It Ended With the Truth

by Lisa Suzanne

  She hands me an envelope then winks at me with a twinkle in her eye before she leaves the room and closes the door behind her. I rush to open the envelope and find Vivian’s familiar, neat handwriting.

  Two pieces of paper are folded inside, and one says Read First while the other says Read Second. I open the first one as instructed.

  To my Future Husband (future as in about fifteen minutes),

  I’m not coming right now, but I hope to be later tonight, if you know what I mean. Insert wink emoji here. ;)

  I stop reading long enough to hold a hand over my heart. She gave me a goddamn heart attack, telling me she wasn’t coming to our own wedding today. I can’t believe how quickly we pulled this off, but neither of us wanted to wait. We were engaged five months ago on the couch in this very house. We’ve since moved back to Vegas, worked together to fix FDB’s financial issues, and are prospering both personally and in our careers. We chose today as our wedding day because exactly one year ago today, she stormed into my office claiming she was my boss. Who knew she’d actually end up as the boss of my entire life?

  I look back down at her note.

  Happy Wedding Day, Brian.

  I’m sure my prank didn’t work because you better know by now I’m not going anywhere. I can’t wait to pledge my love to you today in front of everyone we love as we stand with our feet on the sand here in Malibu behind your brother’s house, where so many important moments happened in our relationship...including this one.

  I have three little vows I want to make to you, just you, and I’d love if you could send Mark, Beck, or Jason back to my wing of the house to let me know you agree to them, too.

  1. I vow to always tell the truth. The whole truth. What started as a lie has become the most important truth in my life.

  2. I vow to take care of you, to love you, to respect you, and to work dutifully as your teammate and partner for the rest of our lives on this Earth.

  3. I vow to love and care for the babies we make out of the love we share. Which reminds me...go ahead and read the other note. It has been so hard keeping this secret from you but I wanted to surprise you today.

  I love you, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life proving that to you.

  Love,

  Viv

  I pull out the other piece of paper inside the envelope and open it. It takes me a second to realize exactly what I’m looking at. At first, it simply looks like a bunch of wavy black lines, but I saw one of these when Reese was pregnant with Ashton and another now that she’s pregnant with baby number two. I saw Lizzie’s when she was pregnant with Grace.

  I read the information across the top.

  Davenport, Vivian.

  Tears form in my eyes again as I read the name of the woman I’m about to marry. She’s pregnant.

  I’m going to be a father.

  Oh my God.

  She’s pregnant and I’m going to be a father.

  GA: 6w4d.

  Reese explained it to me once. GA means gestational age. Vivian is six weeks, four days along.

  In less than eight months, I’m going to be a father. We’re going to have a baby.

  Holy shit, we’re going to have a baby.

  I want to break out the cigars. I want to cry all the happiest tears I can cry. I want to run over to her wing of the house and pull her into my arms to tell her how much I love her and how I can’t wait to have a baby with her.

  But I can’t. I’m not allowed to see her until she appears on the beach and walks down the makeshift aisle toward me and toward our future together.

  I open my door. “Mark!” I yell out.

  My best man, the best man I know, saunters down the hallway in his tuxedo toward me, holding his almost one-year-old daughter in his arms. She’s all white lace and frills as the flower girl, and Reese, one of Viv’s bridesmaids, will be accompanying her down the aisle since she’s just starting to master the art of walking.

  “What’s up?” he asks.

  “I need some paper and a pen.”

  “On it,” he says. He returns a minute later without the baby and hands me what I requested.

  “What’s going on?” he asks.

  I open my mouth to tell him, but I don’t know if we’re telling people yet. I guess it’s a little secret between husband and wife for the time being.

  Wife.

  She’s going to be my wife. She’s going to be a mother. My heart is full as I think about her holding a baby in her arms. Our baby.

  I scribble a note back to her. I’m careful to avoid mentioning anything specific in case nosy eyes glance at it as it makes its way to her.

  Yes to all of it. I couldn’t be happier. I love you so much.

  I hand the note to my brother, and he takes it over to her.

  I tuck her note into my suitcase and the ultrasound picture into the pocket inside my tuxedo jacket, and then my other groomsmen, Becker and Jason, interrupt my solitude with tumblers of whiskey. We toast to the future, and then the wedding planner Vivian hired comes to get me.

  We head outside, take a few photos, and I escort my mother and father to their seats in the second row since the first row is for the bridal party. I take my place under the gorgeous arch of roses Vivian designed, the waves lapping the shore just feet away from us. I glance through the small crowd gathered in white chairs on the beach. It’s full of the familiar faces of people here to show us their love and support on the day we pledge our love to one another.

  The processional music starts, and our siblings and friends make their way down the aisle to stand on either side of me. The music stops and pauses, and my heart stops and pauses along with it.

  And then, like a dream, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen appears from out of nowhere, her arm tucked into her father’s, who beams with pride.

