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Addison was unprepared for this. Unprepared for the possibility that she would be humiliated in front of the entire state of Georgia and then the entire USA. If Stone was cheating with that woman, she had to call off the wedding which was at this moment the most important social event of the season and her life. Her entire life.
Oh God. How had she not seen this? Why didn’t she know what he was?
When she’d met Stone, he was a womanizer. Dating a different, gorgeous woman every month. Not only was he a serial dater, but he was also a celebrity-serial dater because most of the women were famous for one thing or another—models and actresses and recording stars were high on his list. But then he’d claimed to have fallen for her. Given her a five-million-dollar ring and asked her to become his wife.
“Why did he do this? Why ask me to be his wife just to treat me this way?” Addison looked into the face of her sisters, Rachel, Harper, and Lauren. They were sitting in a private room in the spa. Dressed in robes and drinking fruit infused water, they were waiting for Sienna and Zoe to arrive so they could do their manicures and pedicures together. “And I knew.” Addison added. “I told you I felt this.”
“You don’t know. You haven’t talked to him,” Lauren said.
“Which is the first thing you should have done.” Harper twisted her lips like she was bothered by the fact that Addison hadn’t handled her business. “You should have waited by his truck until he came out of that hotel.”
“I couldn’t do that. What if it took him a long time you know...like hours because he was...busy?” Addison rolled her eyes. “I would have made myself sick waiting.”
“You said they were fighting. Maybe he was ending it.” They all looked at Rachel and she seemed to realize she’d said the wrong thing. “I’m not saying that’s okay, but...”
“Maybe they were fighting about the fact that he’s getting married and not to her,” Lauren inserted, rolling her eyes away from Rachel.
“He didn’t have a steady enough woman in his life for anyone to think he was going to marry them. That’s not what this is unless, of course, he was lying to me about his dating history.” Addison closed her eyes. “She’s beautiful. Really his type.”
“Stop with the his-type drama,” Harper said. “He’s called you twice since we got here. This drama has completely ruined our massages. Call him. Tell him to get his cowboy boots over here and explain himself.”
Sienna swept into the room and plopped down in an empty chair like she was exhausted. “I’m sorry. I’ve been busy helping the wedding planner with a few details and then...” She stopped midsentence. Addison knew it was because her sister realized she had tears in her eyes. “Addison, what’s wrong?”
Rachel filled in the details. “She thinks Stone is cheating.”
“Why would you think that? Is this about the thing from the other day?”
“It’s escalated,” Harper said. “He was with a woman this morning at a hotel. Presumably arguing in the restaurant and then he took the elevator up after her.”
Sienna’s eyes became the size of saucers. “What?”
“Yes, a beautiful young woman that I’ve never seen before, and he’s never talked about. He told me he was going to Jackson’s to ride his horse, but then I happened to see him, so I followed him just to catch up with him and get a kiss. He pulled into the Henry hotel.”
“I can’t believe that. I just talked to him like an hour ago.”
“About what?” Addison asked, wiping her runny nose.
Sienna’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Everyone’s eyes were on her.
“He said...” she swallowed.
“Spit it out,” Harper insisted.
“He’s concerned about a wedding crasher. He needed the contact information for security.” Sienna was thoughtful. “But it wasn’t a woman. It was a man. Ryan Jones.”
“Did he say Ryan was a man?” Harper asked. “Ryan could be a woman.”
Sienna closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. I didn’t ask.”
Addison’s heart broke some more, and tears began to flow again. She pulled her knees up to her chest and covered her face. “How could he do this to me?”
Lauren sat next to her. Pulled her into her arms and said, “Shhh. Stop the crying or you’ll have puffy eyes tomorrow.”
Addison pulled back. “Puffy eyes? Lauren, I can’t marry him.”
Sienna popped to her feet. “You have to marry him.” She said the words so firmly, she had everyone’s undivided attention. “Look, I’m all for the whole perfect love thing, but this man is worth nearly eight hundred million dollars. She has a prenup that gives her a fortune if he cheats. She has to marry him.”
“Sienna, please don’t start with that,” Rachel said.
“Oh yeah, judge me, but don’t tell me not to think about her future. You heifers are all married to Bennetts. Zeke owns a soccer team. Logan owns a chain of hotels, and do we even need to talk about Ethan being the CEO of a four-billion-dollar company and you having two of his children?”
“But they all love them.” Addison’s voice cracked on every word. “No one in this room married for money. It just happened.”
“There are almost three hundred people attending this, Addison. Reporters from Essence, Ebony, Bride and...”
“I know that! You don’t think I don’t know what this is?”
Sienna walked over to Addison. She stood in front of her like she needed closer proximity for emphasis. “I’m saying. Please don’t let this humiliation be public. Marry him and divorce him as a cheater if you must, but don’t cancel this event. People will blame you. The woman is always the one dragged on social media. You’ll have nothing for your trouble. You’ve already quit your job.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “Sienna, stop it. As if any of us would let her hurt for money.”
“And she has her engagement ring,” Rachel interjected.
Sienna spun on her heels and walked away from all of them. She raised a hand to her temple like they were giving her a headache. “A good ole Bennett-money attorney could get that ring back from her if she doesn’t fulfill the promise of the wedding.”
Addison shook her head. “I was going to say Stone would never sue me for the ring, but...do I even know him?”
“Don’t do that,” Lauren said. “He’s not going to take a measly five-million-dollar ring from you.”
“He would if he was angry and embarrassed,” Sienna inserted.
Addison shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about his money.” She turned to look at Lauren. “You warned me about him.”
Lauren shook her head sorrowfully. “I was wrong.”
“Apparently not.” Addison laughed, but there was no joy in her feelings or the sound. “I love Stone, so much. Like with everything that is inside of me. There is no way I could pretend. I’d just have to accept the humiliation. I could never fake the ceremony.” She stood and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?” Sienna asked. “They’re ready to start the mani/pedis.”
“To get my phone. I’m going to call him and tell him we have to talk. I need to hear what he has to say.”
“He gave me a message to give to you,” Sienna said.
Addison looked at her sister.
“He said tell her I love her.”
Addison wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Well, I’ve heard that one before.”
She walked out of the room.