Claimed By The Obsessive Billionaires – Serena Vale “I promise you, Rena. Everything is going to be fine,” my best friend, Lila assured me. “We’ve checked, double-checked, triple-checked, and even quadri-checked. Everything is perfect.” “Are you sure?” I couldn’t help but question. It was my big day. I’d been imagining it forever. If anything were to go wrong that day, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rest of the day. “I’m sure,” she said, taking my hands in hers to stop them from fidgeting. “You’ll be fine. Your wedding will be the best one anyone in attendance has ever been to.” “Thank you, Lila. I know you’ve been barely putting up with me in the past few weeks.” Lila chuckled, sitting down on the couch. “It’ll all pay off soon. By the night after tomorrow, you’ll be the wife of one of the most eligible bachelors in New York. Well, he wouldn’t be a bachelor anymore.” I laughed, joining her on the couch. I’d heard a lot of people describe Douglas as charming, successful, and confident. But to me, he was the man who brought me coffee when I worked late.
He was the man who fell asleep reading on the couch next to me. He was the man who assisted me in applying for a new job even though he could take care of all the bills. He was the man who made me believe that love wasn’t so complicated. I checked my phone. There was no text from him yet. He was likely having a meeting that ran late. But that was okay. This was his last day at work before I would have him all to myself for the next few days. Our rehearsal dinner was tomorrow. The wedding, the day after, and we’d be leaving for our honeymoon right after that. I couldn’t wait. “Still at work?” Lila asked when she saw me peering into my phone. I nodded. “That’s love for you. You plan a wedding and he’s still busy thinking about spreadsheets.” I laughed, pretending I wasn’t just a little bit affected by it. “At least one of us has the brain cells to pay the bills.” “You’re saying that like you don’t have a job waiting for you when you come back from your honeymoon.” “I can’t rely on him for everything.” “True.” Lila, standing tall at 5 ‘9, was a well-known model. There wasn’t a runway she hadn’t walked on. She was well sought after yet she had been sparing most of her time on me these past weeks, helping me prepare everything for the wedding even if Douglas had hired a wedding planner.
She was an angel sent from above. She claimed she was helping me because she was free but I doubted anyone like Lila would be free for three weeks straight. She most likely had to cancel a lot of things to come through for me. The only way to repay this favor was to be there for her too when she wanted to get married. I doubted that would be anytime soon though. She had a new man every month and was unapologetic about it. By the time Lila left, the sun had gone down and by the time the front door opened again, it was past midnight. Still in the living room, I stood up automatically, a smile on my face. I was just about to doze off. Thankfully, I met him before I slept. Douglas stepped in, his suit hanging on one arm. His blonde hair was tousled as though he had run his hand through his hair too many times. His eyes were tired and he looked surprised to see me. “Still up, baby?” “I keep thinking about our big day,” I said honestly with a grin, taking his suit from him as he took off his shoes. “Couldn’t sleep so I decided to wait for you.” He kissed me briefly, then set his suitcase on the counter. I watched him undo his tie and his cufflinks. As he rolled his sleeves up, I poured him a glass of water, handing it over to him. “Are you excited?” “About marrying you?” He grinned. “Of course, I am.” *Your mom called me earlier,” I told him as we discussed the schedule for the next day. “She wanted to confirm the suite at the hotel.” “I told her to relax.
She’s treating it like a royal wedding.” I laughed. Douglas’ mother adored him. He was the only son out of five kids. By extension, she adored me too. She was the second-happiest person about my wedding. I was the first. “Well, you’re her only son. Let her have her moment.” He walked forward and wrapped his hand around me. “You’re the moment.” He squeezed my shoulders reassuringly, dropping a kiss on my forehead. “You’re my moment.” “And you’re my moment.” I rested my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat against my ear. After being together for two and a half years, his words still managed to make butterflies erupt in my stomach. We stood together in silence for a while before Douglas finally spoke. “Let’s get to bed. We have a long day ahead of us.” He was right. The next two days were going to be more stressful than the past weeks but it would be worth it. It would be worth it to walk down the aisle straight to the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He kissed me goodnight, mumbling something about early meetings and seeing me at dinner tomorrow, before he eventually drifted to sleep. He must have had a long day with how easily he crashed, not bothering to even take a shower or completely take off his work clothes. I turned off the lights and lay awake a little longer, my heart full with happiness. Everything was ready. The dress.
