MY BEST FRIEND BECAME MY HUSBAND 💗

WAIT! I AM A PLAYER TOO

“There’s one condition I haven’t told you yet.”

Amari’s voice pulled me back to the present.

I folded my arms. “You mean there’s more?”

“My family cannot know this marriage is temporary.”

I looked down at the contract again.

“So you want me to marry you for one year, pretend to be in love with you, convince both our families that this is real, and then quietly return to normal?”

“That’s the plan.”

“You make it sound very simple.”

“It should be.”

I gave him a look. “Nothing involving our families has ever been simple.”

Amari almost smiled, but the expression disappeared quickly.

“There’s another reason I came to you, Ayana.”

“What?”

He hesitated.

“Vanessa.”

The moment I heard her name, my fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

Of course.

Vanessa Sterling.

The girl who had always looked at me as though I had taken something that belonged to her.

She had hated me long before Amari’s family decided she would be the perfect woman for him. I never understood why. We attended the same schools, moved in the same circles, and appeared at the same family events.

But behind her perfect smile was someone who knew exactly how to turn people against you without ever looking guilty.

I learned that the hard way.

Two years ago, I had been in a relationship with Ethan Brooks. We had been happy, or at least I thought we were.

Then Vanessa entered the picture.

She told Ethan that I had insulted her. When that did not work, she created a scene at a charity event and made it look as though I had hurt her.

By the end of the night, Vanessa was crying.

I was the villain.

And Ethan believed her.

He never asked for my side of the story.

He simply ended our relationship and walked away.

I had promised myself I would never allow Vanessa to control my life again.

Yet now, here she was.

Trying to take Amari.

“She knows you’re here,” I said.

Amari’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

“Vanessa always knows where to find trouble.”

Before he could answer, my phone lit up on the table.

A message.

Vanessa: I heard Amari is visiting you. Don’t get any ideas, Ayana. Some people never learn.

I stared at the screen.

Then I smiled.

Amari noticed. “What is it?”

I turned the phone toward him.

He read the message, his expression becoming colder with every word.

“You don’t have to get involved,” he said. “I’ll handle Vanessa.”

“No.”

“Ayana.”

“You came here asking me to help you escape a marriage you don’t want.”

“Yes.”

“And Vanessa thinks she can walk into your life, push me aside, and get everything she wants.”

Amari watched me carefully.

I picked up the contract and turned to the final page.

“She already ruined one relationship by making me look like the bad person,” I said. “I won’t let her do it again.”

“You don’t have to prove anything to her.”

“I’m not trying to prove anything.”

I reached for the pen.

“Then why are you agreeing?”

I looked up at him.

“Because Vanessa started this game.”

I signed my name.

Ayana Carter.

Then I pushed the contract back toward Amari.

“And she should know something by now.”

“What?”

I smiled.

“Two can play the game.”

Amari stared at my signature.

For the first time since he arrived, he looked uncertain.

“Are you sure about this?”

I nodded.

“Completely.”

His phone rang.

The name on the screen made both of us go silent.

Vanessa Sterling.

Amari declined the call.

A second later, another message appeared:

Tell Ayana congratulations. I’ll see both of you tonight.

My smile faded.

“Tonight?” I asked.

Amari looked toward the front gate.

A black car had just stopped outside the Carter estate.

And stepping out of it was Vanessa. 👀