Page 1 of Desperate Measures

Prologue 1-Michaela

Present day.

“Mrs. O’Doyle, do you have a comment about your husband’s whereabouts last night? Do you know the woman he was with?”

“Mrs. O’Doyle, this way, please! That’s it, smile for the camera!”

“Is it true Liam O’Doyle tricked you into marriage?”

I blinked against the flashes from the paparazzi and looked for a path to the car waiting for me that wouldn’t require I wade into the thick of the foul-smelling photographers and tabloid hacks.

It was their job to get all the juicy, gritty tidbits of people's lives and to turn them into fodder for the public. I understood all that. But I hated them just the same.

Fuck. Shit.

My heart was breaking, but I couldn’t let them see. I had to keep my chin up, my emotions hidden from the ravenous crowd.

“Excuse me. Move. Get the fuck away from my wife!”

I heard his voice before I saw him. Liam O’Doyle. My two-timing bastard of a husband.

My chest squeezed.

My throat felt thick.

I steeled my spine and started walking. Remembering who I was had never been a problem before.

Thenhehappened.

This man—my husband—swept into my life like a tsunami. He turned everything I ever thought I knew about myself completely topsy-turvy, and I should have hated him for it.

But, to my unending shame, I didn’t.

“Michaela,” he murmured as I neared him and the small group of men he had with him, pushing the crowd back.

Our eyes met, but I schooled my face to show no emotion.

“Excuse me. I have to get to an appointment.”

“We have to talk,” he whispered.

“I think we’re beyond that, don’t you?”

I turned away from his too handsome face. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate his looks.

Liam had a way of drawing attention without even trying.

It was so damn unfair.

Our deal was supposed to stop this from happening. But he tricked me in more ways than one.

Everything started to feel too real. Before I knew what was happening, I’d gone and fallen in love.

Stupid, Micky.

Being around him now was like staring into a storm. I knew from the start he was something beautiful but deceptively dangerous. Back then, I wasn’t sure how long I could stand in its path before being swept away.

I’d looked forward to it, to him, doing just that.