Chapter 1 The Wrong Bride
Arora's POV
What the hell are you doing in my bed?”
The question dragged me out of sleep.
I opened my eyes to a ceiling I didn't recognize.
For several seconds, I simply stared at it, waiting for the fog in my head to clear. It didn't. My skull throbbed with every heartbeat, and when I shifted beneath the sheets, an unfamiliar ache ran through my body.
Then I noticed the curtains.
Heavy gold fabric framed a tall window, spilling morning sunlight across a room I had never seen before.
My stomach tightened.
I pulled the sheet higher and turned toward the voice.
And stopped breathing.
Edward Sterling was sitting beside me.
Bare-chested, his dark hair a mess, he stared at me as though I had somehow materialized in his bed. His expression was controlled, but barely.
I knew that face. Everyone did. His photographs appeared in newspapers and business magazines often enough that I could have recognized him from across a crowded room.
But I had never expected to wake up beside him.
“Edward?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Arora.”
The way he said my name made something cold settle in my stomach.
His gaze moved over me, then dropped to my hand.
I followed it.
A ring sat on my finger.
My breath caught.
Edward reached toward the nightstand and picked up a folded sheet of paper. He opened it.
My name was there.
So was his.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he looked at me again.
“Why are you wearing that ring?”
I stared at it as though it belonged to someone else.
“I...”
My fingers trembled.
I pushed myself upright, gripping the sheet against my chest. The room tilted, forcing me to catch the headboard.
What had happened?
I searched through the previous night.
The wedding.
The reception.
Lilian.
I could still picture my sister in her wedding dress, surrounded by people congratulating her. I remembered the champagne. The music. Mother's voice somewhere behind me. I remembered dancing for a while, then feeling a dull headache settle behind my eyes.
After that..
Nothing.
My memory simply stopped.
“I don't know.”
Edward's expression didn't change.
“What?”
“I don't know how I got here.”
He gave a short, cold laugh.
“You don't remember?”
“No.”
“You don't remember marrying me?”
I shook my head.
His jaw tightened.
“You don't remember taking your sister's place at her own wedding?”
“I didn't take her place.”
“Then explain the ring.”
His voice sharpened.
“Explain the marriage certificate with your name on it. Explain why I went to sleep beside Lilian Bennett and woke up beside you.”
“I can't.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I know.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for the shirt lying on the floor.
I watched him dress, trying desperately to piece together the missing hours.
Nothing came.
Edward buttoned his shirt without looking at me.
“You expect me to believe this?”
“I expect you to believe what I'm telling you.”
“That you have no idea how you ended up married to me?”
“Yes.”
He finally looked at me.
There was disbelief in his eyes, but underneath it was something harsher. Betrayal, perhaps. Whatever he had expected to wake up to this morning, it hadn't been me.
“I would never do this to Lilian,” I said.
My voice shook, so I forced myself to continue.
“She is my sister.”
“I know who she is.”
“I've spent my entire life watching her get everything she wanted. I wouldn't suddenly decide to steal her wedding.”
His mouth tightened.
“Steal my marriage, you mean.”
“I never wanted your marriage.”
That made him pause.
I swallowed.
“I never wanted any of this.”
“Convenient.”
The word was quiet.
Somehow, that was worse than shouting.
He picked up his jacket from a chair.
I looked at him.
“You really think I planned this?”
“You're asking me to believe that you accidentally married me.”
“I don't know what happened.”
“You expect me to accept that?”
“No.” I drew a breath. “I expect you to understand that I don't have an explanation yet.”
He stared at me.
I could feel my fear returning, creeping back beneath the anger.
I was sitting in a man's bed with no memory of how I'd gotten there. I had no idea what had happened after the reception. I didn't know why I was wearing his ring.
But being frightened didn't mean I had to let him accuse me of something I hadn't done.
“I didn't replace Lilian,” I said. “I didn't seduce you. I didn't arrange this.”
“You're saying you had nothing to do with it?”
“Yes.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
The silence that followed was almost worse than the questions.
Edward studied me.
For the first time since I'd opened my eyes, he wasn't looking at me like an enemy.
He looked confused.
“You really don't know,” he said.
It wasn't a question this time.
I shook my head.
“No.”
The word came out thinner than I wanted.
His expression shifted.
Only slightly.
His shoulders loosened, and for half a second, I thought he might believe me.
Then the moment disappeared.
He picked up his jacket.
“I don't care whose idea this was.”
He slipped it on.
“I went to bed married to Lilian Bennett. I woke up married to her sister. Someone is going to explain that before I have this marriage dissolved.”
My throat tightened.
“Edward”
He reached the door.
“Get dressed.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“You're coming with me.”
“Where?”
He opened the door.
“To get some answers.”
Then he stepped into the hallway.
The door shut behind him.
I sat there for a moment, clutching the sheet, listening to his footsteps disappear across what sounded like a marble floor.
Then his voice carried through the door.
“Get me the Bennetts. Now.”
A pause.
“I don't care what time it is. Bring Lilian here.”
Another pause.
His voice dropped.
“I want to know what your daughter did to my wife.”
