Chapter 5: The Replacement Vows

POV: AUDREY 

The heavy oak doors of the cathedral  swung open, and I stepped out onto the red carpet in front of three hundred jaw-dropped guests. The organ music swelled, but the room was suffocated by low, panicked whispers.

Carter’s spot at the altar stood empty. His groomsmen looked like they wanted to sink through the floorboards.

My father walked beside me, his hands trembling with rage. "Audrey, what are we doing? Where is Carter? We need to cancel this before the press.."

"Walk, Dad," I whispered, keeping my head held high, my eyes fixed straight ahead. "Just walk me to the altar."

As we reached the front of the church, the side entrance near the altar clicked open.

The room went dead silent.

A tall, commanding figure stepped out of the shadows, wearing a charcoal-black, bespoke Tom Ford tuxedo with a dark crimson rose pinned to his lapel. His dark hair was immaculately styled, his jawline razor-sharp, and his jet-black eyes locked directly onto mine with absolute, unyielding intensity.

Xavier Cross.

A collective gasp echoed across the cathedral. My mother almost fainted in the front row. Carter’s groomsmen stumbled backward in absolute shock.

"Is that... Xavier?" someone in the third row whispered loudly. "What is Carter’s brother doing up there?"

Xavier didn't pay attention to any of them. He walked calmly to the center of the altar, taking his position right where Carter was supposed to stand. He reached out his hand to me, his fingers long, steady, and warm.

I let go of my father’s arm and placed my hand in Xavier’s.

"You look breathtaking, bride," Xavier whispered, his voice low enough that only I could hear. A dangerous, intoxicating smirk touched the corner of his lips. "Ready to change Manhattan history?"

"Sign the papers," I whispered back, my heart beating with pure adrenaline.

The officiant was sweating, looking frantically between us and the marriage license resting on the wooden podium. "Miss Bridgerton... Mr. Cross... is this..."

"Read the vows," I commanded softly. "Or I’ll find an officiant who will."

The minister cleared his throat nervously, adjusting his glasses. "Dearly beloved... we are gathered here today..."

Down the aisle, Carter’s best man frantically pulled out his phone, his thumb flying across the screen as he dialed Carter’s line in sheer panic.

Three miles away, inside the penthouse suite of the Lotte New York Palace, Carter’s phone buzzed aggressively against the nightstand.

Carter pulled away from Chloe, breathless, pouring himself a glass of whiskey as he wiped his brow. Chloe lay back against the pillows, a victorious, smug smile on her face as she wrapped the silk sheets around her body.

"I told you she wouldn't do anything," Carter scoffed, grabbing his ringing phone and sliding it to his ear. "What is it now? I told you guys to hold the press—"

“CARTER, YOU NEED TO GET HERE RIGHT NOW!” his best man’s voice screamed through the speaker, so loud that even Chloe heard it.

Carter frowned, swirling his scotch. "Calm down. Did Audrey leave?"

“NO! SHE DIDN'T LEAVE!” the best man yelled, his voice cracking with pure panic. “SHE’S AT THE ALTAR! SHE’S MARRYING XAVIER!”

Carter froze. The crystal glass slipped from his fingers, shattering into a hundred pieces against the marble floor. Scotch splashed over his shoes.

"What did you just say?" Carter’s voice dropped, turning lethal.

“Xavier walked in five minutes ago! They’re signing the legal marriage registry right now! The reporters are taking thousands of pictures…  IT’S LIVE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!”

Carter’s eyes widened in sheer, unbelievable horror. "That’s impossible! She wouldn't… she can't…"

He shoved Chloe out of his way, completely ignoring her sharp cry of protest as he grabbed his suit jacket off the chair and bolted out of the hotel suite like a madman.

Back at the cathedral, the officiant closed the heavy leather ceremonial book.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister stammered, looking terrified. "You may kiss…."

Xavier didn't wait for the officiant to finish. He grabbed my waist with a sudden, possessive grip, pulling my body flush against his chest, and lowered his lips onto mine.

The kiss wasn't subtle. It was deep, commanding, and fiercely public. A shockwave of heat rushed from my lips straight down to my toes. The cathedral broke out into a frenzy of flashing camera lights as reporters rushed the middle aisle.

Right at that exact second, the grand double doors at the back of the cathedral burst open with a deafening bang.

"STOP THE CEREMONY!" Carter’s voice echoed through the vast hall, frantic, chest heaving, his hair disheveled as he stood at the entrance, breathless and covered in sweat.

The entire church turned around to look at him. Photographers instantly spun their lenses toward the doorway, camera flashes blinding him in rapid succession.

Xavier slowly pulled his lips from mine, keeping his arm firmly wrapped around my waist, pulling me close to his side. He turned his head toward the back of the church, looking at his frantic brother with cold, absolute triumph.

I turned around too, holding my head high, my hand resting against Xavier’s chest.

Carter stumbled down the aisle, his face pale with rage and humiliation as he looked at the legal marriage certificate resting on the altar, already bearing my signature and Xavier’s.

"Audrey..." Carter gasped, his voice shaking violently as he stopped ten feet away. "What... what have you done?"

I looked Carter dead in the eyes, my expression colder than a Manhattan winter.

"I told you I’d replace you, Carter," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the silent cathedral and into every news microphone in the room. "And unlike you... I keep my promises."

I squeezed Xavier’s hand, feeling the solid, dangerous power of the man standing beside me.

This was only day one. Carter and Chloe thought they had played me. But as I looked at my new husband’s dark, victorious eyes, I knew one thing for certain:

I was going to make both of them pay until they had nothing left to lose.