Sleep vanished from her eyes in an instant.
"What are you even talking about?" Halle asked, voice sharper now.
"You tell me—when did you even get married?!" Jessy's exasperated sigh crackled through the line, each word landing like a stone in Halle's chest.
Her stomach tightened. The words hit her all at once, heavy and suffocating.
Her wedding had been so quiet—practically a secret. Only a handful of people had been present, and all of them were handpicked by Zade. Since she had been forced into it, she'd never breathed a word to Jessy. And after her escape, she had decided it was better to pretend it hadn't happened at all.
"Jes… I'll call you back."
"You better. And when you do, I expect a reasonable explanation," Jessy replied, her tone leaving no room for excuses.
Halle ended the call and, pulse racing, opened her phone's browser.
She didn't have to search far—her own name was already at the top of the trending feed.
The news feed continued, her eyes skimming over the headlines that made her pulse thrum in disbelief.
"Mystery Billionaire Revealed — Married in Secret!"
"Zade Anderson Ties the Knot with Austin Campbell's Eldest Daughter."
Her fingers trembled as she scrolled. Article after article repeated the same details — Zade, the elusive billionaire whose face was as mysterious as his fortune, finally had a photograph to his name. And not just any photograph. A wedding photograph. Their wedding photograph.
Nobody had known much about him beyond whispered rumors — the silent owner of The Black Pearl Hotels, and Eclipse Royale Casinos. A man who moved the world's wealth without ever stepping into the spotlight.
Her stomach churned.
The captions were worse. "The couple radiated elegance," one article gushed. "A fairytale wedding between two rich families." Another even went so far as to call her "the luckiest woman alive."
Lucky. Right. If only they knew the truth — that the ceremony had been nothing but a gilded cage locking shut around her.
Her thumb stilled when she reached the final line of one report:
'This marks Zade Anderson's first confirmed appearance in public media, now officially as a married man.'
Her blood boiled.
There was only one person reckless enough to leak those photographs.
"Zade," she breathed, the name slipping past her lips like venom.
The sudden spike of adrenaline ripped away the last remnants of sleep. She swung her legs off the bed and planted her feet firmly on the floor. Whatever game he was playing, she wasn't about to sit and let him do whatever he wanted.
Halle stormed out of her room, her footsteps sharp and fast against the polished floor, and went straight to his door. She knocked — once, twice, then several times in rapid succession, each one louder than the last, her irritation building with every second he didn't answer. Finally, the door swung open, revealing Zade leaning casually against the frame.
"Well, good morning to you too, sunshine," he drawled, his tone laced with deliberate sarcasm, as if her anger was little more than mild entertainment to him.
He was half-naked, wearing only loose black slacks that hung low on his hips, his upper body bare. A dark wolf tattoo sprawled across the right side of his chest, its eyes seeming to watch her as much as his own did, while other ink patterns wrapped around his arm in intricate detail. She caught herself staring a moment too long before snapping back to the reason she'd come.
"What is this?" she demanded, her voice sharp. She shoved her phone against his chest, the impact more from frustration than force. He took it from her, his gaze dropping to the screen. The corner of his mouth tugged into an almost innocent smile as he scrolled through the headlines — the story of them, now viral for the world to see.
"What about it?" he asked, sounding almost bored as his thumb slid idly across her phone screen, scanning through her notifications as though it was his right.
"I don't see anything wrong with introducing my wife to the world," Zade went on, his voice smooth and unhurried. "If anything, it helps keep unnecessary flies from hovering around what's already mine."
Halle's eyes narrowed at him, the small movement sharp enough to cut. He caught it instantly and, maddeningly, looked amused rather than chastised.
"You could have at least asked if I was okay with this," she shot back, her glare sharp enough to match her tone.
Choosing to ignore her words, zade asked, "So will you be moving in with me, or are you still set on playing house all by yourself?"
Her lips pressed together as she took her time before answering, letting the silence stretch in quiet defiance. The fact that he had so blatantly ignored her protest made irritation curl hot in her chest.
Finally, she said, "I'll move in…"
The words had barely left her mouth when his expression shifted — that slow, devastating smile tugging at his lips, his satisfaction radiating like a victory already won.
"But," she continued, her tone cutting clean through his self-satisfaction, "I also have my own conditions."
"Which are..?" he drawled, his voice carrying a lazy sort of curiosity as he handed her the phone back.
"I'd rather we talk about this when you're properly dressed," Halle replied, trying to keep her tone even.
That earned her a slow, amused smile. "You are right...,Or," he said, his voice dipping into that infuriatingly teasing register, "we could just have the conversation naked. Clothes are overrated anyway."
Her jaw slackened. The audacity. Heat shot to her cheeks as her brain caught up with the fact that she was standing in front of him in her nightdress. It wasn't scandalous by her standards—but it was definitely not something she would have chosen to wear in front of him. Especially not him.
She spun on her heel without another word, heading toward her room, but the damage was already done. She could feel the weight of his gaze trailing over her with deliberate slowness, as if he wanted her to know he was watching. Her fingers tightened around the doorknob, and she shut the door behind her a little harder than necessary, trying to block out both his presence and the maddening pull in her chest that came with it.