All Chapters of The Wrong Vow, My Perfect Match : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

CharlieI was looking at the same woman but a different twin with the most stupid mindset and I had married her.The security guards still had her arms when I appeared in the doorway and Serena was not interested in being restrained by anyone."You shameless man," she screamed, twisting against their grip, "so this is what you do, you go around town cheating on me, where is she Charlie? I know she is in there, you are sleeping with her right now are you not, you disgraceful, lying…""Serena," I cut in, and my voice came out flat and tired in a way that had nothing to do with the hour, "what is the meaning of this, what are you doing here.”She stopped twisting just long enough to stare at me like I had lost my mind for asking.I turned to the security, "Please, leave her, she is my wife."They exchanged a look, released her arms and disappeared down the corridor without another word.Serena straightened her clothes with a sharp motion, pushed past me into the room and immediately star

CharlieThe office was the only place that had ever asked nothing of me except results, and that morning I needed that more than I needed anything else.I had not called Serena. I had woken up, showered, dressed and driven straight in without checking my phone beyond the work notifications and I felt no particular way about that decision. Whatever state she had gotten herself home in after last night was a problem she had created and could sort accordingly.The morning meeting was already assembled when I walked into the boardroom, my team spread around the table with their laptops open and their presentations pulled up. I took my seat at the head, poured coffee from the carafe in the center and listened while they walked through the material, asking questions where the logic thinned and cutting sections that were running too long. The deal on the table was significant and I was not walking into that event with a presentation that had any soft spots in it."Tighten the third segment,"

CharlieMy dreams of her were becoming even more frequent than usual and it was killing me.I had seen her for less than three seconds through a car window and somehow that was enough to ruin the rest of my afternoon entirely. Frank and I had made it to lunch and I had sat across from him for an hour pushing food around a plate, contributing just enough to the conversation to avoid questions I did not want to answer, and by the time we parted ways outside the restaurant I could tell from the way he looked at me that he had noticed everything and was choosing, for now, to say nothing about it.I drove home in the kind of mood that had no name, just a weight.The house was quiet when I got in, which meant Serena had not yet returned, and I was grateful for that in the uncomplicated way you are grateful for small mercies that you know are temporary. I changed, poured myself a drink I barely touched and sat in the study with work on the screen in front of me that I read without absorbing

CharlieShe was going nowhere with me, all Serena would do there was cause a scene that none of us would ever forget.Serena was still buried under the covers when I slipped out of the bedroom and I closed the door behind me with the care of a man who understood that what was sleeping in that room was not simply a woman but a problem he needed several hours head start on.I showered, dressed and was out of the house before seven and the entire drive to the office I spent dismantling and rebuilding the problem of her, the way I approached every problem that mattered, without sentiment and without mercy.Talking her out of it directly was not an option I was willing to waste time on. I had spent enough years in Serena's orbit to understand that conversation did not change her mind, it only sharpened her resolve and gave her ammunition she had not thought to load herself. She would sit across from me, nod at the correct intervals, let me believe I had landed somewhere, and then she woul

Charlie I decided to work from home, taking the advantage to prepare well for the event since it was only hours away now. "Run it again," I told Davies through the screen, leaning back in my chair, "from the infrastructure segment, and this time do not rush the transition into the projections, you lost the argument there last time." Davies nodded and pulled the slides back up immediately. The silence of the house was doing things for my concentration that the office never could, no interruptions, no footsteps outside my door, no Serena moving through the background of my day like a weather system I had to constantly account for. Just me, the screen and the work. "The third point needs a stronger opening statement," I cut in, "you are burying the most compelling argument in the middle where nobody is paying attention, lead with it, make them lean forward before you give them the numbers." Davies made the adjustment in real time and I watched it take shape and felt the partic