I SEE CHEATERS! So Yeah, My Fiancé's Wedding Went Up In Flames! novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Bought Quiet

"I'll think about it," I said.

Kelsey laughed once and went back inside.

The door banged shut behind her, and the moth went on hitting the light.

On Tuesday afternoon, ten days later, Rafferty walked into my bakery for the first time since the wedding.

The lunch rush was over. Sinead was in the back, piping. The counter girl was wiping tables.

He waited until the last customer left. Then he came to the counter in a navy suit with no tie.

He'd lost weight. The suit hung a little off his shoulders.

"Hi," he said.

"We're out of croissants," I said.

"I'm not here for croissants."

I looked at his head before I could stop myself.

The string to Kelsey was there, dull as a penny in a gutter.

The string to her cousin was bright scarlet. It was brighter than it had been at the firehouse.

It had been renewed, and not long ago. This week. Maybe this morning.

He saw where my eyes went. He smoothed his hair, fast, like his mother had.

"Stop that," he said.

"You came to me."

He took a folded paper out of his inside pocket and laid it on the glass of my case.

It was a deed transfer. His name, typed, with a line under it for his signature.

"I'll sign my half of the house over to you," he said. "Today."

"There's a notary at the shipping store on Girard. We can walk over right now."

Sinead had come to the swinging door. She stood there with the piping bag in her fist.

"And?" I said.

"And you don't come on Saturday."

There it was.

"Kelsey invited me," I said. "Front row."

"Kelsey doesn't know what she's doing."

"No," I said. "She doesn't. Does she?"

His jaw went tight.

"Kelsey's cousin told you I looked at her," I said. "Didn't she."

He didn't answer. He didn't have to. His face did it for him.

"My father's paying for this wedding," he said, low and fast. "On one condition."

"If it goes wrong, if there's one more video, I'm done. No money, no job at his firm. Nothing."

"So don't do anything that makes a video."

"I'm offering you your house, Lainey."

"It was always my house." I pushed the paper back across the glass.

"You don't get to sell it to me for my silence."

He looked down at the deed.

"You're going to sit there and ruin my wedding," he said. "Again."

"I'm going to sit there," I said. "That's all I'm going to do. Whatever happens after that is between you and your head."

He picked up the paper. His hands weren't steady.

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