It was my cousin Lydia. Her mascara was running down her cheeks, her hair was plastered to her forehead, and she was clutching her smartphone like a weapon.
“June! Oh, thank God you’re here, I thought you threw yourself off the pier—” Lydia stopped dead in her tracks as she registered the man standing beside the counter. She blinked, her jaw dropping. “Mr... Mr. Sterling? What is the CEO of Sterling Holdings doing in a flower shop in South Boston?”
Nathan didn't flinch. He simply straightened his suit jacket, picked up his umbrella from the floor, and looked at me.
“Think about my offer, June,” he said quietly, using my first name for the first time. It sent an electric shiver straight down my spine. “And don't let rats like Graham Vale dictate the end of your story.”
Without waiting for Lydia to recover her speech, Nathan turned, pushed open the shop door, and stepped out into the rainy Boston night, vanishing into the gray shadows as smoothly as he had appeared.
Lydia slammed the door shut behind him, rushing over to the counter with wide, frantic eyes.
“June Marie Bellamy! Have you lost your absolute mind? You were just left at the altar by a cheating corporate climber, you walk two miles in a wedding dress, and now you’re entertaining billionaire real estate barons in your shop?! What is happening?!”
“Breathe, Lydia,” I sighed, picking up the legal papers and folding them neatly. “And keep your voice down. Mr. Sterling just brought me my marriage paperwork.”
Lydia snatched the papers from my hands, her eyes scanning the text. Within ten seconds, her face turned the color of spoiled milk.
“This... this is a property transfer! He tricked you into signing over Bellamy Blooms?!”
“He tried to,” I corrected, pulling off my bridal veil and tossing it onto a bucket of white roses. “Nathan says his legal team can tear this to shreds on grounds of fraud. Apparently, Graham was playing a double game—he was engaged to Sterling’s sister up in Ballroom A while stringing me along down in Ballroom C.”
Lydia stared at me, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. “An upscale society wedding? With Sterling’s sister? Graham? That slimy, cheap-suit-wearing liar couldn't afford a ticket to a society gala!”
“He was a fraud from day one, Lydia. I just refused to see it.” I walked over to the back room, unzipping the heavy zipper of my wedding dress and letting the satin and tulle pool around my ankles. I stepped out of it, pulling on a comfortable pair of denim jeans and an oversized knit sweater. When I walked back out to the counter, Lydia was still holding the papers as if they were radioactive.
“So what are you going to do?” Lydia asked, her voice dropping into a fierce, protective tone. “Are you going to call Nathan? Are you going to let him help you destroy Graham?”
I looked down at the sleek black business card resting beside the pruning shears. Nathan Sterling.
Destroying Graham Vale wasn't just about revenge anymore. It was about survival. If Graham got away with the shop, I would be drowning in debt while he slithered his way into high society.
“I’m not just going to destroy him, Lydia,” I said, picking up the phone. “I’m going to audit every single asset he thinks he stole from me.”
Two hours later, sitting at the cluttered wooden desk in the back of the shop with a cup of black coffee and a laptop, I dialed the number on Nathan’s card.
He answered on the first ring.
“Ms. Bellamy,” his deep voice came through the speaker, as crisp and alert as if it were the middle of the afternoon instead of past nine o'clock. “Did you make a decision?”
“I have my mother’s old financial ledgers from when Graham first started helping me with the shop accounts six months ago,” I said steadily. “If your legal team is as good as people say, I want to add corporate embezzlement and forgery to the fraud charges.”
A low, approving chuckle came from the other end of the line.
“My legal team doesn't lose, June,” Nathan replied. “Be ready at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. My car will pick you up at your shop. We have a board meeting to crash.”