One Night to Forever novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Wrong Woman

Cassidy goes to Ryerson Tower to say it was her and finds Bianca on Desmond's arm as his future wife; as security walks her out she hums the song and he orders her to stop.

On Monday morning my sister stood in our kitchen with a spatula and the look of a woman holding a verdict.

"Say it again," Hazel said. "Slowly."

"I spent the night with Desmond Ryerson, in Bianca's dress, with Bianca's badge."

"And he said he'd marry you."

"At four in the morning, in the dark, in bed," I said. "I know how it sounds."

Hazel is twenty-four, a nursing student, and she has never once let a fact slide past her.

"And now Bianca says his assistant called her," she said.

"Bianca says it was a joke."

I held out my phone.

Bianca had written back on Sunday, "LOL he found my name from the badge. I'll sort it out Monday. Don't panic."

Hazel read it twice and handed it back.

"I never liked how fast she types when she lies," she said.

"She's my best friend."

"I know," Hazel said. "That's why I'm annoyed."

I didn't wait for Bianca to sort it out.

By nine I stood in the lobby of Ryerson Tower in jeans and my good boots, with ink still under one thumbnail.

The lobby was all white marble and a glass wall that looked down on the river.

A crowd of people in dark suits was gathered by the elevators, and a camera flashed once.

I pushed through them with my heart in my throat.

Desmond Ryerson stood in the middle, taller than I had imagined in the dark.

He had short dark hair, grey eyes and a jaw that looked cut with a knife.

He wore a charcoal suit.

My legs went weak, because I knew exactly what that jaw felt like against my neck.

Then I saw who stood beside him.

Bianca wore a cream suit I had never seen, her blonde hair blown out smooth, and her hand was tucked through his arm.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the lean man with the wire glasses said to the crowd.

It was the man who had given me the black card.

"Mr. Ryerson is pleased to present Ms. Bianca Thorsby, who will be Mrs. Ryerson."

Flashbulbs went off like gunfire.

Bianca smiled, shy and flushed, a smile I had watched her practice in our dorm mirror.

I stopped breathing.

Desmond looked down at her, and I saw a small crease between his eyebrows.

"Your voice is higher than I remember," he said quietly.

"It's the nerves," Bianca said. "I've barely slept, Desmond."

My whole body went cold.

"Wait," I said, loud enough that heads turned. "That's wrong."

The man with the glasses looked at me.

"This is a private event, miss."

"I'm Cassidy Rowe. I was the one in the elevator. I was wearing her badge."

Nobody moved.

Desmond turned his head and looked at me for the first time in daylight.

His grey eyes went over my face, my hair, my mouth, and nothing in them changed.

He didn't know me.

He had spent five hours with his hands on me, and he did not know my face.

"Do I know you?" he said.

"It was dark," I said, and my voice cracked. "You said you'd know my voice."

"Cass, honey," Bianca said, in her softest voice. "You're so sweet to come. But you're upset."

"You told me to go," I said. "You gave me the dress."

"I lent you a dress for a party," Bianca said.

She gave a small, pained laugh to the camera.

"She's a friend. She has a little crush on Desmond. It's a bit sad."

Someone in the crowd laughed.

I felt my face burn red from my collar to my hair.

"Ford," Desmond said.

The man with the glasses nodded once, and two security guards in black closed in on either side of me.

"Ms. Rowe, please come with us," one of them said.

"I'm not leaving, I'm telling the truth."

"Then you can tell it outside."

They took my elbows, politely and firmly, and walked me backward across the marble.

Bianca watched me go with her hand on Desmond's sleeve, and she didn't look sorry at all.

I tried to think of a single thing I could say to him that Bianca could not have said.

My mouth made up its own mind.

I was so frightened and so angry that I started to hum.

I didn't even know I was doing it.

It was three low notes of a song about a river.

Behind me, the whole lobby went quiet.

"Stop," Desmond said.

I turned.

He had taken a step away from Bianca, and his hand had come up, as if someone had touched the back of his neck.

"Stop," he said again, rough. "Do that again."

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