Beverly's POV

My wolf must be wrong. There was no way this stranger in a Lamborghini was my mate. Not today. Not after everything that had just happened.

"You look like you're having a rough day," he said, his silver eyes studying my wedding dress, my smeared makeup, my barefoot state. I'd lost my shoes somewhere between the hotel and here.

"That's an understatement," I muttered, starting to walk again.

The car followed slowly beside me. "Let me guess. Runaway bride?"

"Something like that."

"Get in."

"I don't know you."

"Bruce Leonard," he said, as if that explained everything. When I didn't react, he raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know who I am?"

"Should I?"

He laughed, and the sound did something weird to my stomach. "Most people do. I'm the CEO of Leonard Industries."

Leonard Industries. Even I knew that name. They owned half the businesses in the city. This man was worth billions.

"Great. A rich stranger. That makes it so much safer," I said sarcastically.

"Look, you're walking barefoot in a wedding dress down Main Street. People are starting to stare and take pictures. In about five minutes, you're going to be all over social media. Do you really want that?"

He was right. I could already see people pulling out their phones. The last thing I needed was to become a viral sensation as the crazy runaway bride.

I got in the car.

The leather seats probably cost more than my mom's house. Bruce pulled away from the curb smoothly, and I caught a whiff of his scent. Pine and rain and something wild. My wolf purred, which was annoying. She'd been silent for months, and now she decided to wake up?

"Where to?" he asked.

"I... I don't know." I laughed bitterly. "I lived with my fiancé. Ex-fiancé. I can't go to my mom's house. She's probably having a breakdown about the wedding costs."

"What happened?"

"Why do you care?"

He glanced at me, and for a second, I could swear his eyes flashed gold. Wolf eyes. "Call it curiosity."

"I caught him in bed with two women. An hour before our wedding."

"Ouch."

"That's not even the best part. He'd found his mate months ago and hid it from me. He was going to marry me anyway because I was from a 'good family.'" I made air quotes around the words.

Bruce's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "What's his name?"

"Why?"

"Just curious."

"Marcus Williams."

"From the Riverside Pack?"

I looked at him in surprise. "You know him?"

"We've done business. Won't be doing any more." His voice was cold, final.

"You can't just cancel business deals because of me."

"Watch me."

We drove in silence for a few minutes. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn't care. The car smelled like him, and it was doing weird things to my head.

"I have a proposition for you," Bruce said suddenly.

"If this is some weird sugar daddy thing, I'm not interested."

He laughed again. "No. I need a wife."

I stared at him. "What?"

"My grandfather is dying. His last wish is to see me married before he passes. The doctors say he has maybe two months."

"So get married."

"It's not that simple. I'm... particular about who I marry. And I don't have time to date. Plus, there are other complications."

"What kind of complications?"

He pulled into an underground parking garage I didn't recognize. "The kind I can't discuss in a car."

"This is starting to feel like a kidnapping."

"You're free to leave anytime." He parked and turned to look at me fully. "But hear me out first. I'll pay off all your family's debts from the cancelled wedding. I'll give you a million dollars when we divorce after my grandfather passes. All you have to do is pretend to be my wife for two months."

A million dollars. Enough to pay Mom back and start over somewhere new.

"Why me? You could have any woman you want."

His eyes did that gold flash thing again. "Let's just say you're exactly what I need."

"I don't even know you."

"We'll have two months to get to know each other. Look, Beverly, your life just exploded. You need money and somewhere to stay. I need a wife. We can help each other."

My phone started buzzing. Somehow it had ended up in the car. Mom calling. Then Marcus. Then numbers I didn't recognize. The real world crashing back in.

"They're looking for you," Bruce said softly. "You can go back. Face everyone. Deal with the humiliation, the debt, the questions. Or you can come upstairs with me, and we can discuss a business arrangement that benefits us both."

"How do you know my name?"

He smiled, but didn't answer. "What's it going to be, Beverly?"

I thought about Marcus's smirking face. About the debt crushing my mom. About spending the rest of my life in this city where everyone would know me as the bride who got left at the altar. Even though I was the one who walked away, that's not how the story would be told.

"Two months?"

"Two months."

"And then we divorce?"

"Clean break. You walk away with a million dollars and a fresh start."

"What's the catch? There's always a catch."

"You have to live with me. Convince my grandfather it's real. Attend some social events as my wife."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

My wolf was practically doing backflips, screaming at me to say yes. Which was exactly why I should say no. But what choice did I have?

"Fine. But I have conditions."

"Name them."

"No sex. This is purely business."

His eyes darkened, but he nodded. "Agreed."

"I get my own room."

"Done."

"And when this is over, we never see each other again."

Something flickered across his face, gone too fast to read. "If that's what you want."

I held out my hand. "Then we have a deal, Mr. Leonard."

He took my hand, and the moment our skin touched, electricity shot through my entire body. His eyes went wide, gold flooding the silver. He felt it too.

"Mate," he whispered.

Oh, hell