My Valentine Surprise Exposed the Secret My Husband Was Hiding Chapter 06

My Valentine Surprise Exposed the Secret My Husband Was Hiding Chapter 06

Zane actually seemed to take it seriously. He stepped forward, dropped to his knees, and grabbed my hand. “Babe, let me explain.”

I laughed before he could get another word out. I pulled my hand back and looked around the room. “You hear that, Megan? He just called me his babe. I really am his wife—legally. Got the certificate and everything.”

“If you want to see it, I’ve got a photo right here on my phone. Want a look?”

Susie seemed to snap out of it. Her eyes darted around. “Rory, you got married behind your family’s back? Does your dad even know?”

“He was just talking about setting you up with the Flynn heir the other day—said you’d be engaged by New Year’s Day. How could you be married already? You know what—I’m calling your dad right now.”

She had that look on her face, like she’d found my weak spot. Like she thought she could control me with it.

I don’t know where she got the audacity. She actually pulled out her phone, ready to dial if I didn’t give in.

Everyone in the room stared at her like she’d lost her mind. I half-wondered if the shock had fried her brain—because who says something that stupid?

“Just pretend you never saw me today,” she said, “and I promise I’ll never contact Zane again.”

“You know your dad listens to me. If you cross me, you won’t like the consequences.”

I couldn’t help it—I started clapping.

“Nice speech. But Stepmom, are you sure my dad’s going to keep listening to you once he finds out you’ve been cheating on him?”

“And here’s the thing—even if I’m married, I’m still a Lane. I’ll always be an heiress. My shares in the company aren’t going anywhere.”

“But you? What do you have to fall back on? Your elderly father, your mentally ill mother, your disabled brother? What do they get out of this?”

Susie collapsed onto the floor. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

Brenda’s face shifted when she heard about Susie’s family. She pointed a finger at Zane and laid into him again. “So that’s why you never brought her home all those years. Because of her family.”

“You two broke up. You both moved on and got married. Why can’t you just live your own lives? Why do you keep crawling back to each other?”

Yeah. Why? I was curious about that too.

“Mom, I loved her for eight years. We were together for eight years. I can’t just let that go.”

“If it weren’t for her family dragging her down, we would’ve been married by now.”

Zane laid it all out in front of everyone.

“Her family situation was never going to let her settle down with a regular guy. I couldn’t handle that weight for her. So I understood why she did what she did.”

“She found a rich husband. She doesn’t have to worry about money anymore. I’m happy for her.”

He really was a lovesick fool, just like in his journal.

I flashed back to the first time we met—at a dive bar. He was knocking back drink after drink, carrying some kind of weight. Now I realized, that was right around the time Susie moved into my dad’s house.

I was there for the same reason—trying to escape the fact that my dad had cheated on my mom. Two broken people, sitting side by side, drinking one after another.

I don’t remember how we ended up together. I don’t even remember bringing him back to my place.

All I know is I woke up the next morning in my studio apartment, both of us naked, my body sore enough to tell me exactly what happened.

Zane said he wanted to take responsibility. I figured it was a good way to dodge the arranged marriage my dad was pushing. So that same afternoon, we quietly tied the knot at City Hall. And until now, my family still had no idea I was married.