Chapter Five: Private Wedding

It's the wedding day!

I never imagined my wedding day would feel like a secret I’m hiding from the world. But when your life becomes a series of betrayals and threats, silence and shadows become the safest companions. Dominic agreed instantly when I told him about the message—the one that arrived just minutes after I signed the contract. The one that chilled my spine and made the ink on the page feel like blood. We still don’t know who sent it, or what they plan to do. That’s why this wedding, our union, had to be private, hidden from prying eyes and whispered rumors. Only a handful of trusted people were invited. No press. No announcements. Just soft music, flickering candles, and the echo of something that feels more like war than love.

But even shadows can’t keep out fire.

The moment I hear the heavy slam of the doors behind me, I freeze. Every inch of my body goes rigid. I know that voice. That thunder. That storm.

"What the hell is this?"

My breath catches in my throat as I slowly turn, the veil trembling at the edge of my fingers. There he is. William. Storming down the aisle like a man possessed, his eyes burning into mine as though my body is the crime scene.

"You think I wouldn’t find out? My own father—getting married—and I’m not even supposed to know?"

He looks straight at Dominic, but I can feel the tremble of betrayal rolling off his voice like venom.

"Is this why you made it so private? Is this why there were no invites, no press, no family? Because you knew I’d stop it. You knew I’d never let this happen."

Dominic doesn’t flinch. He remains composed, perfectly still, but I feel the tension rising in the air like it’s being fed oxygen.

"You’re marrying her? Seriously? You’re really doing this? You’re trying to take everything from me—my future, my company, and now my woman?"

His voice cracks on that last word. My woman. As if I’m something to be owned, possessed, like the keys to the Hartley empire.

I lift my chin. I don't blink.

"You lost that right the day I found you in her arms, William. Don’t act like I’m yours. Not anymore."

He laughs, bitter and broken, like the sound is being dragged out of his chest with thorns.

"So this is revenge? This is how you get back at me? Sleeping with my father and marrying him behind my back?"

I step forward, my voice trembling but sharp, like glass cracking under pressure.

"Don’t twist this. You gave me every reason to walk away. You cheated. You lied. You shattered me, William. You don’t get to barge in here and paint yourself as the victim."

He turns to Dominic, voice rising now, unfiltered and raw.

"You always wanted this, didn’t you? You always saw me as unworthy. You think I’m reckless, that I don’t deserve to inherit Hartley Global. So you take her, the woman I loved, and parade her down the aisle to prove it."

Dominic finally speaks, his voice calm, too calm for the chaos erupting around us.

"This isn’t about you, William. This is about a partnership. A future. Something you lost the moment you let arrogance ruin your judgment."

William’s hands ball into fists.

"You think this is a game? You’re my father! She was my fiancée! And now you’re standing there like some king taking a queen that doesn’t belong to you."

My heart pounds. My breath feels heavy, caught somewhere between fury and devastation.

"I’m not some pawn between the two of you," I say, voice low but steady. "I made this choice. I said yes. Not because of revenge. Not because I wanted to hurt you. But because I needed to save myself. And you... you were the one who pushed me off the edge."

He stares at me, eyes glassy, lips trembling like words want to escape but can’t find the courage.

Then he whispers, "You were the only thing I had left."

And that’s when the doors swing open again.

A new silence blankets the room, heavy and cold. Every head turns. Every breath holds still.

Clara walks in.

She’s holding a child. A baby girl. Barely a year old, with dark curls and the same green eyes that once looked at me with love and now burn with shame.

Clara’s lips tremble as she steps forward, the child shifting in her arms.

"I didn’t want it to happen this way," she says, barely above a whisper. "But you deserve the truth. All of you."

The room stiffens. The music dies. The silence screams.

I blink. Once. Twice. And then my heart begins to burn like a match pressed against my chest.

She steps forward like the world owes her a spotlight—heels slicing through silence, clutching a little girl with eyes too familiar to ignore.

Everything stops.

The music. The breath in my lungs. The illusion of peace I built for myself.

Clara smiles like a knife. “She’s his. William’s daughter.”

The words drop like a bomb.

My heart caves in.

William staggers back, blinking like he’s been punched in the soul. “What… Clara, what the hell are you saying?”

She clutches the child closer, but I see through it—the fake tears, the staged regret.

“You didn’t want her,” she says softly. “You told me to get rid of her. I couldn’t. But I’m done hiding.”

The little girl turns toward him, and my chest burns. Because it’s true. The resemblance is too cruel to deny.

My knees threaten to give out, but I steady myself—with rage.

“Well, well,” I murmur, stepping forward with a bitter smile. "So this is your grand finale, Clara?" I say, my voice slicing through the tension like glass. "Didn’t you once swear I’d be the one left abandoned? Alone?"

She flinches. I lean in.

"Well, look who got abandoned now. Not just as the pathetic side chick, but as a single mom standing in a wedding she wasn’t invited to. Still desperate for scraps of love from a man who couldn’t even text you back after screwing you."

Clara’s face flushes. Her lip trembles. But I don’t stop. I won’t.

"You said he’d choose you. That he’d love you once I was out of the way. And now, look at you. Barging into a wedding like a knockoff villain in a cheap drama, dragging your daughter in like a pawn to earn back your dignity."

Gasps ripple across the room. Her mouth trembles.

“You said he’d choose you. That he’d love you. But here you are—just the wreckage.”

William falls to his knees before the child, tears streaming. “She’s mine?”

Clara nods, broken. “Yes.”

Now I see it. I see it so clearly it nearly breaks me. The regret in his eyes. The confusion. The helplessness of a boy who played too many games with too many hearts and finally lost control of the deck.

Dominic reaches for my hand. I pull away.

Not in anger. In numbness.

Because betrayal this deep doesn’t sting—it paralyzes.

“I didn’t come to ruin anything,” Clara whispers. “She just deserves the truth.”

“No. You came to destroy,” I snap. “You waited for the moment it would hurt the most.”

William stands, voice hoarse. “Why hide this? Why wait till now?”

“To ruin us,” I say before Clara can answer. “Because she didn’t get picked.”

"Why now, Clara? Why today?" he demands, voice breaking. "You knew how hard I was trying to fix things with her—"

"Fix things?" I laugh, but the sound is hollow. "You can’t fix something you deliberately broke. And don't flatter yourself. You never tried to fix anything. You tried to bury it. Like a coward.”

His eyes dart between me and his daughter—his mistake made flesh.

“You were never going to tell me?” he asks, voice trembling. “You were going to marry my father and erase me?”

“No, William,” I say calmly. “You erased yourself. With every lie. Every betrayal.”

His lips part, searching for a plea—but I’m not her anymore.

I’m not the girl who’d cry for him.

A small voice breaks the silence.

“Mummy… why the heck is everyone mad?”

Clara swallows a sob. William breaks completely.

Dominic steps in. “Get them out.”

But as security moves, Clara suddenly turns, eyes wild.

“You think it’s over?” she says, holding the child tight. “You think this is the worst I can do?”

She looks straight at Dominic.

“Ask your precious bride what she’s really hiding.”

And just like that, the entire room tilts.