The Don’s Stolen Bride

Chapter 2

CAMILLE’S POV

10 hours earlier

I read the content of the letter again, my feet failing me as I fall to the ground.

Cam,

Don’t waste your time looking for me. By now, you’ve probably realized I’ve taken everything. I sold the house and took the savings, all of it. I needed the money more than you did—don’t pretend you couldn’t afford to lose it.

Your things are with the weird cat lady down the street. I thought that might be convenient, yeah I also borrowed some of your clothes for my new girl, you’ll figure things out, you always do.

Tell your sister I’m sorry. Life’s tough.

—Alex

The room spun around me.

My knees gave out and I hit the cold floor hard, the letter slipping from my fingers as everything came crashing down at once.

“No…” I whispered weakly.

Gone.

All of it.

My savings. Years of hard work, scrimping and saving, every dollar I’d carefully set aside for Kate’s treatment. Gone. My throat tightened as I fought to breathe.

My chest tightened painfully as I looked toward the giant SOLD sign planted outside the lawn.

Alex sold our house.

He took the money.

He took everything.

A sob ripped out of me before I could stop it.

My phone alarm suddenly blared from my pocket, making me flinch. I shakily pulled it out and silenced it.

11:34 AM.

I’d just gotten home from my morning library shift to this nightmare.

Sniffling, I quickly dialed Sabrina.

She picked up on the third ring.

“Hey, girlie—”

“Bri…” My voice cracked instantly.

There was immediate silence.

“Cami?” Her tone changed completely. “What happened?”

“Alex is gone,” I sobbed. “He took everything.”

“Oh my God.”

“He emptied the account, Bri. Everything for Kate is gone.”

“Listen to me,” she said quickly. “Stay right there. Don’t move. I’m coming.”

The call ended immediately after.

I sat there on the pavement outside the locked house, staring blankly ahead while tears kept sliding down my face.

*****************************

A few minutes later, Sabrina’s car screeched to the curb.

She jumped out without even parking properly.

“Where is that useless piece of s**t?!” she yelled, storming toward me.

I just shook my head silently.

The second she saw my face, her anger softened.

“Oh, Cami…”

She pulled me into a tight hug and I completely broke down again.

Sabrina was all I had.

Well… her and Alex.

Or at least I thought I had Alex.

I met him last year while waitressing at a club. He was charming, funny, generous with tips. I honestly assumed he only wanted s*x at first, but he kept showing up. Kept trying.

And honestly?

At the time, I needed something good in my life.

Kate had just been prescribed new medication, which meant even more hospital bills, and I was drowning trying to keep up. Then Alex showed up acting like some kind of lifeline.

Turns out he was the f*****g storm.

Alex was an engineer. Though Sabrina always called him a “broke mechanic.”

Still, she supported me because she knew I loved him.

When Alex suggested opening a joint savings account for Kate’s treatment, Sabrina warned me not to do it.

I should’ve listened.

“I’m such an i***t,” I cried into her shoulder.

“No.” Sabrina pulled back sharply. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for what that f*****g dickhead did to you,”

I looked away because deep down, I did blame myself.

The signs had always been there.

I just ignored them.

We went to my neighbor’s house to collect my things.

The old woman looked genuinely heartbroken when she saw me.

“I tried calling you earlier, sweetheart,” she said softly. “I saw them moving everything out.”

I nodded weakly.

She’d warned me about Alex before too.

Said she saw him drunk half the time whenever I worked late shifts.

But Alex always brushed her off.

“She hates me because I don’t like her cats,” he’d joked once.

Now I felt stupid for believing him.

After loading my boxes into Sabrina’s car, we headed to her apartment.

Her place was tiny. A cramped studio with barely enough room for one person, but Sabrina still made space for me without hesitation.

She was trying to become a model, constantly running between castings and gigs.

“Come on,” she said, dragging one of my bags upstairs. “I’ve got a gig by two and my back already hates you.”

An hour later, we finally finished moving everything inside.

I looked around the small apartment and swallowed hard.

“Thank you, Bri. Seriously.”

She rolled her eyes before hugging me again.

“You’re my best friend, dumbass. You don’t have to thank me for basic human decency.”

She pulled back and held my face gently.

“It’ll be okay, Cami. You always figure things out.”

I forced a small smile.

That’s what Alex wrote in the letter too.

You’ll figure it out.

I hated him for that.

**************************************

I rushed into the café later that afternoon, nearly crashing into a customer on my way in.

“Sorry!”

“You’re late again, Summers.”

Mrs. Rogers didn’t even look at me as she worked the cappuccino machine.

I gave her a nervous smile before turning to the customer at the counter. I took her order and headed to the machine to make the coffee.

A few minutes later, she walked past me again.

“You keep showing up late and your paycheck’s going to start matching your excuses.”

I bit back my response and kept making coffee.

The rest of the shift passed in a blur of angry customers, burnt espresso, and exhaustion.

By 5:30 PM, the café had mostly emptied out.

I untied my apron quickly.

“See you tomorrow, Mrs. Rogers.”

She answered with a grunt.

Lovely.

My shift at Valeria Hotel started at eight, which gave me enough time to visit Kate first.

Valeria Hotel and Suites was basically a playground for rich people. Expensive wine, expensive suits, expensive escorts pretending not to be escorts.

I had three jobs.

Four if you counted occasionally babysitting my neighbor’s kids for 20 dollars an hour.

I took the bus straight to the hospital.

The second I entered her room, the exhaustion hit me all over again.

Kate looked so small lying there.

Too still.

Too quiet.

I sat beside her bed and gently held her hand.

Two years ago, we got into an argument while driving home.

