Chapter One

The church bells rang softly, echoing through the grand hall as Olivia took her first steps down the aisle.

She radiated beauty, her chocolate skin glowing beneath the delicate lace veil, her smile wide and bright, her eyes sparkling with dreams of forever. Each step was filled with excitement, her heart leaping at the thought that in a few minutes, she would finally be Mrs. Jack.

Her mother dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, her brother grinned proudly, and the guests leaned in, admiring the stunning bride. The air was filled with warmth and expectation.

Olivia reached the altar, her smile still glowing as she turned to face the aisle, waiting for her groom to join her.

And she waited.

Five minutes passed. The organist shifted uncomfortably, replaying the wedding hymn. The priest cleared his throat, checking his watch. Olivia's smile wavered, but she steadied herself, whispering He's coming, he must be coming.

Ten minutes. The whispers began.

Twenty minutes. Her bouquet trembled in her hands.

Thirty minutes. Her heart pounded painfully, her lips quivering.

By the fortieth minute, the truth began to sink in. Jack wasn't coming.

Olivia Bennett's heart hammered against her chest. The heavy silence of St. Matthew's Church pressed down on her like a cruel joke.

She stood beneath the arch of white roses, the train of her gown spilling across the marble floor. Her hands clutched the bouquet too tightly, the petals trembling as though they too felt her humiliation.

He hadn't shown up.

Jack didn't come.

Her fiancé, the man who had promised to love her, to cherish her, had disappeared on their wedding day.

The priest glanced at her uncertainly, the pity in his eyes stinging worse than the absence beside her.

"Miss Bennett," he began gently, his voice echoing through the quiet church, "perhaps we should"

"I'm her husband."

The voice was deep. Calm. Confident.

It sliced through the tension like lightning.

Heads turned instantly toward the back of the church, where a tall man in a dark suit stood, his expression unreadable. The murmurs grew louder, confused, shocked, and scandalized.

"Who is that?" someone whispered.

"Is this some kind of joke?" another hissed.

Olivia blinked, her tear-streaked face lifting toward the stranger.

He was striking, tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair brushed neatly away from his face. His gray eyes locked on hers with quiet intensity, like he had already decided something.

And then, before she could move or speak, he began walking toward her.

Each step echoed on the marble aisle, steady and sure, until he stood right in front of her.

The priest looked baffled. "Sir, I, I don't believe we've met. Who are you?"

The man's gaze didn't waver from Olivia. "Her husband," he repeated firmly. "And I'm late."

A few gasps rippled through the crowd.

Olivia's lips parted in disbelief. "What, what are you doing?" she whispered.

His tone softened only for her. "Saving you."

"From what?"

"From falling apart in front of people who don't deserve to see it."

Her breath hitched. She had no idea who this man was, but something about his steady calm drew her in, grounding her amid the chaos.

The priest hesitated. "Sir, this is highly irregular. We can't just"

The stranger turned toward him, voice even but commanding. "If it's irregular to keep a woman from humiliation, then consider me irregular."

The room was spinning. Olivia wanted to protest, to tell him to stop this madness, but when she turned her head, she saw her guests whispering, pitying, some even smiling behind their hands.

Coworkers from Hart Conglomerate.

People who had known for months that Jack was cheating.

People who hadn't said a word to her.

And in that moment, the shame burned so deep she wanted to disappear.

But the stranger's eyes caught hers again, steady and sure. "Trust me," he murmured.

Her throat tightened.

"Do you take this man," the priest began hesitantly, unsure what else to do.

Olivia's heart screamed no. But her pride whispered yes.

And before she could think, she heard her voice, small but steady, say, "I do."

A collective gasp filled the air.

The man's lips curved faintly. "I do," he said without hesitation.

And just like that, it was done.

The church erupted into shocked whispers. Cameras flashed. Someone muttered, "She married a stranger?"

Olivia barely felt her feet beneath her as the ceremony ended. Her mind was a blur of disbelief, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

The stranger, her new husband, offered his arm. "Shall we?"

She hesitated, staring at him. "Who are you?" she whispered.

He smiled slightly. "Sebastian. Sebastian Hart."

Her breath caught. "Hart?"

He nodded once. "Yes. My family owns this company."

Olivia blinked, stunned. "You're Joel Hart's brother?"

"I am."

She frowned. "That's impossible. Joel said his brother lived abroad."

Sebastian's smile deepened. "Until last week."

And before she could say another word, he led her out of the church away from the whispers, the pity, the betrayal.

Later That Afternoon

The limousine glided through the busy New York streets. Olivia sat rigidly beside the stranger who had just turned her disaster into the scandal of the year.

Her fingers twisted nervously in her lap. "You can't just walk into someone's wedding and"

"Save it?" he asked mildly, looking out the window.

"Hijack it!" she snapped. "You humiliated me even more!"

He turned to face her, his gray eyes calm. "You were already humiliated, Miss Bennett. I just changed the ending."

Her breath hitched. "You don't even know me!"

"No," he admitted. "But I saw enough to know you didn't deserve to be abandoned in front of everyone."

She swallowed hard. "You shouldn't have interfered."

"Maybe not." He leaned back, his tone cool and measured. "But I couldn't sit there and watch a coward destroy a good woman."

The words struck her harder than she expected.

"Jack doesn't deserve your tears," Sebastian added quietly. "Or your silence."

Olivia turned her head toward the window, blinking fast. "You don't know what I deserve."

"I know a woman who shows up deserves better than a man who runs away."

His words hung in the air between them, sharp and unshakable.

