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Chapter 4
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2026-02-10 17:30:12Chapter 4
The Cathedral of Saint Catherine was obscenely beautiful. Kate had been inside exactly three times before today but she'd never seen it like this. Every surface seemed to glow with candlelight. It was excessive. Elegant. Exactly the kind of wedding the Ashford family would throw. Kate smoothed down her navy dress for the hundredth time and tried not to fidget. Her entire family had claimed two rows on the groom's side—her parents, all six of her brothers, various sisters-in-law and a nephew who was already getting restless despite the ceremony not having started yet."Katie, stop twitching," her mother whispered, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "You look lovely."
"I'm not twitching," Kate whispered back, even though she absolutely was. She couldn't help it. Something felt... off.
Maybe it was the text conversation with Silver this morning. That strange question: *Does he seem happy to you?* What kind of bride asked that on her wedding day?
Or maybe it was the fact that Kate was sitting in the congregation instead of standing at the altar.
She'd begged Seris. Actually begged him, something she rarely did because Seris hated emotional manipulation and Kate tried never to use their friendship that way. But she'd wanted so badly to be part of the bridal party, to stand up there as a visible symbol of her support for his new marriage.
"Please," she'd said, three weeks ago over coffee. "Just ask her if I can be a bridesmaid. I know we're not close yet, but this could help. It would mean so much to me."
Seris had looked at her with those dark, unreadable eyes and said simply, *"No."
"Why not? I'm your best friend! It's traditional for—"
"I don't want you around Silver."
The words had hit like a slap. Kate had actually recoiled, coffee cup frozen halfway to her lips.
"What? Seris, what are you talking about?""Exactly what I said. I don't want you in the bridal party. I don't want you near her any more than necessary. Just... leave it alone, Kate."
He'd left before she could argue further, and she'd spent the next three weeks trying to figure out what the hell that meant. *I don't want you around Silver.* Like Kate was some kind of threat. Like her friendship with Seris was something shameful that needed to be hidden from his wife.
It had hurt. Still hurt, actually, like a bruise she kept pressing just to feel the ache.
"There's Seris," David murmured from her other side.
Kate looked up to see Seris at the altar, standing with his groomsmen—his younger brother Julian, two cousins, and his best friend from business school, Cameron. Seris looked perfect in his tailored tuxedo, his dark hair styled back, his expression carefully neutral.He didn't look happy. He didn't look nervous. He didn't look anything at all.
Kate's stomach twisted.
On the bride's side of the cathedral, she could see the Winters family. Silver's father, distinguished and proud-looking. Her mother, already dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief even though nothing had happened yet.
And Silver's siblings.
Kate had done her research, of course. She always did her research.Aradis Winters, the oldest at thirty, was seated in the front row with a young man in an impeccable suit who kept leaning over to whisper in his ear. Not a date, apparently. An assistant. Though the way Aradis's hand rested on the man's knee suggested "assistant" was doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Noel Winters, twenty-eight, sat beside another man—also introduced as an assistant, also sitting far too close to be strictly professional.
Kassian Winters, twenty-six, was doing slightly less well at the pretense. His "assistant" had an arm draped across the back of Kassian's pew, and they kept exchanging looks that made Kate want to roll her eyes. Just say you're dating. It's 2020, for God's sake.
And then there was Skylia Winters, Silver's identical twin.
Kate had been fascinated by Skylia from the moment she'd seen her at the engagement party. She and Silver looked exactly alike—same height, same features, same auburn hair—but where Silver was always perfectly styled and elegantly dressed, Skylia looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Today, crammed into a bridesmaid dress the color of champagne, Skylia looked particularly miserable. She kept tugging at the neckline and shifting in her heels like they were instruments of torture. Her hair was pulled back in a style that was clearly professional work, but she had the expression of someone plotting murder.Kate felt a flash of kinship. She understood not quite fitting the mold your family expected.
"I can't believe they're all pretending those are assistants," James whispered, gesturing subtly at Silver's brothers. "Like we're all blind."
"James," their mother hissed. "Hush."
"I'm just saying, if you're going to bring your boyfriend to your sister's wedding, maybe don't insult everyone's intelligence by—"
"James Alexander Bridgerton, I swear to God—"
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Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 71
Chapter 71The rest of the meeting went by like it was happening to someone else.She gave her Crest Transit report. She gave it well. She knew she did. Clear, fast, no wasted words. The board listened politely. Margaret asked one good question. The bank men looked at their phones.When she finished, Lionel said, "Thank you, Kate. Very thorough. Darius, did you have any thoughts?"And they turned to him.Not to her. To him.Darius said he thought it sounded like a strong plan and he'd want to look at it more closely when he was back. Everyone nodded.The meeting ended at twelve-thirty.Kate shook hands. She smiled. She said goodbye to Lionel and Margaret and her uncle. She let Darius hug her again in the hallway, and when he said, "You okay, Katie? You're quiet," she said, "Just tired. Long weekend.""Get some rest," he said. "You've earned it.""I will."She went back to her office and closed the door.
