From Best Friend To Fiancé (eBook)

A Forced-Proximity Revenge Romance

Page Hunter (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
267 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-110847-9 (ISBN)

Infos

“You fake-engaged me to your entire family—to outdo your sister who’s marrying your ex—and now we’re actually driving to New Hope to pull off this epic lie?”
I nodded.
“Okay, okay, counteroffer—I give you my next paycheck. Just the one. And maybe my soul.”
Roman snorted. “Love, your paycheck wouldn’t cover my shoelaces.”
“Please, Roman…”
He watched me, eyes softer now. “When do we leave?”
“In two weeks.”
He ran a hand through his messy hair. “Great. Let’s ruin a wedding.”
*******
I’m Savannah Hart, and I panicked. When my sister said she’d marry my ex, I blurted a lie: I’m engaged to Roman Blackwood—my razor-smart, infuriating best friend. We head to New Hope to “ruin a wedding” as revenge, and our fake-engagement romance explodes into open war—petty games, a velvet-room “surprise,” and danger that feels way too real.
With Roman Blackwood, banter is armor—and gasoline. In this best-friends-to-lovers freefall, forced proximity and messy family drama shove us past the point of no return. One storm-soaked night brands desire onto friendship. Now I either hide behind the lie—or risk scandal and heartbreak for the truth. A high-heat, angsty contemporary romance—told by me.
BOOK 4

Textauszug

Chapter 151: You're Truly Miserable

 

“She what?” Roman’s voice shot through the room, sharp and shocked.

 

“I’m telling you, Roman.” I paced the bedroom like a caged animal, fury burning through every vein. “Penny walked right into that room and told everyone you were married to her sister before me. Just like that. Like she was reading from a goddamn press release. Like she was announcing the goddamn weather. You should’ve seen her face, the arrogance in her tone. She wanted to humiliate me.”

 

Roman just sat there on the edge of the bed, hands fisted so tight the veins along his forearms looked ready to burst. His jaw ticked. That small, silent twitch that meant he was about to explode.

 

“She did it on purpose.” I spat. “She wanted to ruin the day, and she did. Everyone just stood there, Roman. No one said a thing. Her words hung in the air like a bad smell that refused to go away. Even after she left.”

 

Roman’s jaw tightened, his expression darkening into something lethal. His fists clenched on the bed where he sat. “Penny must be out of her mind. She had no right.” He stood suddenly, grabbing his phone. “I’m calling her.”

 

“Good,” I said, stepping closer. “Let’s hear her explain why she thinks it’s her place to dig up graves. She owes us a big explanation. Now she's going to tell us why she thought it was her business to say that garbage in front of my entire family.”

 

He didn’t argue. Just reached for his phone from the nightstand, his movements calm but his silence loud. That was the scariest part of Roman—the calm before the storm. He dialed her number with a precision that made me shiver. Then, as the call began to ring, he reached out and took my hand. His thumb brushed over my knuckles before lifting my hand to his lips and pressing a brief kiss there.

 

“I know,” he murmured quietly, like a promise.

 

Four rings. Five. I thought she wouldn’t pick up. Then suddenly—click. She picked up.

 

“Put it on speaker,” I whispered.

 

He did.

 

“Penny.” His voice came out low, dangerous. “What the fuck did you do? Have you finally lost your goddamn mind?”

 

A silence stretched—then came her voice, smooth as silk and twice as venomous. “Good evening, Roman. I take it your little friend came running to you already?”

 

“Savannah is my fiancée,” he said evenly, his tone sharp as glass. “Not my friend. And you haven’t answered my question.”

 

She chuckled—a soft, mocking sound that made my skin crawl. “Oh, Roman. Always so quick to defend your latest conquest.”

 

“Penny.” His voice dropped an octave. “Why the hell would you say something like that to her family? What is wrong with you?”

 

Her voice hardened instantly. “What’s wrong with me? Are you seriously asking that, Roman? You, of all people?” She gave a bitter laugh. “It’s funny. I’m miserable, apparently. That’s what you think, right? That I’m just some sad, bitter woman pining away? Wishing to make others miserable just like she is?”

 

“You said it, not me,” he bit out.

 

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself.” Her voice sharpened, dripping venom. “It’s just a pity that all it took to break us apart was a pair of spread thighs and an ample bosom.”

 

My breath caught.

 

Roman froze, and for a heartbeat, silence crackled between them. Then—his fury erupted.

 

“How dare you talk about Savannah like that?” His voice thundered through the room. “Apologize. Right fucking now, Penelope.”

 

She scoffed. “Apologize? To her? Over my dead body.”