The flowers. The vows. I couldn’t wait for the next day to come. If only I knew that was the beginning of something very new. A warning would have been nice at least. … Serena Vale My rehearsal dinner was to start at four o’clock. It was currently eleven thirty in the morning. Douglas had left early this morning, saying he had to run some errands before the dinner in the evening, so I was left at home with several name cards that needed to be confirmed with fresh flowers littering the house. Everything was confirmed last night but when I woke up this morning, I had the urge to select new flowers, so I did. Then I rearranged the name cards based on the flowers for each table. Everything had to be perfect. Tessa was sitting cross-legged on my couch, her dark curls tied in a messy bun with some of them framing her face. Her laptop was open as she typed furiously on it. She’d been having a bit of writer’s block. She suddenly got inspiration this morning but she had also promised to come early, so she brought her laptop with her. A writer of five best sellers, yet here she was, helping me pick a seating arrangement that made sense. Well, she was barely helping. She just inserted a few words here and there as Noelle and I discussed it. “No one should sit beside your aunt Ruth,” she said without looking up. “She’ll criticize the food, wine, and probably your dress when she sees it.” I laughed. “You’re exaggerating it.” “She called your engagement ring modest. I’m being generous.” Noelle perked up at the mention of my engagement ring.
She was sitting on the floor, arranging flowers. “Really? She called a huge diamond ring modest?” “It’s Rena’s fault for inviting her to her bachelorette party,” Tessa responded, her fingers flying across her keyboard. I didn’t know how she managed to write and gossip at the same time. My aunt Ruth was only seven years older than I was. It made sense to invite her since I invited my older cousins as well, some of whom were the same age as her. “There’s a reason she isn’t still married yet.” Noelle mocked as if she had a husband in contrast. Noelle worked as a luxury real estate consultant, which meant she was always working with rich people. Because of this, she was usually invited to galas and other rich people’s events. She was used to rich people with no soul, especially the ones who came from old money. The only rich person I was used to was Douglas. I glanced at my phone. He’d left around six in the morning and he still hadn’t texted yet. “He’s late,” Noelle murmured, somehow sensing where my thoughts had strayed to. “He said he was running errands,” I said quickly. Maybe too quickly. “Errands? On the day of the rehearsal dinner? Your makeup artist will arrive in an hour.” “Well, that has nothing to do with him.” My tone was getting defensive. “Besides, isn’t it better if the makeup look is a surprise?” They didn’t argue but their silence said enough. I wished Lila were here. She would assure me that nothing was wrong with him being out as long as he wasn’t missing anything.
For the next hour, we busied ourselves. Tessa continued on with her writing while Noelle and I went through all the details again, triple-checking the schedule. Everything was calm and predictable. But that was until my phone buzzed. It was a text from an unknown number; an attachment. Wondering if I’d forgotten to save a vendor’s number, I clicked on the message. My fingers went cold and for a moment, I was certain blood stopped flowing in my veins. It was Douglas inside a cafe, holding another woman’s hand. I knew all his siblings. I knew most of his cousins, at least the ones he was close to. I knew his female friends. I’d met them. I knew his exes. I stalked them two years ago. The person in the picture wasn’t any of those people. I blinked, unable to process what I was seeing. “What the…” Tessa’s eyes finally left her screen. “What’s wrong?” I considered not showing them the picture as it was going to make it look real but before my brain could catch up, I was already turning my phone towards them. Noelle moved forward, staring at the screen with a frown on her face. “Where was this taken?” “I don’t know.” My voice was smaller than usual. “But an unknown number sent it to me. It has to be fake, right? Someone is trying to mess with me. Someone is trying to ruin things for us.” Tessa hesitated. “Maybe, but that looks like Douglas, Rena.” I forced a laugh. “Someone is messing with me on purpose. It could be an old picture from before we even met. They probably just want to stir the pot.” Douglas had been faithful to me throughout our years of dating.
He’d never raised his voice at me even when we fought. He always made sure I was happy and never went to bed angry. Douglas couldn’t cheat on me. He was the perfect partner. He was the love of my life. He was the man I was going to marry in less than forty-eight hours. Noelle and Tessa exchanged a look but neither said anything else. My hands were shaking as I tried to focus on my tasks. I had to finish arranging the flowers. Lila would be coming to get the flowers soon so she could take them to the location. Then, another buzz came. I froze. Tessa and Noelle stared at me. They were just as nervous as I was as I picked up the phone again. I was relieved when it was just a text from Lila asking if she should pick up anything on her way to my house. My relief was short-lived though. As I responded to her, telling her not to bring anything, there was another text from the unknown number. This time, it was a video. I should have deleted it immediately. I should have tossed my phone across the room or something, but my curiosity compelled me to open the video. I pressed play and the world stopped. It was him. Douglas. This time, he wasn’t in a cafe holding a woman’s hand. He was naked, moving against an equally naked girl underneath him. Her face was blurred but I knew damn well that wasn’t me. My stomach churned at the sight and my breakfast threatened to come back up. I couldn’t believe it! I could have easily dismissed it as a tape from his past but the tattoo on his waist was a dead giveaway. He had gotten it on our first anniversary.
