Chapter 0165
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Somehow I made it through the day like normal. I felt like criminal, carrying around proof of my crimes in
my pocket. But otherwise, I moved on autopilot, completing my tasks, answering Logan’s call
If Logan noticed, he didn’t say anything.
He seemed to be ultra–professional now, more than before. Though that could have been simply because he was so busy. The Office Supply client was one of the company’s biggest sources of revenue. If something was going on there, it would require all of his attention.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Logan must have been too. When I went to ask him if he needed anything more for today, he quickly waved me away.
“Sleep well,” he said. “See you in the morning.” He didn’t look up from his work.
pocket, I was
Maybe at some other time, given the new romance between us, I might try to draw away his attention. from work, even if just for a moment or a goodnight kiss. But right now, with the photo in my more eager to make my escape.
“See you tomorrow,” I said, and backed out of the room. Carefully, I shut the door without making a sound. I’d already texted my friends that I needed a girls‘ night. Checking my phone, I could tell they were already at the usual place waiting for me.
I shut down my computer, locked up my desk, grabbed my purse, and then all but sprinted out of the office to meet them.
By the time I walked into the wine bar, I was ready to explode. I desperately needed someone else to see the picture and tell me whether or not I’m crazy
“Hazel! Over here!” Rachel called from the table nearest the bar. Megan and Maria also waved at me.
As soon as I reached the table, I flopped down in the chair. All of their eyes were on me.
“What’s the emergency?” Megan had already ordered a bottle of wine. She poured me a glass.
“Did something happen with Dawn?” Maria asked.
“No,” I said, though I did then tell them about the weird encounter with her, and her sudden disappearance. “But that’s not what I needed this girls night for.”
“Then what’s up?” Rachel asked.
Without another word, I took the picture from my pocket and showed it to them. I wanted an honest opinion, and the best way to get that was to show them the picture with absolutely no context.
Maria’s eyes went wide.
Megan’s brow pulled together.
Rachel pointed. “Why are you showing us some picture of you? Is this something a stalker took of you or something?”
“It is fuzzy like a stalker photo,” Megan added. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
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Chapter 0165
They immediately spotted the resemblance, then. God, Well, I wanted an honest opinion and there it was. “This isn’t a picture of me,” I said. I flipped it over and showed them the back, where it read, Wife. “I found this in Logan’s desk. This is a picture of his mysterious wife.”
“What?!” Rachel gasped.
Megan ripped the picture from my hand to look at it closer. “She looks just like you! No wonder he thought he was married to your twin!” a
Maria snatched the picture from Megan’s hand and brought it nearer her own face. “Is this the ring you. woke up with? The one Natalie stole?”
“It looks familiar…” I said, haltingly. “But I’m not sure… Maybe there’s some differences. It could be a coincidence.”
Rachel began counting off on her fingers. “She looks like you. The ring looks the same. The date is the same. How many coincidences do you need before you take the hint?”
“More than this,” I said. “Before I ask my boss if we’re married.”
“Your boss–boyfriend, you mean,” Megan said with a grin.
I lowered my chin somewhat. “We haven’t defined what we are.”
“What you are is married,” Rachel said definitively.
“She needs to be extra triple sure before she starts telling one of the richest men in the city that they are actually married,” Maria said. Thankfully someone could see reason in this group. “He could think she’s lying or something for the money and power.”
Megan hummed. “I suppose….I mean. If he had this photo and he still hasn’t placed the pieces together himself, he likely has his own barriers to keep from recognizing you.”
“Exactly,” Maria said. “We’re going to need all the proof before anyone goes forward.”
“What kind of proof?” Rachel asked, though she seemed skeptical. “The photo should be proof enough.”
“It’s obviously not,” Megan said.
“What you need,” Maria said, narrowing her eyes, examining the photo once more, “Is that ring. If the ring matches exactly, then you’ll know and there’ll be no way to discredit that.”
“It is a very unique style…” Megan said. She held her hand out for the photo. Maria handed it to her. “It looks like an antique. Maybe a family heirloom?”
Oh, God. If all of this was true… If I was married to Logan, and if he had given me some kind of family ring
How could I let Natalie take the ring without putting up a fight?
“Okay, that’s it,” I said. I looked at each of my friends. They watched me in return, waiting. “We have to get that ring back from Natalie.”
Immediately, they cheered.
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Chapter 0165
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“It’s a heist!” Megan said,
1 shushed them. “Keep your voices down. It’s not exactly legal to steal.”
“It is if that is your wedding ring!” Rachel said, poking at the photo for emphasis.
I grabbed the photo and held it closer to me, before any of them could accidentally bend it or spill wine
on it.
“We need a plan,” Maria said, and we got to work developing one.
Logan had a very long day. Things with the Office Supply client had somehow gotten all screwed up. Wrong orders went here or there, leftover problems from Sabrina’s incompetence. Logan truly had let her pull the wool over his eyes, all in an effort to maintain distance from Hazel.
He should have just bitten the bullet long ago and accepted his budding feelings for Hazel before the company could suffer. And before his friendship with Dylan could get so broken. He hadn’t had a clue how to repair that.
He could only hope that Dylan’s professionalism would keep him on Logan’s payroll, at least. Dylan was the only one Logan trusted to track down his wife and finalize that divorce.
Ah. Logan’s mystery wife. With everything happening with Hazel, how quickly he forgot about the mysterious woman who had so quickly captured his heart in Vegas. He really wished he had the sense of mind to have made a pre–nuptial agreement at the time.
He was certainly going to pay for that mistake later. Literally.
Without really thinking. Logan pulled open his desk drawer and reached for a familiar photo. Oddly, it wasn’t where he remembered leaving it. He opened the drawer wider, then pushed through some of the papers within.
As time ticked by, he became more and more desperate, searching fervently. He couldn’t have lost that. It was his one tie to his mystery wife. How would he ever find her without that photo?
He searched and searched but came up empty.
With a sinking feeling, he realized….
The photo was gone.
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