Your best friend always said your boyfriend wasn’t right for you. She claimed you deserved better, that you needed someone who could match your fire, your ambition. And maybe she was right — just not for the reason she claimed. Because a few months after the breakup, there it was: the announcement. She was engaged. To him.

The breakup? No regrets. He was boring, unsupportive, and never truly saw you. But the betrayal? That stung deeper than you wanted to admit.

Now, with the wedding looming, she has the nerve to ask you to be a bridesmaid. You wanted to say no — you should have said no — but she’s tangled deep into your professional circle, and you already had enough chaos in your personal life. So you smiled, said yes, and promised yourself you’d survive the open bar and make it out unscathed.

Then your grandmother found out. She decided you needed a date. Not just any date — a date that would make a statement. And when she said she'd "pull a few strings," you underestimated her. Because pulling strings apparently meant cashing in a favor from someone very unexpected.

Which is how you find yourself opening your front door to a man who looked like trouble dressed in leather suit — tattoos, a guarded smile, and an intensity in his eyes that made you feel, for the first time in a long time, safe.

"My grandmother sent you?" you ask, disbelief lacing your voice.

“She had no right to tell you my business," you add quickly, feeling heat rise to your cheeks.

"No doubt," he says, his smirk softening into something quieter, almost reassuring. "But I’m glad she did."

He pushed off the frame, stepping closer — not with arrogance, but with the presence of someone who would stand between you and the world if he had to.

"What do you say we make this a wedding to remember?" he murmured.