Page 102 of Angels Are Falling

“That’s great.”

“Yeah. It’ll be a good time. I’ll invite her coworkers. You guys should come, too, and everyone else from the magazine.”

Matt watched me for a moment. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I frowned. “Why not?”

He shook his head. “I just meant, how do you plan on introducing her to everyone else?” He kept his voice carefully neutral, which was its own form of commentary. “You can’t exactly tell people she’s your wife now that Amelie and Kai have gone public.”

I nearly dropped the phone in my hand. “Gone public? What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t seen it.”

He grabbed the phone from my hand, toyed with it for a moment, and then showed me the screen. It was an article. A society piece from a Darster publication, the kind of glossy, aspirational local press that covered Kai the way tabloids covered celebrities, with breathless reverence and very little scrutiny. The headline stopped me dead.

The Prince of Darster and His Wife: Inside Kai Cavendish’s Private Life.

There were photographs. Kai and Amelie were at what I presumed was their beachfront wedding ceremony. I had never seen these pictures. Kai was immaculate as always, holding Amelie’s hand. Dark hair, gold earrings, her head tilted slightly toward him in that way she had when she was listening to something properly.

The caption read: Kai and Amelie Cavendish on their wedding day.

Who had leaked the story? Their ceremony was supposed to be private. Did the photographer sell the pictures to the Darster publication?

“When was this published?” I asked, my throat suddenly parched.

“A few weeks ago,” Matt said.

I set the phone down on the balcony table.

“You all right?” Matt asked. “Sorry, man. I assumed you knew.”

“I’m fine,” I said, swallowing. “People were going to find out eventually. They’re married, too.”

“Mm.” Matt retrieved his phone.

“What?”

“That’s what we have been meaning to discuss with you.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “We?”

Matt seemed a bit reluctant to speak. “Me, Ruby, Marcus, Will. Most of all, Lucy.”

Lucy was Ruby’s publicist, and upon her recommendation, I’d hired her as my own. Ever since, my name’s been popping up in various magazines as an up-and-coming talent to watch.

“None of us has pressed you about your marriage because, you know, who are we to judge? To each his own.” He paused. “But maybe it isn’t such a great idea to publicize your marriage to everyone else in the magazine.”

“Why not?”

Matt rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand. “You’re my boy, and while we’ve got your back, other people at the magazine might not be so cool with our president’s… unconventional marriage.”

It seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but here. If I had to guess, my group of friends had been thinking it for a while, and he had drawn the short straw to talk to me about it. Perhaps it was because we went to high school together.

“It’s not the best look. Everyone in Darster already knows that Kai and Amelie are married. She is his wife. Where does that leave you?” He asked it simply, without cruelty. That almost made it worse.

She is his wife.

It dawned on me that with their marriage going public, I could no longer introduce Amelie as my wife. My name was nowhere in that article because why would it be? It portrayed Amelie as Kai’s loving wife, leaving me with no title. At best, I was her boyfriend, the male version of a mistress, a sidepiece.