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Dream

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Chapter 48: Dream (Jules's POV)

Throughout the night, all I could do was either stare at Christian or gawk at our engagement ring like I was seeing it for the first time. Luckily, we made it to the venue in time and Alex wasn't able to pick another bone with Christian. I would never understand what went wrong between those two. 

"I can't believe the wedding is tomorrow," Naomi exhaled, "another martini, please," she requested at the stand-up bar in the corner where we were talking. 

"Maybe you should hold back on the martinis, Naomi," I chuckled, "I don't think your rehearsal dinner and engagement party are the best place for a little liquid courage." 

She shot me a pointed look. "Don't tell Alex." 

"My lips are sealed," I nodded, clinking my glass with hers before taking a sip, my eyebrows shooting up as she downed her entire drink. "Naomi—" 

"Naomi." We both looked over as Alex walked over. 

She set her glass down on the counter quickly, flashing him a grin. "Hey, babe." 

He glanced at the empty glass and then at her. "Don't come to me when you're too drunk to tell left from right," he mused, cracking a grin. 

"I won't. I'll come to you when I can't tell right from left," she teased, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek before turning to me. "I'll leave you both to it." 

"Me?" I asked in confusion. 

"He wanted to talk to you," she shrugged before slipping away. 

Alex took her place, standing with me at the bar. 

"Congratulations, brother," I sang, glancing at his ring. "I bet you're more excited than Naomi, you just don't want to show it." 

"Of course, I'm more excited than Naomi. I've wanted to marry her since the damn day I met her," he snickered. 

I bit back a smile. "So, what's up?" 

"It's about Christian." 

My smile fell as I rolled my eyes. "Alex, come on." 

"Jules, I'm telling you something's not right. He's—" 

"He's the man I fell in love with, Alex. And everything is just fine, he's right for me. Whatever happened between you two... Let. It. Go." I glared at him. "I mean it. And if you can't, then at least pretend to be okay with him. But don't talk shit about my fiancé anymore." 

He sighed, "He's been your fiancé for two years now. Last I checked, you were ready to marry him in a day. What happened? Did I miss the invite?" he asked sarcastically. 

"Don't pick a fight with me on your engagement night. Whatever it is, whoever he is, it's between him and me. It has nothing to do with you. Why do you hate him so much anyway?" 

"It's nothing, forget it." 

I stared at him, my eyes narrowing. "Girl drama?" 

He glanced at me. "Absolutely not." 

"Then? Business drama?" 

"Lukov Empires and Estates stole my ideas, Jules. Everything we discussed as friends, he reported to his father while that man still ran the company." 

I glanced over at where Christian stood talking to Naomi. "How do you know it was him?" 

"Who else would it be?" 

I faced Alex again. "Maybe it was Paige." 

"Paige?" He blinked in confusion. 

"Your ex-girlfriend. She worked at their company until Christian became CEO. The first thing he did was fire her. I was there when it happened. He didn't have any reason to fire her, he just did it and his Dad was pissed, to say the least." I set my empty glass on the countertop and lifted a brow at Alex. "Did you ever ask him? Or just assume the worst in him?" 

He fell into thought and then huffed, "You're blindsided, Jules." 

"No, Alex, you are. You always put the business first and you never trusted him just because of who his father is. That's why his parents don't like me," I shrugged, "because I'm Luke Declan's daughter. And the Declan's are better," I shrugged nonchalantly. 

He let out a laugh, "That is true." 

"Except for that Lukov right there. He's the exception," I grinned. 

"You're betraying Audrey like that?" Alex lifted a brow at me. 

I blinked blankly. "Don't tell her I said that." 

"You're still not taking it back," he mused. 

"Milaya," Christian's smooth voice interrupted. 

Turning to face him, I shot Alex a certain look that screamed, 'Leave it alone or I swear, I will kill you with my bare hands.' He left it alone, walking over and joining Naomi. 

"Hi," I said to him. 

"Hi," he smirked, standing in front of me, taking the olive from my martini and biting it off the toothpick. "How much longer are we here?" 

