RUBY'S POV It was quite a sunny day. A perfect weather for a perfect wedding and I couldn't stop grinning to myself as I stared into the mirror before me, marveling at my look after my makeup was done and I was dressed in my wedding gown. “Are you ready for your big day, dear bride?” Clarissa, who was my chief bridesmaid asked me as she walked into the room along with Patricia, Cecelia, Sid and Michael as they were all in my bridal train.“You bet I am” I replied excitedly and they all hugged me before accompanying me to the altar where Dax waited for me.Half of New York was present because they were all excited to watch the epic wedding between me and Dax since our breakup eight years ago made it to the headlines.I couldn't take my eyes off Dax as he stood alongside his groomsman, Simon, and neither could he and when the officiator asked us to say our vows, our eyes still remained locked until we sealed the marriage with a kiss and a ring each and we became husband and wife.Eve
CHAPTER 1RUBY'S POVI didn't want to be here, but I didn't have a choice either. After eight years of being in the shadows, hiding away from the scandal that ruined my life, here I was again, facing the framed image of the man who destroyed my life and abandoned me when I needed him most. "So sorry for the loss dear. It must have been so devastating for you when you heard the news" a woman whom I had never seen before, said to me and all I did was stare at her.I was in no mood for keeping a facade or making them think I was sad over the demise when I felt nothing like it. When she realized I wasn't going to offer her even a smile, she broke eye contact with me and walked away. That must have felt so embarrassing for her and it satisfied me to know she probably felt that way.Bunch of fakes.I wanted to scream at everyone who pretended to be consoling me for the loss, wanted to yell at them to leave and smash the picture that was placed delicately on the wall before me but I could
CHAPTER 2RUBY'S POVAfter applying the final touches to my makeup, I took one last look in the mirror before me and smiled.Then I picked up my mask and wore it over my face before walking out of my dressing room.It had been two weeks since the funeral was held. Surprisingly, my adoptive father, Michael, had some properties left and they were handed over to me by his lawyer along with an apology letter from him telling me how sorry he was after sending me away but I wasn't touched because he was too late with his apology.He couldn't find me after I left because I made sure of it.Changing my surname and the color of my hair along with moving to another country actually helped so none of them could find me even if they wanted to. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with anyone from my past… except for Clarissa who made it very clear that she was going nowhere after she found me a year ago and I was glad she never left me.I ripped the letter to shreds and dumped it into a bin because
CHAPTER 3DAX'S POVWalking out of the club with heavy breaths, it was a struggle not to take things further with Ruby right there in that room but it was against the club rules so I had to stick with only having her close for a while before she pulled away and I announced I was leaving without sparing her a glance.It was too much to handle being in the same space with her and I didn't trust myself enough to hold back. I missed her so damn much."Simon, book me a flight back to New York tonight. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow" I said to my bodyguard once I got into my car while loosening my tie to get more air and our eyes met through the rearview mirror. He looked concerned but he knew better than to say anything except he wanted to lose his job that he'd had for the past fifteen years.So he nodded his head while grabbing the steering wheel."Noted sir. I'll take you to the hotel now" he replied and it was my turn to nod this time before he drove off toward the hotel whe
CHAPTER 4RUBY'S POVMorning came faster than I expected. Or maybe it was because I wasn't able to sleep early enough at night due to the many thoughts storming up in my head. Once my alarm rang, I was up and made my way to the kitchen because I was desperate for a distraction to get my mind off the panic that was brewing beneath my calm exterior, and making Sally breakfast was a perfect distraction.Dax said he was going to return to the club and I didn't know what to make of it. I still wanted my revenge but not that way, I wanted it done in a way that he wouldn't see me coming so he would never be able to recover from the impact of whatever I was going to do to him. But now that he was probably about to be a regular at where I worked, that spelled doom for me. "What are you making for breakfast?" Sally's voice filtered through my thoughts and I flinched, making the bowl of pancake batter I had in my hand fall. I stood motionless as I watched the content spill on the floor and I
CHAPTER 5RUBY’S POVAfter dropping such a huge blow on both Clarissa and Dax, a beat of silence followed and the air stilled as we all just stood there.Dax looked both bewildered and relieved at the same time and I couldn’t help but wonder why he would be relieved to know that Sally wasn’t my daughter. Not like he wanted anything to do with me. He called me a fake eight years ago.“That’s right Dax, Sally is my daughter. Now what do you want?” Clarissa asked him icily as she began to play along and I almost smiled but I held myself back and waited for him to reply. Clearing his throat, he tucked his hand into his pockets and looked only at me.“I want to talk to you, Ruby.” He replied and I rolled my eyes.What exactly did he have to talk about with me? To insult me again about being fake and probably tell me that I was the reason why Michael died too? I wasn’t giving him the chance to look down on me again. I was over him, I was doing perfectly fine without him in my life, and Sall
CHAPTER 6RUBY’S POVI felt like a shell of myself by the time I got to the front porch of my house.I had no idea how I even got there but I knew I walked all the way back and I saw Clarissa was seated on the porch, reading a book.I froze by the sidewalk when I saw her and it took seconds before she noticed me. I could tell that she knew something happened immediately she saw the look on my face.I had no idea how I looked but I knew I was feeling numb. I didn’t know what to feel after everything Dax said to me and I hated that those mere words from him were taking such a huge toll on me.“Ruby, are you okay? You look pale” Clarissa asked worriedly as she came toward me and I sniffed when my eyes began to sting again. I really didn’t want to cry but I couldn’t help it when I was always defenseless around her.As if sensing the tears that were about to come, she quickly pulled me in for a hug and patted me on the back while the dam I had been holding back right from the cafe finally b
CHAPTER 7RUBY’S POVDennis Alistair. An old friend of Dax before they had a huge fight and fell out then became enemies and hated each other’s guts.He was the one standing before me and from the way he looked at me, I had a suspicion that he knew who I was.There was no other way to explain why he would be at Black Pearl specifically asking for me when there were so many clubs back in New York where he lived. Was Dax reentering my life bad luck? Because why did they all keep finding me here after eight long years of living in hiding? Composing myself because I didn’t plan on giving myself away, I went toward the music box in the corner of the room and turned it on. Then I turned to look at Dennis who was watching me with so much interest in his eyes and I swallowed nervously.“What might interest you tonight? Slow dancing, pole dancing, or perhaps a lap dance?” I asked him and I felt disgusted when he looked me over from head to toe like I was his next meal. “What do you think is b