It was a tattoo of my initials yet there he was, moaning a woman’s name and it wasn’t mine. My hands were trembling so badly that I didn’t even realize when I dropped the phone on the floor. As Noelle picked up the phone, I stood up from the floor and rushed to the kitchen, puking out everything I’d eaten in the past twenty-four hours. … Serena Vale The video had ended long ago, but the awful intimate sound of him and the woman kept replaying in my head. As we returned to the living room, everyone was silent. My friends were staring at me like I was a ticking time bomb but I was just trying to make sense of everything. I couldn’t even cry. I was feeling so many things at once that I tried to regulate my emotions. Logically, it wasn’t possible that Douglas would cheat on me. He always called me the most beautiful woman. He said I was the best partner he’d ever had. He even wished he had met me earlier. But the video was clear as day. It was filmed at an angle that I was certain he didn’t know he was being filmed. I was tempted to text the person who sent the video but I didn’t want to break my heart even further. I needed to confront Douglas. I needed to confront him as soon as possible. Just as I picked up my phone to call him, the door opened and the man in question stepped in. His regular lazy smile was on his lips as he saw the state of the house. “You decided to change the flowers last minute, didn’t you?” For a moment, I just stared at him, wondering how my lovely fiancé could do something so evil to me.
His eyes darted from me to Noelle to Tessa, eyebrows furrowing when we all stayed silent. “Is something wrong with the preparation?” I glanced at Noelle and Tessa and they both nodded at me before packing up and leaving silently. Douglas looked behind them as they disappeared through the door. “Babe, is everything okay?” He rushed forward, attempting to hold my arms. I pulled away. “Did you cheat on me, Douglas?” I didn’t have the time to beat around the bush. My wedding was tomorrow. I needed to know whether or not it was going to go through. His face registered his shock at my question, then as if he had practiced it a million times, he laughed. “What are you talking about, baby? Why would I cheat on you?” He looked so honest that I started to doubt if the video was real. “You’re literally the love of my life.” I closed my eyes briefly. This was so hard to do as Douglas had never given me a reason to doubt him. But I needed to clear things up. I picked up my phone, played the video, and handed it over to him. “Isn’t this you, Douglas?” His jaw ticked. “Who sent this to you?” “Is that you or not!?” I yelled. His face was clear and his voice was unmistakable. He couldn’t deny it. “It’s me but–” “But what?” I interrupted. “This is obviously recent. Your tattoo is right there. Even your hairstyle is the one you started cutting earlier this year. What the fuck, Douglas?” “Look, Rena,” he tried to hold me again. I didn’t let him. Who knew how many women he had touched with that slimy hand of his? “The wedding is tomorrow.
Let’s not do this now, okay?” I blinked. “What?” He moved closer. “You’ve spent months planning everything. People have flown in from several cities just for our wedding. If this gets out, we’ll both look stupid. We’ll handle it privately. For now, let’s just go through with it.” My mouth fell open at his audacity. Something inside me broke then. If I hadn’t caught him red-handed, would he have lied to me forever? Did he even care about me? Did he intend to continue cheating after we got married too? “Go through with it?” I asked in disbelief. “You cheated on me, Douglas!” “It was a mistake, Serena! It meant nothing.” I stared at him, unable to recognize the man in front of me. He wanted me to dismiss his cheating like it was nothing. He wasn’t even apologetic. He just wanted to save face. How the hell did I not see the signs? “Serena, please. You love me. We can fix this. Tomorrow, we’ll say our vows. We’ll pretend this didn’t happen. No one else has to know.” Pretend it never happened. I took a deep breath, the tears finally rolling down my cheeks. “Get out, Douglas.” “Serena–” “I said get out!” The silence that followed was deafening. Realizing he couldn’t argue about that right now, he sighed and turned around, leaving the same way he came. As soon as he left, I fell to the ground and broke down in tears. Tessa and Noelle rushed in. They hadn’t left after all. Tessa knelt beside me, her voice gentle. “You did the right thing.” Noelle placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re not marrying a man who cheats and expects applause for it.” I tried to nod but the tears wouldn’t stop rolling. They wouldn’t get it, not fully anyway. I thought I had found the love of my life.
I’d imagine our life together, our future. I thought we were going to be together forever but it turned out I didn’t even know the man I was supposed to be marrying. Everything I knew was crumbling right before my eyes. How the hell was I supposed to move on from this? When Lila finally arrived, she was surprised to see us all on the floor. Noelle filled her in and she was about to go out and look for Douglas if Noelle didn’t stop her. “That bastard,” she seethed. “If he wanted to fuck everything that walks, he could have just stayed single.” Her words had me crying harder. He was supposed to be my Douglas, not every woman’s man. As if I wasn’t in enough pain already, another text came through. Through my blurry eyes, I checked it. It was the unknown number. [In case he tries to gaslight you into thinking it’s nothing, just know that this has been going on for two years. He visited my place last night.] Without thinking, I threw my phone against the wall. My chest tightened so hard I thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe. “Cancel it. Cancel everything.” I couldn’t even recognize my own voice as I spoke. Tomorrow was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Now, I just wanted to erase it from existence.