  A new song begins, and my bride makes her way down the aisle toward me. I glance at her stomach, covered by the bouquet she holds there. A tiny new life grows there, a life we created together. I look up at her face and smile. She’s perfect every day, but today she’s extraordinary.

  She said it best in her note to me earlier today.

  What started as a lie has become the most important truth of my life, and I can’t wait to live my truth with the woman I love and the children I’ll adore every day for the rest of our lives.

  acknowledgments

  The outpouring of love for Brian Fox has been beyond my wildest dreams. Before I talk about that, though, let me thank Matt and Mason, my husband and my toddler, because they always get the first thanks for any of my projects. If not for their love and support, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love so very much.

  When I first wrote the story of Mark and Reese, Brian Fox was never meant to be the villain. Some of you know the long history behind the series that eventually became A Little Like Destiny (you can read it in the bonus content on my website), but I have to admit, when Brian’s story started speaking to me, I was scared. Could he be redeemed? I wasn’t sure if he could, but as his story unfolded, I saw a new Brian who I hoped you’d fall in love with. I found myself as forgiving as the Fox family for his actions, and I found myself rooting for him to find happiness with Viv. So I have to thank Brian Fox for manning up and being everything I hoped he’d become when he first turned into a villain. And of course, I thank Mark Ashton just because I love him so damn much.

  I’m humbled and blessed that the list of people to thank gets bigger with every release, and now that we are twenty books into this author gig, the list is huge.

  Thank you to my team of rock stars: Clarise Tan with CT Cover Creations, Trenda London with It’s Your Story Content Editing, and Katie Harder-Schauer with Proofreading by Katie. Without you three, the outside and the inside of this book wouldn’t be nearly as beautiful as you’ve helped make it. Thank you to Wander Aguiar and Forest Harrison for the gorgeous cover images.

  Thank you to Give Me Books for the release blitz and to all the bloggers who accepted AR
Cs and left reviews, shared the cover, posted about the release, and supported my books.

  Thank you to my beautiful beta readers: Stephanie Costa, Jen Wildner, and Kelly Werner. Thank you to my Vail Tail Fangirls, Team LS, and my ARC team for your support of these characters and me. Thank you to my Bookstagram team and all the bloggers who lend their love and support to what I do. Thank you to my author friends, specifically for this series the DND 30 Days to 60K girls for keeping me on task with sprints and conversation.

  Finally, thank YOU for reading this. It truly is an honor that you spent time in the world I created, and if you enjoyed yourself, I’d love if you could leave a review on Amazon. I’m still not ready to leave this world, and I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, so stay tuned...

  Lots of Love!

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  about the author

  Lisa Suzanne is a romance author who resides in Arizona with her husband and baby boy. She’s a former high school English teacher and college composition instructor. When she's not cuddling baby Mason, she can be found working on her latest book or watching reruns of Friends.

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  books by Lisa Suzanne

  THE UNBREAKABLE THREAD DUET

  THE POWER TO BREAK (Book One)

  THE INVISIBLE THREAD (Book Two)

  A LITTLE LIKE DESTINY SERIES

  A LITTLE LIKE DESTINY (Book One)

  ONLY EVER YOU (Book Two)

  CLEAN BREAK (Book Three)

  CLICK HERE FOR MORE

  Flip the page for a preview of THE POWER TO BREAK, the first book in Lisa Suzanne’s #1 Bestselling Rock Star Romance.

  THE POWER TO BREAK

  The Unbreakable Thread Book One

  ©2018 Lisa Suzanne

  PART ONE

  The Past

  Our history defines our present.

  CHAPTER ONE

  DANI

  December 17, 1999

  I stood outside the door and listened, waiting to overhear the inevitable comments of praise they’d make.

  Jocelyn, my best friend, had tried to convince me to have a beer earlier. She’d said it would calm my nerves, but since I didn’t drink and hated the taste of beer, I refused. Besides, I’d been about to sing a song in front of two boys I basically idolized. I needed a clear head for a strong voice. I thought maybe I’d get a drink afterward, and now that it was afterward, I was really wishing I knew how to drink.

  Ethan and Mark had talent—real talent—and their opinions meant the world to me. Especially Ethan’s, especially after that little kiss we shared that no one—not even Joss—knew about.

  I knew those two boys would find success in the music industry someday even though they mostly just jammed in Mark’s garage and occasionally played local bars. I was two years younger than them and only a sophomore. I was lucky enough to be at their party tonight because Ethan’s younger sister, Zoey, was in my class. We didn’t socialize in the same circles, but Zoey had invited practically the entire school.

  Since I knew Ethan would be there, I couldn’t miss it. He wasn’t just the senior I had a crush on. He was a boy full of mischief who made me feel tingles when he looked in my direction.

  We’d spoken a few times, and that kiss...it just happened a couple weeks ago. I was walking through the hallway on my way back to class. He’d been hanging outside a classroom, one knee bent with his foot propped flat against the wall, every inch the bad boy.

  “Sweet little Dani Mayne,” he’d said to me. I glanced around me stupidly. Who the heck else would he be talking to? I was the only Dani Mayne in the school. But why was this senior boy I had a massive crush on talking to me? How’d he even know who I was? It’s not like his sister and I were close.

