Vesper’s POV
The morning started with arguments again, the calm, professional kind that made everything feel one step away from collapsing.
I stood watching the news while Jaxon leaned against the counter, sipping coffee like he wasn’t actively ruining my nervous system.
“The issue isn’t visibility,” I said.
“It’s inconsistent.
One day you look like a devoted husband, the next day you ignore half the press and walk off mid-interview.”
”I didn’t walk off,” he corrected.
“I ended it.”
”You ended it by saying, ‘I’m bored with this question,’ and leaving.
That’s not good for your personality.”
”Honesty is refreshing.”
”Yours is reckless.”
Sunny sat between us, swinging her legs.
“I think Daddy was funny,” she said.
I pointed at her without looking away from Jaxon.
“You’re not helping my case.”
”She never helps your case,” Jaxon said calmly.
“I noticed.”
Wait…did she just call him Daddy?
I gasped and turned to her.
He took another sip of coffee, watching me over the rim.
“You seem stressed.”
Of course I am, why was Sunny even good at this…it’s barely a wee, and she’s already so relaxed.
“I’m focused.”
”You’re grinding your teeth.” I paused and glared at him.
“I do not grind my teeth.”
”You are doing that right now.”
Sunny nodded seriously.
“She does.”
Traitors….Both of them.
“The beach plan stays,” I said.
“We need natural public interaction.
Something that doesn’t look staged.”
Jaxon raised a brow.
“So you’re saying we should go somewhere full of cameras and pretend not to notice cameras.”
”Yes.”
”That’s your genius strategy.”
”It works.”
He smiled slightly.
“And here I am thinking you’re exhausting.”
I rubbed my forehead and sighed.
This man was going to shorten my life.
Still, by noon, we were on the island beach.
Sunny ran ahead, barefoot and laughing, dragging Jaxon with her.
I watched them for a moment before following more slowly, the way Jaxon bent slightly so Sunny could pull him down to her level, and how he hadn’t checked his phone once.
I hated how normal and easy it looked.
How… right.
That thought unsettled me because nothing about this arrangement was supposed to feel right.
A group of female voices cut through my thoughts.
They sounded excited, and we’re approaching our way.
“Is that him?”
”Oh my God, it is.”
”He’s even better in person.”
I kept my eyes on Sunny and on the sand.
I wasn’t supposed to care.
This was PR, and it was a strategy.
This was business, and the reason for your arrangement, so why did something uncomfortable twist in my chest when I heard laughter too close to him?
“Jaxon Laurent, right?”
A girl stepped into my peripheral vision, wearing a confident smile.
“Jaxon Laurent, right?
Are you here alone?”
That one made me glance up despite myself, and Jaxon stood casually, one hand resting on Sunny’s shoulder.
“No,” he said simply.
The girls hesitated.
“Oh… with your team?”
His gaze shifted, just slightly to me.
“No,” he repeated.
The girls laughed softly, but one of them glanced at me, her expression turning dismissive.
“We didn’t think you were actually married,” one of them said, almost teasing.
“It felt like PR, no woman is worth marrying someone like you anyway.”
The air changed like pressure dropping before a storm.
I turned my head slightly away before I even realized I was doing it.
Not because I was angry, but because I cared, and I don’t like how suddenly I felt… out of place like I was standing in a space I wasn’t meant to occupy.
Words I had repeated so many times they should have stopped hurting.
And yet, hearing them spoken out loud made something twist unpleasantly inside me.
Jaxon didn’t respond immediately, which stretched the silence.
Then— “Finish your sandcastle, Sunny.”
His voice was calm.
Sunny blinked.
“Huh?”
”Go finish it.”
She ran off without questioning him, then I felt his movement, not toward the fans but toward me.
The sand shifted slightly as he stepped in front of my line of sight.
Blocking them and blocking everything.
“Jaxon—”
I didn’t get to finish as he looked at the girls, and he’s not smiling anymore.
“You’re done here?”
The girls froze.
“I’m sorry?” one of them said.
Jaxon tilted his head slightly.
“You heard me.”
”We were just talking to you.”
”No,” he corrected.
“You were talking about me.”
There’s a heavy silence that even the ocean seems quieter.
One of them forced a laugh.
“It’s just weird.
No one really believed the marriage—”
That was the moment everything shifted.
For a second, I forgot how to breathe.
“Vesper,” he said quietly.
My name sounded different in his voice as he walked past them like he had already made a decision and nothing in the world could change it.
My pulse spiked.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
He stopped right in front of me.
Close enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to meet his eyes.
“I’m correcting something,” he said.
The fans shifted behind him, looking confused and watching, waiting to see what happens next.
“Jaxon,” I said again, lower this time.
“This is not—”
His hand lifted gently as he cupped my face.
My entire body froze, and the beach disappeared.
The voices disappeared.
Even Sunny’s laughter in the distance faded into nothing.
All I could feel was his hand that was warm, steady, and certain.
“You don’t look like PR to me,” he said loud enough for anyone to hear, my breath caught and then—
He kissed me, not softly, nor did it look like a performance.
It was deep and unapologetic.
Possessive in a way that made my mind go completely blank.
My hands instinctively grabbed his shirt without permission from my brain.
Around us, everything stopped.
I heard a gasp somewhere, then silence.
Jaxon didn’t rush or pretend.
He simply kissed me like he had decided, in front of everyone, that I was his choice.
When he finally pulled back, my forehead was still against his.
My heart was so loud I was sure everyone could hear it.
His thumb brushed lightly against my cheek.
And for the first time since Chloe died… since Sunny’s custody battle… since everything started falling apart…
I didn’t feel like I was standing alone.
Jaxon didn’t look at the fans anymore.
Instead, he spoke quietly but firmly enough that everyone heard it.
“She’s not PR.”
He paused then, almost like a final blow:
”She’s my wife.”
The words hit something deep inside me, something I hadn’t realized I was still protecting.
The fans stood frozen as no one spoke, not even me, who was still reeling in shock.
It was the realization that my chest had finally stopped feeling like I was carrying everything alone.
And I didn’t know when Jaxon Laurent had become the person holding part of it for me.