Chapter 2 - THE MAN EVERYONE STOPPED TALKING FOR
The first thing I learned about Giovanni Fierro was that people moved when he walked.
Not obviously.
Nobody scattered.
Nobody ran.
They simply adjusted.
A waiter carrying champagne stepped backward.
Two businessmen near the dance floor stopped arguing.
An older woman who had spent the evening ignoring me suddenly smiled as though she had been waiting all night to become my closest friend.
And Tyler?
Tyler looked like someone had punched him.
Giovanni led me onto the dance floor.
His hand settled lightly at my waist.
Not possessive.
Not intimate.
Just enough to sell the lie.
“Relax,” he murmured.
“You just told an entire ballroom I’m supposed to pretend I married you.”
“I haven’t told them yet.”
“That does not make me feel better.”
“It should.”
“Why?”
“Because you still have time to run.”
I looked toward my table.
Then toward Tyler.
He was still staring.
Vanessa had one hand wrapped around his arm now.
My mother stood near the cake display with her mouth slightly open.
Sandra, another cousin who had spent cocktail hour asking whether my shoes were vintage or “just old,” had stopped mid-sentence.
Running suddenly seemed less appealing.
“I’m staying.”
Giovanni’s mouth almost curved.
“Good.”
“You seem pleased.”
“I dislike wasting an entrance.”
I stared at him.
“Do you rehearse lines like that?”
“No.”
“That’s worse.”
We began moving with the music.
I hadn’t danced with a man in years.
Not like this.
Not with someone who seemed completely unconcerned that half the ballroom was watching.
“Why do they know you?” I asked.
“I own things.”
“Lots of people own things.”
“Apparently I own more memorable things.”
“That still explains nothing.”
“It’s enough for the dance.”
His gaze shifted past me.
“Your ex is coming.”
My stomach tightened.
“Tyler?”
“Unless another man in a navy tuxedo is currently walking toward us looking like he wants to challenge a train.”
I almost laughed.
“Do not let him make a scene at my sister’s wedding.”
“That depends on him.”
“Giovanni.”
His eyes returned to mine.
“I won’t start anything.”
There was something about the way he said it that made me suspicious of what counted as starting.
Tyler reached us before the song ended.
“Jessica.”
I kept moving.
“Busy.”
His face tightened.
“Can I talk to you?”
“No.”
Giovanni said nothing.
That somehow made everything worse for Tyler.
He looked at him.
“Fierro.”
Giovanni gave one small nod.
“Brooks.”
They knew each other.
I immediately stopped dancing.
“What?”
Both men looked at me.
“You know him?”
Tyler’s expression changed.
“Jessica, what exactly did this man tell you?”
Giovanni’s hand dropped from my waist.
“That’s between my wife and me.”
The word wife rippled through the people nearest us.
I heard someone inhale.
Tyler stared.
“What did you just say?”
Giovanni calmly answered:
“My wife.”
My mother dropped her clutch.
Literally.
The small silver bag hit the floor near the champagne table.
Sophia, my bride sister, turned so quickly her veil nearly caught on a floral arrangement.
Vanessa went white.
I looked at Giovanni.
“You skipped straight to announcement.”
“You said you were staying.”
“That was not legal consent to improvise.”
His eyes warmed.
“Noted.”
Tyler laughed sharply.
“This is ridiculous.”
Giovanni looked at him.
“Which part?”
“You expect people to believe Jessica Hale secretly married you?”
There it was.
Not that Giovanni had a wife.
That I could possibly be her.
I felt it.
Giovanni did too.
His expression became colder.
“Why is that difficult to believe?”
Tyler realized too late that he had exposed himself.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It sounded clear.”
Vanessa arrived beside him.
She looked at my left hand.
No ring.
Immediately.
“Where’s the wedding ring?”
I should have known women like Vanessa noticed jewelry before lies.
I opened my mouth.
Giovanni spoke first.
“Being resized.”
I stared at him.
Vanessa narrowed her eyes.
“Convenient.”
“Not particularly. It was my grandmother’s.”
Something changed around us.
An elderly woman near the head table whispered to another guest.
Apparently Giovanni’s grandmother’s ring meant something too.
I was increasingly convinced I had chosen the most complicated stranger in Chicago.
My mother finally reached us.
“Jessica.”
Her eyes moved from me to Giovanni and back.
“You’re married?”
Before I could answer, Sophia appeared behind her.
“What is happening?”
I looked at my sister.
For one second, guilt hit me.
Her wedding.
Her night.
My fake billionaire husband.
“I can explain.”
Sophia looked Giovanni up and down.
“Please do.”
Giovanni extended his hand.
“Giovanni Fierro.”
“I know who you are.”
Of course she did.
Everyone knew except me.
Sophia looked at me again.
“Jessica?”
“I…”
My mouth failed.
Giovanni leaned closer.
“Do you trust your sister?”
I frowned.
“Yes.”
“Then tell her privately.”
That surprised me.
He wasn’t forcing the lie deeper.
Not yet.
Sophia studied him too.
Then she turned to our mother.
“Mom, go enjoy the reception.”
“I am the mother of the bride.”
“And I love you.”
“That means nothing right now.”
“Exactly.”
Sophia took my arm.
“Jessica. Hallway.”
Giovanni released my hand immediately.
“I’ll be here.”
Tyler scoffed.
“For how long?”
Giovanni looked at him.
“As long as she wants.”
That silenced him.
Sophia dragged me into the service corridor.
The door shut.
She turned.
“What. The hell.”
“It’s fake.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“We met ten minutes ago.”
She stared.
Then stared harder.
“You fake-married Giovanni Fierro?”
“Technically he fake-married me.”
“Jessica!”
“I know.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“Apparently I am the only person in Illinois who does not.”
