He Shielded His Pregnant Secretary at Our Wedding, So I Took Back My Billion-Dollar Dowry

"Vivian, don't make a scene. She's carrying the first grandchild of the Locke family."

Adrian planted himself in front of me, his crisp suit unwrinkled, the groom's boutonniere still pinned to his lapel.

Behind him stood Chloe in a white dress, one hand braced under her swollen belly, tears falling right on cue.

The officiant stood there holding the mic, frozen.

The guests' whispering rose like a pot coming to a boil.

I looked at Adrian.

Three years ago, he'd stood in the rain outside my house all night, swearing he'd never marry anyone but me.

Fast forward to today, our wedding day, and he'd brought his seven-months-pregnant secretary to stand in front of me at our wedding.

And he dared to tell me not to make a scene.

"Making a scene how?"

I handed my bouquet to my maid of honor and asked him, smiling coldly.

Adrian's frown deepened.

"The attitude you're giving right now, it's a bad look."

"Chloe isn't here to take your spot. She just wants the baby to have an identity."

Chloe lowered her head at once.

"Ms. Ross, please don't blame Adrian."

"It's my fault. I never should have come here today."

"But the doctor said I can't get too upset, and these past few days I keep dreaming that the moment my baby is born, everyone's calling him a bastard..."

She clapped a hand over her mouth, sobbing.

The flicker of impatience in Adrian's eyes melted, replaced entirely by tenderness.

He turned and steadied her.

"Don't cry. It's bad for the baby."

I stood in the middle of the stage and watched the two lovebirds.

Anyone who didn't know better would think I was the cruel homewrecker tearing them apart.

Adrian's mother couldn't sit still either.

She lifted her gown and marched up onto the stage, her face like a gathering storm.

"Vivian, dear, with so many guests here, you really ought to conduct yourself with basic maturity."

"Men are out there wining and dining clients all the time. A little mess here and there is only natural."

"Adrian's chosen to marry you. The Lockes are willing to make you Mrs. Locke. That's already plenty of dignity for you."

That made me laugh.

"So you're saying I should thank him for it?"

Mrs. Locke stiffened.

"Is that any way to speak to your elders?"

Then Adrian's father spoke up too.

"Ms. Ross, the Lockes aren't some small-time family."

"If you marry into our family, you must learn to overlook minor transgressions."

"What Adrian did today wasn't right, granted. But the child is innocent."

The moment he opened his mouth, it was to put me on trial.

The guests chimed right in.

"Exactly. The baby's so far along already—you can't just get rid of it."

"The Rosses are ordinary business folk. Marrying into the Lockes is already a step up."

"Men will be men. Which one of them doesn't slip up? Just turn a blind eye to it."

I scanned every face in the crowd.

Half the people here had taken contracts from the Rosses.

Eating at my expense, and telling me to swallow the insult with a smile.

How touching.

Chloe took a step toward me, holding her belly.

"Ms. Ross, I can go without a title."

"All I beg is that you let me have the baby."

"After that I'll live somewhere else with the child. I'll never bother you and Adrian again."

She said she didn't want a title.

But her hand had a death grip on Adrian's cuff.

That diamond cufflink was the one I'd picked out for him personally last month.

Adrian let her cling to him without the slightest attempt to pull away.

"Vivian, Chloe's already compromised herself this much for your sake."

"Do you want to drive her into her grave?!"

I looked at him.

"Adrian, she's seven months pregnant."

"We got engaged eight months ago."

The room went deadly quiet for a beat.

Adrian's eyes flickered.

"I'd had too much to drink that night."

"It was an accident, her and me."

"An accident you didn't clean up in seven months?"

I stepped forward.

"An accident that got twelve prenatal checkups?"

"An accident you bought a three-thousand-square-foot condo at Riverbend for?"

Chloe's head snapped up.

Adrian's face finally changed.

"You had me investigated?"

"So what if I did?"

I fixed my eyes on him.

"My fiancé uses my money to keep his mistress, and I'm not allowed to look at the bills?"

Mrs. Locke shrilled at once. "Watch your mouth! Who are you calling a mistress!"

"Chloe is carrying Locke blood. She is not an outsider!"

"Then what does that make me?"

I asked her.

Mrs. Locke opened her mouth and nothing came out.

Adrian's face went grim, and he grabbed my wrist.

"Vivian. That's enough."

"The wedding is happening today."

"You don't have to accept Chloe. But you're getting married first."

His grip was hard.

Pain shot through my wrist.

I looked down at it, then back up at him.

"And if I won't?"

Adrian leaned in and dropped his voice.

"Vivian, don't forget, your father's company is still waiting on the Lockes' money."

"Walk out today, and the Rosses will collapse by tomorrow."

That was when I finally understood.

This wasn't some spur-of-the-moment thing.

He'd counted on me not daring to blow it up.

Counted on the Rosses needing the Lockes, counted on me loving him, counted on me swallowing it all for the sake of one pathetic scrap of pride.

I pulled my hand free and slapped him across the face.

A clean, ringing crack.

The whole banquet hall detonated.

Adrian's head turned with it. His tongue pressed the inside of his cheek, and his eyes went cold all the way through.

"Vivian, you're going to regret this."

I slid the wedding ring off my finger and dropped it into the champagne tower.

Glasses toppled in a cascade.

"The one who's going to regret this isn't me."

I turned toward the doors of the hall.

"Attorney Reed, you can come in now."