Chapter 4

Camden's gaze lowered to meet mine. It was as if he'd been struck by lightning. "Ellie? What are you doing here?"

The moment he saw me in a wedding dress, his expression turned utterly grim.

I smiled. "I was going to tell you—I'm also getting married today. But you never gave me the chance to say it."

"Stop fooling around, Ellie."

His eyes darted around until he thought of something and said firmly, "You don't need to pull this kind of stunt just to force a marriage."

Camden glanced behind him and lowered his voice, "I've let you have your way plenty in the past, Eloise, but not today. I already explained everything to you two days ago. Don't make me repeat myself."

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw how self-absorbed he was.

Did he think he could trample on me just because I loved him?

"If you have nothing else to say, don't get in the way of our wedding."

As the tension thickened, the man sitting beside me finally spoke up.

"And, you are?" Camden finally noticed the man sitting beside me. "Are you the actor Eloise hired?"

The man let out a light scoff. "For you? Not worth the trouble."

Leonard Barnette took my hand and said seriously, "So, is this the scumbag that you were telling me about?"

"You—!" Camden was clearly infuriated.

He looked like he wanted to argue with Leonard, but whatever he was about to say was completely shut down by Leonard's intimidating presence.

Then, Camden turned to me and began to plead, "Ellie, I don't care what kind of scene you're trying to cause today. But, can you at least let us through?"

I shot back, "Why should I?"

Camden was taken aback.

If I were still that love-sick fool, I might've given in today.

He got engaged to another woman behind my back. And now, he was asking me to be the bigger person on my wedding day.

Why should I let things go his way?

As the scheduled time for the ceremony drew closer, Kirsty finally lost her patience. She stormed out of the car in her kitten heels.

"What's going on, Camden? We're about to miss the ceremony window. Why is this still not handled? If they won't move, throw some money at them and be done with it."

Kirsty tugged at Camden's arm with a pout until her gaze swept over the scene. She froze.

"Camden, didn't you say you already cut things off with her? Why is she—Is she here to crash the wedding?"

She forced out a few tears, then threw herself into his arms, sobbing.

I could see the smug look on her face through the gap between them.

I still couldn't figure out what made a man like Camden worth fighting over.

If she wanted him so badly, she could have him.

While Camden gently comforted the woman in his arms, I urged the driver to keep moving.

"Be reasonable, Eloise!"

Camden immediately had someone block our car.

"Today's a big day for me and Kirsty. Can you just be reasonable and move the cars? If this is about the money, we'll cover whatever you're being paid as extras today, alright?"

At that, everyone in the car burst into laughter.

Camden had no idea that our car motorcade wasn't something money could buy.

His so-called fees for the "actors" meant nothing.

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how much exactly were you planning to pay our 'actors'?"

He put an exaggerated emphasis on the word "actors" on purpose while giving my hand a firm squeeze.

Was this a subtle jab at my poor taste in men?

It was clear that Kirsty hadn't caught on to the sarcasm. She scribbled a check without any hesitation and tossed it at me.

"Here's 500 thousand dollars. Take it and get lost."

She snorted and looked at us as if we were ants. "Have you people ever seen this much money in your lives?"