Sophia pressed both hands to her face.
“Fierro Holdings.”
“Okay.”
“Ports. Freight. Hotels. Construction. Private security.”
“Still not explaining the panic.”
She lowered her voice.
“Dad used to say the Fierros were the kind of family you never borrowed money from.”
Our father had died six years earlier.
He had been a respected surgeon.
Conservative.
Careful.
Not a man who frightened easily.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. Rich people stuff. Dangerous rich people stuff.”
“That’s not helpful.”
Sophia grabbed my hands.
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“Touch you?”
“Only while dancing.”
“Why you?”
“I don’t know.”
That wasn't entirely true.
He needed a fake wife.
I needed a reason not to disappear.
But he had known my name.
My age.
My job.
Lily.
That part had not stopped bothering me.
“Did you tell him about Lily?”
“No.”
Sophia went still.
“Then how did he know?”
Exactly.
The door opened.
I turned.
Not Giovanni.
My mother.
Her eyes were furious.
“Do you have any idea what you've done?”
Sophia stepped forward.
“Mom.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You make everything difficult.”
I felt seventeen again.
The disappointing daughter.
The one who became pregnant before medical school interviews.
The one Tyler left.
The one who chose nursing because it allowed me to start earning sooner.
The one nobody in the family quite considered successful enough to brag about.
“It’s Sophia’s wedding,” I said.
“Yes, and instead of letting her have one evening—”
Sophia interrupted.
“Jessica didn’t do anything.”
“Half the ballroom thinks she secretly married Giovanni Fierro.”
“Good,” Sophia snapped. “At least they stopped asking why Tyler left her.”
Silence.
My mother stared.
So did I.
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
I swallowed.
“No.”
“You shouldn’t have been seated at Table Twelve.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew?”
“I saw the seating chart after rehearsal.”
“Then why—”
“Mom changed it.”
I looked at her.
My mother’s face changed.
“Jessica’s presence beside Tyler would have been awkward.”
“For whom?” I asked.
“You know Vanessa is pregnant.”
“So was I when Tyler left.”
“Jessica.”
“No.”
Something inside me was done.
Maybe it had started when I took Giovanni’s hand.
Maybe before.
“You spent five years telling me not to make people uncomfortable with the truth.”
My mother looked away.
“I was trying to help you move forward.”
“By putting me beside the kitchen?”
Sophia whispered, “Jess…”
I shook my head.
“I’m going home.”
I opened the door.
Giovanni stood at the end of the corridor.
Alone.
Waiting.
He saw my face.
His expression changed.
Not pity.
Something more dangerous.
“Ready?”
“To leave.”
“Good.”
My mother stepped out behind me.
“Jessica, you cannot leave your sister’s wedding with that man.”
Giovanni looked at her.
“Why not?”
She stiffened.
“This is a family matter.”
He glanced at me.
“She’s family?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps someone should have treated her like it.”
My mother went silent.
I should have been offended that a stranger defended me.
Instead, I nearly cried.
We walked toward the ballroom exit.
Tyler stood near the doors.
Waiting.
“Jessica.”
I kept walking.
He stepped in front of me.
“Don’t do something stupid because you're angry.”
Giovanni stopped beside me.
I looked at Tyler.
“You married my cousin.”
“Yes.”
“You came to my table and told me having Lily ruined my future.”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t say ruined.”
“You said I threw it away.”
Vanessa appeared behind him.
“Tyler, let her go.”
Interesting.
She sounded nervous.
Giovanni looked at Tyler.
“I agree with your wife.”
The emphasis was deliberate.
Tyler’s eyes hardened.
“You stay out of this.”
Giovanni’s expression barely changed.
“I was.”
A pause.
“Then you insulted my wife.”
Tyler laughed.
“She is not your wife.”
Giovanni reached inside his jacket.
Half the people near us froze.
He removed a card.
Not a weapon.
A hotel key card.
He handed it to me.
“Penthouse at the Langford.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You need somewhere to stay tonight?”
“I have an apartment.”
“Then ignore it.”
He placed the card in my palm.
“No conditions.”
Tyler stared at the card.
Then at Giovanni.
Recognition.
Fear.
Something more.
“You bought the Langford?”
Giovanni looked at him.
“Last month.”
Tyler went pale.
Why would that matter?
Giovanni saw my confusion.
“We’ll discuss it outside.”
Tyler suddenly grabbed my elbow.
“Jessica, wait.”
Giovanni's entire body changed.
Not dramatically.
That was worse.
His eyes dropped to Tyler’s hand.
“Remove it.”
Tyler immediately did.
I looked between them.
“Why are you afraid of him?”
Tyler said nothing.
I asked again.
“Tyler.”
His face tightened.
“Because Fierro Holdings just bought the debt on my company.”
The hallway seemed to go silent.
My ex-husband owned Brooks Medical Supply.
A growing healthcare-distribution company his father had started.
The business Tyler had bragged about for years.
The company he said proved he had made the right choices.
I looked at Giovanni.
“You knew who Tyler was before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who I was because of him.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
The dance had never been random.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Giovanni glanced toward the ballroom.
“Not here.”
“Tell me.”
His amber eyes met mine.
“I bought Brooks Medical’s debt because someone inside the company has been billing pediatric hospitals for equipment that was never delivered.”
My nursing brain clicked immediately.
“What equipment?”
“Neonatal respiratory supplies.”
My stomach turned.
Lily had spent three weeks in NICU after she was born early.
I knew exactly how critical those supplies were.
“Tyler knows?”
Giovanni looked at him.
“That is what I’m trying to determine.”
Tyler went white.
Then Giovanni said the sentence that changed the entire night.
“And Jessica?”
May you like
“Yes?”
“One of the hospitals involved is yours.”