Only that morning, Olivia had been radiant.

She had woken to sunlight spilling through her hotel window, her heart fluttering with nervous excitement. The white dress hanging by the mirror had felt like a dream come true.

Jack had promised to be her forever.

They had met two years ago at Hart Conglomerate, where Olivia worked as an administrative assistant and Jack was a marketing manager. He had been charming, ambitious, always saying the right things.

And she, soft-spoken, hardworking, and eager to love, had fallen hard.

What she didn't know was that Jack was never hers alone.

Everyone at the office whispered about his affairs, about the women he met on "business trips." They pitied her but never told her. She was the naïve fiancée who believed in his smiles and ignored the signs.

Until today, when the truth came crashing down with brutal clarity.

He didn't show. He didn't even call.

Just vanished like the coward Sebastian had called him.

When the car stopped in front of a sleek penthouse building overlooking Central Park, Olivia turned to him sharply. "Where are we?"

"My home," he said.

"I'm not going in there," she said. "This isn't real. That, that wedding wasn't real."

He turned to face her, eyes steady. "It's as real as you want it to be."

Her breath caught. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," he said slowly, "we can file an annulment tomorrow, or we can make it work for now."

Olivia frowned. "Make it work? For what?"

"For both of us." He leaned forward slightly. "I just came back to the States after five years abroad. My family expects me to settle down now that I'm taking over the Hart Conglomerate from my younger brother. They want a stable image of a wife by my side. And you," he paused, eyes softening, "you need time. Space. Dignity. A way to stand tall again."

Her heart pounded. "You're proposing a fake marriage?"

"Temporary," he corrected smoothly. "Mutually beneficial."

Olivia shook her head in disbelief. "This is insane."

"Probably," he admitted, a faint smile playing on his lips. "But it might just work."

She stared at him, trying to read the man who had turned her life upside down in less than an hour.

Sebastian Hart. Mysterious. Confident. Infuriatingly composed.

"I don't even know you," she whispered.

"You'll have plenty of time to fix that," he said quietly. "And for what it's worth, Olivia, I didn't do this for publicity. I did it because no woman deserves to stand alone in a church and cry."

The sincerity in his voice caught her off guard.

For the first time that day, she didn't feel like prey to the world's pity.

She looked away, her voice small. "And what happens if I say yes?"

Sebastian smiled faintly. "Then, Mrs. Hart, the story changes."

That night, Olivia lay awake in the guest room of his penthouse, staring at the ceiling.

She had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

But one thing was certain: she was no longer the woman who had been left at the altar.

She was the woman a stranger had stood up for.

A stranger named Sebastian Hart, whose gray eyes held secrets and promises she wasn't ready to understand.

And though she didn't know it yet, the moment he said "I'm her husband" was the beginning of something that would change both their lives.

The morning sunlight crept through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, painting the room in shades of gold and gray.

Olivia Bennett woke up slowly, disoriented by the softness beneath her. The sheets smelled faintly of cedar and expensive cologne. It took her a few seconds to remember she wasn’t in her hotel room or even her apartment.

Then it hit her.

She was in his home.

Sebastian Hart. The man who had walked into a church full of whispers and changed the course of her life with four words, “I’m her husband.”

Her heart hammered in her chest. She sat up fast, a cold wave of panic sending the silk robe slipping off one shoulder as she scanned the unfamiliar room.

The runaway groom. The stranger at the altar. The shock on everyone’s faces.

For a moment, she just sat there, trying to piece together the insanity of the past twenty-four hours.

Olivia groaned softly, burying her face in her hands. “What have I done?”

And then, him. Calm, steady, unreadable.

A Knock at the Door

“Come in,” she said hesitantly when the knock came.

The door opened, and a housekeeper stepped inside, her uniform crisp and her smile polite. “Good morning, Mrs. Hart. Mr. Hart asked me to tell you breakfast is ready.”

Olivia froze. “Mrs. Hart,” the woman had said.

It sounded unreal, like a title that didn’t belong to her.

“Oh, thank you,” she murmured, her cheeks burning.

When the housekeeper left, Olivia stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a soft mess of curls, her face pale but beautiful in a fragile sort of way.

Mrs. Olivia Hart.

She almost laughed. The name felt like a stranger’s.

Downstairs

The penthouse kitchen was sleek and modern, all marble and glass, overlooking a breathtaking view of Central Park.

Sebastian was already there, dressed in a crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled up, a cup of coffee in hand. His tie hung loosely around his neck, his dark hair perfectly tousled.

He looked like a man who had everything under control.

“Good morning,” he said, glancing up from his phone.

Olivia stood awkwardly near the island counter. “Morning.”

“Sleep well?”

“I’ve had better nights,” she muttered.

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Understandable.”

He gestured toward the breakfast spread of croissants, fruit, eggs, and steaming coffee. “Eat something. You look like you could use it.”

She hesitated before sitting across from him. “You don’t have to be nice to me.”

“I’m not being nice,” he said simply. “I’m being practical. You fainted last night before you could even finish your tea.”

Olivia winced, embarrassed. “I was overwhelmed.”

“I gathered.”

She picked at a croissant, then finally looked up at him. “So, what now?”

Sebastian set his cup down, his gaze steady. “Now we talk.”

He slid his phone across the counter toward her.

Olivia looked down, and her breath caught.

“Mystery Man Marries Jilted Bride in a Shocking Twist.”

“The Abandoned Wedding That Became New York’s Most Talked-About Love Story.”

“Who Is Olivia Bennett’s Secret Husband?”