It was my fault. We were arguing over a song to listen to when a truck ran into us. My fingers brushed against the scar running along my arm as guilt settled heavily in my chest again.

“I miss you,” I whispered softly.

The doctors called it a coma caused by severe brain trauma.

I called it my fault.

Most of my paycheck went toward keeping her alive. Our mom’s insurance covered some of the bills, but nowhere near enough.

My phone alarm buzzed suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts.

Time for my next shift.

I kissed Kate’s forehead gently before standing up.

“Goodnight, baby sis.”

Then I headed to the bus stop, already exhausted before the night had even started.

At Valeria, I went straight to the locker room to change. The night-shift uniforms were ridiculously short. We looked more like strippers than waitresses.

I complained once.

My boss Zeke told me to quit if I hated it so much.

Jerk.

My coworker Cassidy turned this shift down when Zeke offered it, but the pay was a hundred dollars an hour and I wasn’t stupid enough to reject that kind of money.

The second I stepped into the lounge, I immediately spotted Zeke’s frown from across the room. He didn’t like me—that much I knew.

Ignoring him, I headed toward the bar.

“Take these to the VIP Lounge,” the bartender said, placing a bottle of vodka and a glass on a tray. “These are expensive—be careful.”

The moment I reached the table, I felt the tension instantly.

Two insanely attractive men sat across from each other in dark suits, staring like they were seconds away from murder. Behind them stood men in suits with earpieces and expressions that screamed don’t ask questions.

The atmosphere was suffocating, the kind of tension you could slice with a knife.

I set the tray down carefully and began placing their glasses on the coasters. That’s when I felt a hand on my lower back, any closer, and it would’ve been on my ass.

“How much for a night?”

I froze, his words ringing in my ears. Slowly, I turned around.

Dark eyes.

Smug smile.

Rich asshole energy.

Without thinking, I grabbed the vodka glass and threw it directly in his face.“f**k you!”

The entire lounge went silent.

I stormed away before I completely lost my mind.

Valeria’s customers were rich snobs, and we were trained to ignore their behavior with politeness but today I had lost my cool.

Shit.

I went straight to the locker room, blinking back angry tears.

Could this day get any worse?

I changed quickly, my hands shaking the entire time.

I wasn’t getting paid tonight, I knew that already. My hands shook as what I had done slowly sank in.

Fuck.

Zeke definitely saw what happened, and honestly? I didn’t have the energy to deal with him tonight.

I grabbed my bag and left through the lobby exit.

Outside, I stood near the curb waiting for a taxi and finally let out a long breath.

“f**k him!” I heard a voice curse nearby.

Wonderful.

I turned slightly and saw him standing a few feet away waiting by the valet station, his men surrounding him like bodyguards in some mafia movie.

I quickly looked away.

Maybe if I ignored him, he’d disappear.

“Off your shift already?” he drawled lazily.

I tightened my jacket around myself and pretended not to hear him.

A second later, he moved beside me.

“Ignoring me now, princess?”

I sighed heavily before turning toward him.

“Can I help you?”

His eyes slowly traveled down my body before meeting mine again.

It should’ve annoyed me more than it did.

“If you’re waiting for an apology,” I said coldly, “you’re not getting one. You had no right to touch me.”

“You can help me very much,”

My stomach tightened. Was he going to have me arrested for throwing a drink at him? My gaze dropped to his sleek, tailored suit. The fabric was still damp, evidence of my impulsive reaction. I could offer to pay for it, but—s**t.

A suit like that probably cost more than my entire apartment.

“What do you want?” I asked tiredly.

“A night with you.”

I blinked.

“Excuse me?”

He stepped closer casually and I instinctively stepped back.

“Relax,” he said smoothly. “You’ll be compensated, of course.”

He snapped his fingers and one of his men handed him a checkbook.

He flipped it open and held it toward me.

“How much?” he asked, raising one perfectly arched eyebrow, staring at me intently as if he were bored and I needed to hurry up.

For a second, I genuinely thought he was joking.

Then I realized he wasn’t.

Disgust twisted in my stomach.

“I don’t know what you’re high on, but I’m not a prostitute,”

He shrugged, completely unbothered.

“I never said you were.”

“You’re literally trying to buy me.”

“I’m trying to save time.”

I laughed once in disbelief.

“Wow. So you’re not just arrogant, you’re insane too.”

He smirked slightly.

“I’ve been called worse.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Look, mister, I don’t know what sick… rich… deluded fantasies you have, but I’m not sleeping with some rich stranger because he waves money in my face.”

He chuckled softly like I was entertaining him.

“Oh, you will.”

I stared at him.

The confidence in his voice irritated me more than it should’ve.

“I always get what I want,” he added calmly before slipping his card into my jacket pocket.

The audacity.

“Men like you are disgusting,” I shot back angrily. “You think every woman has a price.”

His expression barely changed.

“Everyone does.”

I scoffed. “No. Men like you just can’t handle hearing the word no.”

A taxi finally pulled up beside me and relief hit instantly.

I reached for the handle.

“Find someone else to harass,” I muttered. “Because I will never sleep with you, jerk.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“You’re very attached to your dignity for someone who desperately needs this job.”

I turned back sharply.

“Not that it’s your business, but I have other jobs, And I’m definitely not sleeping with a stranger to keep one.”

His smirk turned cold. “We’ll see,” he said quietly. “Because if ruining your career is what it takes to get you into my bed…” his gaze dragged over my face slowly, “then nobody on the West Coast is going to hire you.”

I snorted.

“Yeah? Good luck with that, psycho.”

Then I climbed into the taxi without looking back.

What an absolute sicko.