Page 82 of The Secret Heir Next Door

I start pacing, trying to keep my thoughts in order. My phone is buzzing nonstop with updates from Grace and Brant, but nothing is moving fast enough for my liking.

The media storm surrounding Serena is growing by the minute, and I feel like I'm running out of time to put out the fire.

As I’m about to sit down at my desk, the door to my office swings open without a knock. I glance up, expecting Grace or one of my team members, but instead, Nikki Westerheide is smiling back at me.

She stands in the doorway, looking as polished as ever in a tailored navy dress that screams old money. Her blonde hair is perfectly styled.

“Nikki,” I don’t bother to hide my surprise. “What are you doing here?”

She steps into the office, closing the door behind her with a soft click. “Well, I thought we could talk,” she says with a smirk.“It’s not every day your fiancé is seen all over the place with another woman, after all.”

I freeze at her words, feeling a cold rush of frustration. “You’re not my fiancé, Nikki.”

She snorts and shakes her head.

“I know, Logan,” she says, holding up her hands in mock surrender. “Trust me, I know.”

There’s a moment of silence between us until she sighs and crosses her arms, leaning against the edge of my desk.

“But our families, they’re pushing for it. They’ve been pushing for it for years, and now... well, they’re not going to just let it go. We have to do something about this.”

I shake my head, more irritated than ever. “I don’t care what our families want, Nikki. I’ve already made my choice, and I’m engaged to someone else.”

The words come out with more force than I intended, but I need her to understand that this charade is over.

“I figured as much,but you should know... I overheard our mothers talking, Logan. Your family isn’t backing down. They’re going for the jugular.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She meets my gaze, her expression serious. “All the photos, the slander... it’s from them. They orchestrated everything. I heard your mother talking about it. She was pretty mad, Logan, and she said they would do everything they could to make sure you changed your mind.”

I close my eyes, trying to rein in the anger boiling inside me. I suspected that my family was behind the smear campaign against Serena, but hearing Nikki confirm it... it’s infuriating.

They’re willing to destroy an innocent woman’s reputation just to force me into a marriage I never wanted.

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

Nikki and I have known each other our whole lives, but we’ve never been close. Our relationship has always been more of an arrangement between our families than anything else.

She shrugs, a small smile playing on her lips.

“Because, Logan, I think it’s cool that you broke free and did what you wanted to do. I’m not going to be a part of taking you down just to satisfy our parents’ ambitions.”

Her words take me by surprise. Nikki has always played the role of the dutiful daughter, the one who followed the rules and did what was expected of her.

Hearing her speak like this, I realize there’s more to her than I ever gave her credit for.

“So you’re here to help me?” I ask, still trying to wrap my head around this sudden turn of events.

She nods earnestly. “Yeah. I’ll do whatever I can to help you out. I’m not interested in marrying you, Logan. Never have been. But if there’s one thing I hate more than our families’ manipulations, it’s seeing someone’s life ruined by a lie.”

“Thank you, Nikki. I appreciate it.”

She waves off my gratitude with a flick of her hand. “Don’t mention it. Just let me know what you need, and I’ll be there.”

As she turns to leave, I call after her, “Nikki, if they find out you’re helping me...”

She stops and looks back at me with a wry smile. “I know, Logan. But trust me, I’ve been dealing with them my whole life. I can handle it.”