 

“You're truly miserable. Now I see it.” His tone was ice. “You don’t get to disrespect the woman I love because you can’t stand your own reflection anymore. That’s not on her, Penelope. That’s on you. Don’t drag others down into your rot.”

 

“You always did love to moralize,” she spat. “You think you’re better than me now, huh? You, the man who once told me we were the same?”

 

He didn’t flinch. “We were never the same.”

 

“Oh, but we were,” she said, her voice lowering into something dark and familiar. “We rotted together. We mourned her together, remember? For years. You and me, in that pit. Drinking, existing, pretending we were alive. Don’t pretend like you crawled out clean, Roman. You just found a new distraction.”

 

He laughed once, humorless. “You mean I found peace. I found redemption. I found love. Something you clearly will never find.” He chuckled. “You clung to the ghost of the past and dragged me with you. I let you. I let you because I felt guilty. But you don’t get to ruin what I’ve finally found just because misery loves company.” Roman’s voice rose. I sat frozen, realizing this wasn’t just an argument—this was two people who knew exactly where to stab each other.

 

“You mean you found another woman to use as your bandage,” she corrected sharply. “Don’t fool yourself. Savannah is just your next emotional crutch.”

 

“Enough,” he snapped. “Don’t project your bitterness onto her. You’ve spent years dragging your pain around like a trophy. You think that makes you deep? It makes you pathetic.”

 

Her silence was sharp—then came her voice, shaking slightly. “Pathetic? You dare call me pathetic? Roman, my twin sister died married to you. I watched her disappear day by day. I watched her lose herself until there was nothing left but bones and fake smiles. You and your family did that to her. You killed her.”

 

My stomach twisted.

 

Roman’s voice dropped, deadly calm. “Careful, Penelope.”

 

“No,” she hissed. “You don’t get to silence me. You ruined my sister. You made her fall in love with a man who didn’t know how to love anything except control and power. She died in your house, Roman. Under your roof. And now you think you get to move on with someone new like she never existed?”

 

He stood up straight, anger radiating off him like heat. “Don’t you dare make this about Dahlia. Don’t use her memory to justify your bitterness.”

 

“You mean the sister you replaced?” she spat. “Tell her, Roman. Tell Savannah that when you look at my face, you have to remind yourself that it's not Dahlia’s—the woman whose blood you have on your hands.”

 

That was the breaking point.

 

Roman’s voice cracked like thunder. “You shut your fucking mouth right now!”

 

The air in the room trembled with his rage. I stood frozen, heart hammering, staring at the man who looked seconds away from throwing the phone across the room.

 

But Penny didn’t stop. “You can curse, yell, threaten all you want—it doesn’t change what you did. You buried my sister, and now you’re parading a new girl around in a prettier dress. You're sick.”

 

His breathing grew heavy. “You’ve lost your mind.”

 

“No,” she said coldly. “I’ve finally woken up. And I won’t let you destroy anyone else the way you destroyed her.”

 

“Are you threatening me, Penelope?” His voice was dangerously low now.

 

“Call it whatever you want,” she shot back. “I don’t fucking care.”

 

A tense silence. Then—his voice dropped into something quiet and lethal. “You started this. But I’ll finish it.”

 

She laughed, bitter and hurt. “Oh please. What are you going to do, Roman? Attack my firm? Start one of your smear campaigns? Don’t mess with me. And listen, if you try to ruin with what I've poured blood, sweat and tears into, I will fuck you up.”

 

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing even though she couldn’t see it. “Are you challenging me, Penelope?”

 

“If it comes to that, yes. I am.”

 

A chilling smile curved his lips. “Penelope… you never learn.”

 

Click. He hung up without another word.

 

The silence that followed was deafening. I could still hear the echo of her voice in my head, could still feel the static from their anger buzzing in the air.

 

Roman didn’t move. He just sat there, elbows on his knees, phone hanging loosely from his hand, his face twisted in rage.

 

“Roman?” I whispered.

 

He didn’t respond right away. When he finally looked up, his eyes were nothing but cold fire. “She thinks she can play this game,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t realize she’s already lost.”

 

I swallowed hard. “What are you going to do?”

 

He didn’t answer. Just leaned back slowly, his gaze still fixed on the phone. “She crossed a line today, Savannah. She used Dahlia’s death as a weapon against me—and that’s something I’ll never forgive.”

 

My heart sank. “Roman—”

 

He turned his gaze to me, and the look in his eyes made me stop mid-sentence. It wasn’t rage anymore. It was something colder. Calculated. “You heard her,” he said softly. “She’s challenging me. And she’s about to find out what happens when you challenge me.”

 

My breath caught.

 

I sat down beside...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.11.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-110847-6 / 0001108476
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-110847-9 / 9780001108479