I’ll rate this a strong 3.5 stars. It had me in a chokehold during some parts. (Possible spoilers ahead) The main reason I deducted from the ratings was because I felt the whole “you rejected me” plot line went on a little too long. It took the MCs way too long to figure stuff out.
I’ve also decided I’m going to deduct 1 star everytime a shifter book has somebody gets kidnapped. (Can authors please quit doing that? It’s so ridiculous)
There is no shifting in this book. Booooo
This book starts where h has a 4 year old son. There’s some mention of her drunk, dead father and tons of debt he left her that she’s struggling to pay.
She’s a wedding planner and she’s been set up to help some bitchy, rich OW plan her wedding. h shows up for the meeting and oops! H is there and he’s the soon-to-be groom. We know they USED to be fated mates, but he rejected her (OW doesn’t know)
So… we start getting flashbacks from 5 years previous. H has a brother named Victor. Victor hired h (victor is the older brother, but H is the alpha heir 🤷♀️) H saw h, knew they were fated mates, and basically took her and made her his employee. They also embarked on a love relationship for months. Naturally, H’s dad was not happy.
20 years previously, H’s mom just disappeared, so he deals with the trauma of being abandoned. Dad likes to pit the two brothers against each other.
We find out in one of the flashbacks, h found out she was pregnant. She was happy and planned to tell him later that night at some event. He had ignored her all day and when she showed up at the event, H confronted her in front of everybody. He had “proof” she stole 2 million dollars, and he had pictures of her in bed with another guy. 🤨 He wouldn’t even listen to her. He humiliated her. Ugh I felt so bad for this poor woman. (I wanted to BANG H’s head against the wall, the big dum dum)
Now back to present time- H is all over h- he wants her bad, but then he’s calling her a thief in the next breath. OW has them going to tour venues and such. 🙃🙃 We know his arrangement for marriage with OW is political and for a huge contract with OW’s dad. OW is not a nice person at all.
H does see the kid (when he returns a Labubu doll) and suspects it’s his kid. h denies, denies, denies! He’s sneaky and gets some hair for a DNA, but it’ll take a few weeks to get those results in. BTW- the kid looks just like H.
Victor runs into h and tells her he’s sorry about what his brother did to her years ago and for the record, he NEVER believed any of lies told about her. Awe, so sweet. Then he asked her out. 🚩🚩
All in the background, she’s dealing with this thug who wants h to pay her dad’s debt. They are basically like some gang members. There is a *main leader* h hasn’t met yet.
There is definitely what I’d call cheating in this book. Mostly emotional cheating, but the MCs do kiss and rub up on each other a couple of times. He’s engaged until about 80% in.
h is angry through 90% of this book!
At one point, she decides it’s smart to go out with Victor (ya know? So she can move on with her life) but during one date, h picks up some major red flags from him.
H is starting to suspect he may have been fed wrong info years ago about h. He has his man checking NOW (ugh, why didn’t he check then?)
H find out about the money h owes the gang and her other money issues. He pays it all off. He also beats the gang up. 😂 (the leader is not revealed yet. I snorted because I already knew who it was)
The DNA comes back and H finds out he’s a daddy! SURPRISE!
H and h have a powerful showdown. Like…..she rips his heart out with her words. I *almost* felt bad for him. There’s no good reason for why she didn’t tell him, but I did sympathize with her.
*sidenote* the little kid is hardly in the book. h’s friend, Val, watches him a lot.
The day before the wedding, all hell breaks loose. OW overhears h, H, and H’s dad arguing. (H’s dad is calling h all sorts of nasty names)
H calls off the wedding. OW shows up at h’s house calling her names and she pulled her hair. 😂😂😂
H shows up later that night and they finally have smex.
H’s life starts to implode. His big business deal, his alpha seat, his brother. BUT all the secrets are starting to come out.
H’s mom returns.
Major spoiler
So basically, H’s dad was garbage. He made H’s mom disappear after he killed her true fated mate. Yes, she was cheating on H’s dad, but when she explains her side, you do understand why, sort of.
Victor is the main guy in charge of the gang. He is the big bad villain. He was so jealous of his brother. He set this all up so he would eventually get h and run the show🤷♀️
Victor was the one who stole the 2 million and pinned it on h. He also photoshopped the pictures of h in bed with a guy. (Victor had a whole room with nothing but pictures of h in it)
Victor kidnaps the kid. h is not smart and walks right into the trap he set up. Now Victor has h and the kid. we get a 2 for 1 😂
H arrives and Victor wants him to sign over the company and his alpha seat. Wut? H is shot with a silver bullet. Victor is arrested.
6 months later and we get the update that Victor has been sent to prison for 20 years. H’s mom is now a part of the family. H’s alpha position is fine. H’s dad retired???? (Not sure on this part because it never really explained)
H proposes. Then they have smex and he marks h.
*sidenote* h is a V when she first hooks up with H. It didn’t mention if H was. When they reunite 5 years later, h has been celibate. It never mentions if H was