"You're not having fun?" 

"I just want to get you alone in bed again," he said casually. 

I glanced over at Uncle Bobby as he walked past, choking on his drink as he overheard him. Closing my eyes, I took a breath. "I will kill you," I threatened, meeting his gaze again. 

He leaned in, pecking my cheek. "I love you," he smiled sweetly. 

I laughed sarcastically, smacking his arm. "My family's here, keep your dick in your pants." 

"Well, it's not like they don't know we're engaged. What do couples do alone in bed?" 

"Sleep." 

"That's just boring and you know it." 

I bit down a smile, feeling my cheeks heat. "Keep your fun ideas to yourself until we get back." 

"You're cute when you blush," he teased, nudging my chin up with his knuckles. 

I shook my head, resting my arms on the counter but still looking at him. "You're impossible." 

He smiled, leaning in but stopping just inches away and pulling back to get a look at me, his eyes traveling across my face, lingering on my lips before meeting mine again. "Can I at least kiss you?" 

I nodded, holding his gaze. "You can kiss me." 

His lips brushed against mine and— 

"Christian!" 

I groaned loudly while he let out a strained breath, both of us facing my mother. "Mom," I mumbled. 

"I just wanted to—" 

"Maisie," Dad sighed, taking her arm as she pouted at him, swaying in place. 

"Are you drunk?" I asked in surprise. 

My mother getting drunk was a rare sight, it was normally Dad who was tipsy and she had to take care of him. He was a lightweight. "She is beyond drunk," Dad snickered, putting a hand on the small of her back. "Come on, honey," he said, steering her away. 

Christian and I watched them in amusement before facing each other again. "Where were we?" I asked. 

"Right about here," he replied, leaning down to kiss me, gently holding my jaw, his lips moving against mine slowly until we broke away, his thumb stroking my skin gently. 

"The party's ending soon, people have started leaving," I said, glancing around. "You think we can make it if we sneak out?" 

"Your family is the host," he mused, "patience, Red. Patience," he whispered in my ear, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. 

Sighing, I faced the skyline view of Santorini while Christian put his arms around me from behind. "I'm impatient," I mumbled. 

He chuckled by my ear. "I can start teasing you now if you'd like." 

"No," I said immediately, my eyes going wide. "Absolutely not." 

After thirty minutes or so, when most people had left, my Dad came over to tell us that we could head out as well, so after bidding everyone goodbye, we did just that. Using the car we rented, Christian and I left by ourselves and reached the hotel in a short time. 

I was taking my makeup off in the bathroom when Christian strolled in wearing nothing but sweatpants, his hair messed up in all directions. "Why does your hair look so disheveled?" I chuckled. 

He shrugged and said, "I've been meaning to ask you something." 

"Ask away." 

"Are you ever going to tell your family the truth?" 

"About?" 

"About what happened between us. The fact that we broke up because of what I did to you." 

I met his eyes in the mirror. "They don't need to know, Christian," I shook my head. 

"Really? I bet they would think really differently of me if they did." 

"It has nothing to do with them. You know I love my parents and normally, yes, I tell them everything. But this is different." 

"Why?" 

"Because it's about love and... Don't you think as parents they would only want what's best for me?" 

"Of course," he nodded in agreement. 

"If I tell them what happened, they'll assume that it isn't you. But they don't know everything about us. We do. And I know that the best thing for me, the only person in this world who's right for me is you. And I don't want anything getting in the way of that or jeopardizing what we have again. We did that on our own," I snickered softly. "So I don't want anything ruining what we have now. I don't want to do anything for anybody else. Our wedding, our life, I want it to be just ours. I want to be together so we can live our dream. Not everybody else's." 

He smiled, kissing my shoulder. "And what is our dream?" 

I turned to him. "We may not know every little detail yet." 

"But we'll figure it out as we go along, yeah?" 

I chuckled, resting my arms around his neck and going up on my toes. "Yeah," I nodded, kissing him.

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Chapter 48

The fact this book is ending :(

The fact that Logan's book is next :)

next ch: lies