The Divorced Heiress Is Entering a New Marriage

“Yes, sir,” I smiled back. I walked back over to Maria.

Maria was watching the Hatfields. “Damn,” she said. “That whole family is fine. Even the old man.”

I shook my head at her, but honestly, she was right.

Dylan came through the balloon arch at five til, looking slightly distressed. “Hey, Haze,” he said, looking around the room.

Maria gave me a look. I ignored her. “Hey…you okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” he shook his head. “You and I both know this whole thing is a bad idea. This party, staying married.”

“Yeah, I know. But he seems determined to make it work, so…” I shrugged.

He stared hard into my eyes. “Hazel, after tonight if you need anything, I’m here for you, okay? I mean it, anything.”

That was… weird. “Uh, thank you Dylan,” I said.

He rubbed the back of my shoulder. “Oh, wow,” he said, looking at my dress. “You look amazing.”

Before I could respond, he walked away and started weaving in and out of the tables. He seemed to be ‘eally distracted.

turned to Maria. “Did that seem…

Fucking weird? Yeah. Very,” she said.

ogan came through the arch. “How’s it looking? Do you think we’ll be ready to announce my wife soon?”

My heart sank a little. It was easier when I didn’t know who his wife was. Now that I was about to meet er, I felt like everything was going to change. “Yes, I think just about everyone has arrived. Maybe around :05 I’ll introduce you and then you can tell everyone about her.”

e smiled. “Perfect.” He started to walk away, then turned back. “Hazel, I don’t know if I’ll get another hance to talk to you tonight, so I just want to say thank you. For everything. This party, just…everything.”

nodded and gave him a smile in return. After he disappeared, I turned to Maria.

lylan,” I said.

luh?”

ou

he answer to your question from earlier. I couldn’t get between Logan and his wife, you saw how happy looked. Dylan it is. Hypothetically, of course.”

tell I also said no barriers between you and either of them, but at least you’ve finally given me an swer,” she said. “I think that’s a damn good choice.

>oked at my watch. 8:04. I took a deep breath. “Well, guess I should get in place.”

irla gave me a sympathetic smile and squeezed my fiand. I walked to the front of the room where the

I shrugged. “I got so busy getting ready for this I just forgot,” I said. “It’s no big deal, I’ll be okay.”

Dylan’s face fell and he shook his head. “Logan does not deserve you,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t

hear him.

We sat in silence until Maria came back. She handed me a plate of lasagna, which is my very favorite form of pasta.

Dylan stood and smiled at me. “I’ll come back and check on you in a bit. I want to say hi to Logan’s folks before they leave. They’re notorious for leaving parties early.”

He squeezed my shoulder and I watched him walk away.

it I love

“Damn,” Maria said. 1 hate to see him go but I love watching him walk away.”

“You slut,” I said through a mouthful of lasagna. She laughed.

I shoved fork–full after fork–full of lasagna in my mouth, like I hadn’t seen food in three months. I was glad Dylan had walked away for this. After the lasagna was gone, I scooped up the remaining sauce and shoved it into my mouth too.

“Uh..you good?” Maria asked, staring at me.

I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out anymore, anyway.”

“Good,” Maria said and took my plate from me. I’ll be right back.”

I looked around for Natalie. I saw her near the drink table with Logan. I watched as he leaned in, whispered in her ear, then exited the room through the balloon arch/tunnel. She watched him leave, then made a beeline for me.

“So,” she said, her warm beaming smile replaced with a cold, mean one. “Surprised to see me?”

1 had my suspicions,” I said, standing to face her.

“Well I knew you were Logan’s secretary all along. I’ve been talking to Logan a lot about you, actually,” she said with a smile.

A weight dropped into my stomach. “I know, I’ve seen the texts, you psychopath. You know nothing was going on between the two of us.”

“Well obviously. I mean, look at you,” she looked down at my chin. “Saving that sauce for later?” She pointed at my chin.

I wiped at my chin, my face burning.

“But it doesn’t matter that nothing is going on. I have that man wrapped around my finger and he’s going to do anything I ask,” she said.

I narrowed my eyes at her. I could only imagine what the Queen of Darkness had in store for me.

“And my

first request,” she continued, “now that the cat’s out of the bag, is that he fire you.” She sneered.

My heart skipped a beat and my eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t..” Who was I kidding? She absolutely would.

“Oh, I already have. I’ve been putting things in place for this for awhile now. After this party is over, so are you,” she laughed.

s job.

“Natalie, please,” I pleaded. “I need this

“Sorry, too late,” she shrugged.

Logan walked back through the balloon tunnel and stopped in his tracks when he spotted the two of us together.

Natalie snapped back into her sweet, warm loving wife mode and ran over to him. “Oh, baby, I missed. you!” She planted her lips on his. He looked at me while she kissed him. I looked down and turned away until I saw their feet walking back towards the party guests.

Maria was swiftly walking back towards me. “Oh my god, I just saw Natalie was talking to you. Are you okay? What did she say to you?”

“She’s making Logan fire me,” I said in a whisper, my brain still trying to wrap itself around all the news I had gotten so far this evening. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“She’s what?” Maria said angrily. “Oh, I’ll kill her…” she started to walk towards Natalie but I grabbed her

arm.

“Not here,” I said, pulling her back. “Too many witnesses.”

“Oh, right. Good looking out,” she nodded. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You lure her down into the parking garage.

Dylan walked up at that moment, making Maria stop mid–sentence. He was impressively carrying three glasses of wine in his hand. He handed one to each of us.

“1 saw you were talking to Natalie. What do you think of her?” He asked, taking a sip of wine.

“I think she’s a world–class bitch,” I said, the words spewing out before I could stop myself.

He did a spit–take, blowing his wine back into his glass. Then he let out a snort. “You got all that from one conversation?” He asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“No, I got it from a lifetime of living with her,” I said. “Natalie is my sister.”