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 70
Chapter 70The quarterly board meeting started at ten.Kate was there at nine-fifteen, which was early even for her. She liked to be in the room first. She liked to choose her seat, set out her papers, and pour her own water before anybody else came in and the air filled up with handshakes and small talk. It made her feel like the room was hers before the meeting began.Today she sat at the head of the long table, where she had sat for six months now.She had a lot to say. Crest Transit. Calloway Group buying Morrow Capital. Three different accounts quietly buying up shares again, just like in the spring, but with much more money behind them this time. She had spent the whole weekend with Obi and Preet building a defence plan. She had slides. She had numbers. She had a list of every Crest Transit shareholder who might be tempted by a big offer, and what it would take to keep each one.She was ready.At nine forty, the door opened.It
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 69
Chapter 69If he called Delmont, that was a complication. That was him standing between his grandfather and Silver Winters in a way that everyone would see. Cornelius did not like being crossed. He did not shout about it. He did not argue. He simply moved, quietly, somewhere else, somewhere it would hurt more.And Seris knew exactly where he would move."There's more," Julian said.Seris looked at him."Morrow Capital was bought last week. The company that went after Crest Transit in the spring.""I know. I saw it.""Do you know who bought it?""Calloway.""Calloway," Julian agreed. "So Kate already has one family with real money coming after her. If Grandfather decides to help them, even a little, even just by looking the other way—"He didn't finish.He didn't need to.Seris sat back down at his desk. He put his hands flat on the wood and looked at them.There was another thing too. A
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapte 68
Chapter 68Seris found out on a Wednesday, from a spreadsheet.That was the stupid part. Not a phone call. Not a whisper in a hallway. Not his grandfather sitting across a long table with a folder and that slow, careful voice. Just a line on a weekly partnership report that his assistant put on his desk every Wednesday at eight, the way she had for four years.He almost didn't read it.He was tired. He had not slept well since the gala. Every morning there was a new headline, and every headline had his name somewhere near the word *replaced*. He had stopped reading the papers. He had stopped going on his phone before nine. He drank his coffee black and read the reports because the reports, at least, were just numbers.Page three. New partnerships, signed this week.*Delmont Property Group — Harbor Street Market Hall — Joint Development Agreement. Approved: C. Ashford.*He read it twice.He knew the name Delmont. Eve
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 67
Chapter 67The Harbor Street project belonged to Delmont Property Group.Delmont was not huge, but it was solid. Family-run. Forty years in the city. The owner, Frank Delmont, was a big grey-haired man who laughed loudly and asked good questions. Silver had spent three months winning him over. Three meetings. Two site visits in the freezing rain. One long dinner where he told her about his father, who had run a fruit stall on Harbor Street when Frank was a boy."I want that street to have stalls again," he had said, very quietly, near the end of that dinner. "Real ones. Not fake ones for photos. Can you do that?""Yes," Silver had said.He had shaken her hand across the table. "Then let's do it."The contract was signed three weeks ago. Winterlight's fee from Harbor Street would pay all six salaries for the first year. It was their biggest client by a long way. It was, if Silver was honest, almost their only client.At eleven forty-fi
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 66
Chapter 66The sign went up at seven in the morning.Silver stood on the pavement across the street with a paper cup of coffee in her hand and watched two men on a ladder fix it to the brick above the door. It was not a big sign. She had not wanted a big sign. Just one word in clean white letters on a dark blue board, with a small silver line under it like the edge of a frozen lake.*Winterlight.*"It's crooked," Skylia said beside her."It's not crooked.""The left side is lower.""The left side is fine."Skylia tilted her head. Then she tilted it the other way. "Okay, now it looks fine. But that's only because I'm standing like this.""Then stand like that forever.""I will if I have to," Skylia said. "For the company."Silver laughed. It came out of her before she could stop it, small and bright in the cold morning air, and one of the men on the ladder looked down and smiled.It was a week since t
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 1
Chapter 1The water was colder than Silver had imagined death would be.She'd always thought dying would be warm—like slipping into sleep, like the romance novels promised. But the Crystalbrook River in December was different, its icy rivers penetrating her body to cause ice cold damage to her lung
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 5
Chapter 5Kate tuned them out, her attention caught by movement at the altar. Seris had pulled out his phone.At his own wedding.She watched his expression shift—just slightly, just a micro-expression that most people would miss but Kate had known him long enough to read. Surprise. Then something
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 3
Chapter 3Kate Bridgerton had been awake since five in the morning, and it was entirely Seris Ashford's fault.Not that she'd ever tell him that. Seris had enough on his mind today without her adding to it. His wedding day. *Finally.*"Katie, if you don't stop pacing, you're going to wear a hole in
Five Years As A DoorMat Wife: Her Time To Shine Chapter 2
Chapter 2Silver woke to sunlight.That was the first wrong thing. There shouldn't be sunlight. There should be darkness, cold, the crushing weight of water filling her lungs. There should be nothing at all.She bolted upright, gasping, her hands flying to her throat. Dry. Her clothes—dry. Her hair
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