Chapter 18 EIGHTEEN
Only a week to the wedding, Lennox's mom and sister arrived. She met them at their hotel in Midtown. She'd offered to put them up somewhere nicer because Callum had insisted they stay in the best place possible, but her mom had insisted this was fine. Lennox knew her mum just wanted to keep her pride especially considering she had not even met her daughter's husband-to-be. The second Emma saw her, she screamed and tackled her in a hug.
"Oh my god, you're getting married! My sister's getting married to a literal billionaire!"
"Emma, volume," their mom said, but she was tearing up too. "Let me look at you, sweetheart."
Lennox hugged her mom, breathing in the familiar smell of her perfume. For the first time in weeks, something felt real.
"I can't believe this is happening," her mom said, pulling back to study her face. "When you called, I thought you were joking."
"It happened fast."
"Three months?" Emma was practically bouncing. "That's insane. What's he like? Is he as hot in person as he is in photos? Does he have a brother for me?"
"He has a twin actually."
Emma's eyes went wide. "Shut up. You're lying."
"I'm not. Cole. You'll meet him at the wedding."
"This is the best day of my life." Emma grabbed her arm. "Okay, tell me everything. How did you meet? When did you know? Has he taken you anywhere amazing? Do you live in his penthouse?"
The questions kept coming. Lennox answered on autopilot, reciting the story Gerald had written, adding details that Callum had created. Her mom and Emma absorbed every word like it was the greatest romance they'd ever heard.
"He sounds wonderful," her mom said softly. "You deserve this, honey. After everything you've been through."
The guilt hit Lennox like a punch. Her mom thought this was real. Thought her daughter had found love, found someone who'd take care of her.
"I want to meet him," Emma declared. "When can we meet him?"
"He's really busy with work right now. But you'll see him at the wedding."
"That's so soon though. Can't we have dinner or something?"
"I'll ask," Lennox lied. There was no way Callum would sit through a family dinner right now. He was barely responding to texts about the wedding planning.
They spent the day together. Shopping on Fifth Avenue with Emma trying on things she couldn't afford, lunch at a place Lennox's mom kept saying was too expensive even though Lennox was paying. Normal stuff. Family stuff.
But it all felt wrong. Every time Emma gushed about the wedding or her mom got emotional about giving her away, Lennox wanted to scream that this wasn't real, that she was lying to everyone, that this whole thing was a transaction to keep her out of prison.
"You seem stressed," her mom said that evening over dinner. "Wedding planning getting to you?"
"It's just a lot. Everything's moving so fast."
"That's normal. Every bride feels overwhelmed." Her mom squeezed her hand. "But you love him, right? That's what matters."
Lennox looked at her mom's hopeful face and forced a smile. "Yeah. I do."
Another lie to add to the pile.
Friday was more planning. Cake tasting with Patricia, who had opinions about fondant versus buttercream. Meeting with the florist to approve centerpieces. Final dress fitting where they pinned and adjusted until everything was perfect.
Callum texted exactly three times all week.
Approve whatever my mother suggests.
I'll be at the rehearsal dinner. Gerald will send details.
Don't forget to sign the prenup. Lawyer will bring it by tomorrow.
That was it. No checking in, no asking how she was handling everything, no pretending this affected him at all.
The prenup showed up Saturday morning. Fifty pages of legal language that basically said if they divorced, Lennox got nothing except what was outlined in the original contract. She signed it without reading past page three. Didn't matter anyway. The money she was getting from the arrangement was more than enough for her.
Sunday was the rehearsal dinner. Smaller than the wedding but still enormous by normal standards. Thirty people at some private restaurant Patricia had rented out. Family, close friends, important business associates.
Callum showed up ten minutes late, apologized to his mother, and barely looked at Lennox.
They practiced walking down the aisle. Standing at the altar. Saying the words they'd say tomorrow. It felt mechanical, choreographed. Like blocking for a play.
"You're supposed to look at each other," the wedding coordinator said gently. "When you say your vows. Eye contact sells the emotion."
Callum turned to her, his face completely neutral. Like she was a stranger. Like tomorrow they weren't legally binding themselves together for two years.
Lennox practiced her vows, staring into his blue eyes and feeling nothing but panic.
The dinner afterward was loud and overwhelming. People congratulating them, giving speeches, toasting to their future. Emma was starstruck meeting Cole. Their mom kept crying every five minutes. Patricia held court at the head of the table, the perfect mother of the groom.
Callum sat beside Lennox and answered when spoken to, but he might as well have been a cardboard cutout. His mind was somewhere else. The company probably. Or maybe he was just counting down until this performance was over.
"Are you okay?" Lennox asked quietly during dessert.
"Fine. Why?"
"You seem distant."
"I'm here, aren't I?" He took a sip of wine. "What else do you want?"
What else did she want? Maybe for him to act like tomorrow mattered. Like this was more than just checking a box on his father's impossible will. And maybe not assume she’s as cold and fucking unfeeling as he is so this is hard for her, harder than she initially thought it would be.
But she couldn't say that. So she said nothing.
They got back to the penthouse at eleven. Tomorrow night she'd officially live here as his wife. Tomorrow they'd be legally married. Tomorrow everything changed and somehow nothing changed at all.
"I'm going to bed," Callum said, heading toward his room. "Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be long."
"Callum, wait."
He stopped, turned. "What?"
"Are you sure about this? We can still call it off if you…"
"We're not calling it off. We have a contract." His voice was flat. "See you tomorrow, Lennox."
He disappeared into his room, door closing with a quiet click.
Lennox stood in the living room feeling like she couldn't breathe. God! What was wrong with the man? In twelve hours she'd be walking down an aisle. In twelve hours she'd be someone's wife.
A stranger's wife. Didn’t she deserve some grace?
She made it to her bathroom before the panic hit. Locked the door, slid down against it, tried to remember how to breathe.
This was insane. She was marrying someone she barely knew. Someone who looked at her like she was an item on a checklist. Someone who was only doing this to save his precious inheritance.
And she was doing it to stay out of prison. Because the alternative was worse.
Her chest felt tight. Her hands were shaking. The walls of the bathroom seemed to be closing in.
Tomorrow she'd put on a fifty-thousand-dollar dress and stand in front of two hundred people and promise to love and cherish someone who couldn't even look at her during rehearsal. Tomorrow she'd become Lennox Westbrook, billionaire's wife, while still being Cipher, the hacker investigating his company.
Tomorrow everything became real and there was no backing out now.
She pressed her palms against the cold tile floor and tried to breathe. Just breathe. Get through tomorrow. Get through the next two years or probably even less according to the executor of the Westbrook will. Then she could have her life back.
If she survived that long without losing herself completely.