  “Y...yes,” I’d stuttered.

  He chuckled, maybe at my innocence or maybe at the way my face heated as my name passed his lips. He stepped closer to me. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

  I nodded, my juvenile ponytail swinging behind me as I clutched a laminated paper hall pass. I flashed it at him to prove I was allowed to be in the hallway. “I’m on my way back. Shouldn’t you be?”

  He rolled his eyes and jerked his head toward the classroom door. “That bitch in there kicked me out and I’m supposed to be waiting out here to get yelled at.” He lifted a shoulder. “It is what it is.”

  “And it isn’t what it isn’t.”

  He chuckled at my retort to that stupid saying. “I wasn’t even doing anything wrong.” He took another step closer to me, close enough for me to smell some mixture of lemons and sin and the stale cigarette smoke that clung to his shirt. I wanted to know why he smelled like lemons, but I was too scared to ask. “But when I look at you, I want to do all sorts of wrong things.”

  He must’ve been seventeen, so it wasn’t that wrong. It might be once he turned eighteen, but he was only two years older than me. My body shuddered violently. I’d never even kissed a boy, unless you count the closed mouth nothing of a kiss my Homecoming date tried to lay on me before I pulled away.

  He reached out and rolled a strand of my hair between his thumb and finger before he tucked it behind my ear and my heart hammered. Up close, he seemed so much older than seventeen, like he’d lived a lifetime already. He was mature—and he was nothing like the boys in my class. His rough fingertips grazed the curve of my neck, and my eyes closed. He leaned forward and his lips brushed mine while my body lit with nervous energy. My knees became so shaky I was sure they were knocking together loudly enough for him to hear.

  His massive body blocked me from being able to see around him, but I heard his classroom door open and then the angry voice of his teacher. “Ethan Fuller, get back here right now.”

  His eyes opened and he pulled back. He gave me one long, hot look, and then he rolled his eyes and moved back toward his teacher, leaving me a mess in the middle of the hallway as I forced one leg to move in front of the other to hurry back to my classroom.

  I thought about that kiss every second of every day. I dreamed about his lips on mine. I thought about singing a song while he played the drums, about holding his hand, about life after we both graduated high school and what our future could hold.

  We hadn’t had another encounter since that one. In fact, I hadn’t even seen him since that day—and not because I wasn’t constantly searching down every crowded hallway and peeking into classrooms I knew he was supposed to be in.

  That was why I had to go to the party.

  The only thing we had in common besides that kiss was music. We’d never had a real conversation, but he somehow stripped a piece of my innocence that day. And I needed more. I needed to find a way to get him to notice me. I wanted to hand over the rest of my innocence to him so he could do whatever he wanted with it.

  While I loved singing, was a proud member of the school chorus, and pulled the lead in every school musical despite my age, he was the opposite. He didn’t get involved in anything music-related at school. Instead, he and Mark played bars where they couldn’t even stay afterward to drink because they were underage, though I’m sure he found a way to sneak a beer anyway. He had less than six months until he was done with North Chicago High School. He was going to leave this place and do great things with his life—anyone could see that from just looking at him.

  I knew about Ethan’s rough upbringing, his imprisoned father, the revolving door of men his mother introduced to her kids. I’d seen him getting talked to by teachers after class, serving time in detention, and making out with girls under the bleachers. My naive mind never imagined he took it further than that, but maybe he did. What di
d I know? I was just a little girl who loved singing and had all the school spirit in the world...and had a massive crush on a senior boy.

  It was the last day of final exams, and we had two weeks off ahead of us—two weeks of sleeping in and lying in our pajamas without homework, practice, or any other responsibilities weighing us down. Two weeks to daydream about a stolen kiss in the hallway and wonder with nervous anticipation whether there’d be more.

  And now, I’d have two weeks with Ethan’s words rolling over in my mind.

  It had been my idea to do a little Christmas caroling. A few of my chorus friends were at the party, too, and they’d been drinking. I nudged Monica and told her we should sing the finale of our Christmas concert, and she was on board. She got Lizzie, Mark’s sister, on board, too. I had a long solo during the finale, and I was set to impress the boy of my literal dreams.

  We sang our song, and I crushed my solo with my eyes on Ethan the entire time. I swore he was looking back at me with something akin to admiration. It couldn’t have just been my imagination.

  I was sure this was going to happen for us. I felt it, and the way he looked at me...I was never more certain that he felt it, too.

  I was going to make my move. I wasn’t sure how, but I was going to listen to him talk to his best friend about how amazing I was, and then I was going to work up the nerve to tell him I liked him.

  It sounded so juvenile, and it was more than just like...but I had to start somewhere.

  I excused myself after we finished singing and I exited the doors next to where Mark and Ethan stood. I was just on the other side from them, able to overhear their conversation since I left the door cracked open. My ears perked up when I heard my name leave Mark’s mouth.