt on his face was obvious.

Claire ignored him and looked back at me, her eyes uneasy again.

“Where do you work, Ethan?”

There it was. I didn’t hide it.

“New York.”

The moment she heard that, she froze again and fell silent.

Derek leaned toward me once more.

“Well, Ethan? Your future cousin-in-law is gorgeous, right?”

“She has plenty of single friends. I’ll have her introduce you sometime. None of them are as pretty as her, though!”

I smiled.

“You’re a lucky guy, Derek. I’m not that fortunate. But don’t worry about setting me up. After all…”

Before I could finish, something brushed my foot under the table.

I glanced down. It was Claire’s long leg, covered in sheer black tights.

I looked at her. Her eyes were pleading, and a sudden rush went through me.