The prenup burned a hole in my pocket as I stormed through the hotel kitchen—where else would a heartbroken bride hide?—with Oliver's infuriating smirk trailing me.
I whipped around. "Explain. Now."
He leaned against a stainless-steel fridge, looking unfairly calm for a man whose brother had just nuked a $200K wedding. "It's standard for Harts. Assets protected, love optional."
"Melanie doesn't *know*." My voice cracked. "She thinks Ethan's 'all in.'"
Oliver's gaze dropped to my white-knuckled grip on the document. "And you're going to tell her? Right now? While she's armed with a cake knife?"
A crash echoed from the ballroom. Glass shattering. Melanie's war cry: *"You slept with her *last night*?!"*
I flinched. "We have to fix this."
"*We*?" Oliver's laugh was dark silk. "You banned me from helping."
"I ban you from *breathing* and you still do it."
His phone buzzed. A text from Ethan:
>> **MEL'S PARENTS JUST THREATENED TO SUE. GET HER TO SIGN THE PRENUP OR THE DEAL'S OFF.**
Oliver's jaw tightened.
I snatched the phone. "What 'deal'?"
A beat. Then—
"The merger." He exhaled. "Ethan's company needs Melanie's family connections. No wedding, no millions."
*Ah.* The final piece.
I tossed the phone back. "So this was always business."
"Isn't everything?" His thumb brushed my wrist where I'd grabbed him—a whisper of contact that shouldn't have seared. "But here's the fun part, Lila. You need this wedding to happen for Melanie. I need it for my family. So…"
He stepped closer. The kitchen's fluorescents caught the gold in his stubble, the devil in his grin.
"We lie."
---
### **🚨 HOW THE SCAM WORKS**
1. **The Play**: Oliver and Lila pretend to reconcile (fake dating trope!).
2. **The Goal**: Convince Melanie love *is* possible… so she signs the prenup and marries Ethan.
3. **The Risk**: Lila's heart (which absolutely does *not* still race when Oliver smirks).
---
### **💋 FAKE-DATING RULE #1: SELL IT**
Five minutes later, Oliver pinned me against the dessert table, his lips a breath from mine as Melanie sobbed into her mother's shoulder.
"Tell me to stop," he murmured—*just like he had three years ago.*
Every cell in my body revolted.
I fisted his shirt. "Don't you dare."
His mouth crashed onto mine.
The room gasped.
And oh—*oh God*—his kiss was a wildfire. A claim. A *lie* so convincing even *I* almost believed it.
Until his teeth nipped my lower lip and he whispered:
"They're buying it."
Then he licked the sting away, and I forgot this was pretend.
---
### **🎭 CLIFFHANGER**
Melanie's shriek cut through the haze: *"LILA! Are you *seriously* making out with the enemy right now?!"*
Oliver pulled back, his pupils blown. "Worse, darling." He smirked. "She's marrying him."
**TO BE CONTINUED…**
*(Chapter 4 teaser: Flashback to Oliver/Lila's first