A Ruler in Disguise novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Bride

Imogen Napier sat on a stool in my back room with a mug of tea going cold in her hands.

She was twenty-seven, tall and polished, with the kind of posture that comes from years of being told how to stand.

Right now she looked like she hadn't slept in a week.

"Weston gave me the pearls at our engagement dinner," she said. "In a velvet box, in front of both families."

"And on Sunday?"

"I wore them to the dress fitting at Magnolia Hall. Then I put them in my dressing room."

"And they vanished."

"He took them," she said.

"He came in while I was in the bath and said he'd have them cleaned."

She turned the receipt over.

"Then I heard they were stolen, and I thought, he would never."

"He planted them," Dina said from the doorway, arms folded. "We have it on video."

"I know. I saw it at breakfast."

Imogen set the mug down.

"I want to say that I'm sorry.

"I should have stood up on the terrace, and I didn't."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because my father owes nine million dollars to three banks."

She said it plainly.

"The merger with Harlow Holdings is the only thing that keeps his company out of bankruptcy.

"It dies if I don't walk down that aisle on Saturday."

I looked at her hands, white-knuckled around the mug.

I thought about how badly I had wanted to be paid.

I had wanted thirty-eight thousand dollars.

She was holding up her father's whole life.

"You don't love him," I said.

"I'd rather marry the sofa."

"Then don't."

"It isn't that simple."

"Miss Napier." Dev's voice came from the corner, where he was sweeping up stems.

We all looked at him.

He leaned the broom against a shelf and took his cap off.

"What if the banks were paid off by someone else?"

Imogen blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"A buyer," he said.

"A trading company from overseas that wants a foothold in the Southeast.

"It would take your father's debt at fair terms and leave him the company."

"Who would do that for a stranger?"

Keep reading free with an account. Start A Ruler in Disguise from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.