Chapter 4

The sound hit the ballroom like a thunderclap, loud enough to set the crystal chandeliers swaying overhead. The room went silent in an instant. The orchestra cut off mid-note. Every guest in the hall turned as one toward the doors.

I walked through them in that sharp black couture suit, polished shoes hitting the floor, flanked by Mom, Jace, and a wall of several dozen bodyguards and lawyers.

My face gave away nothing as I crossed the threshold and walked step by step into what was supposed to have been my wedding.

"Is that... Isn't that Ms. Harlow?"

One of the sharper-eyed guests in the crowd recognized my mother immediately and nearly fell out of his chair.

"My God, it really is Gwendolyn Harlow. Why did she bring so many people? And the man next to her... Wait, if that's Mr. Rourke, then who's on the stage?"

A ripple of stifled gasps swept through the crowd. Everyone could tell that something was very wrong, and they shrank back in their seats, not wanting to be anywhere near what was about to happen.

Meredith was standing at center stage, seconds away from exchanging rings with Royce. The shock on her face lasted only a moment before it hardened into something dark.

She clearly had no idea how serious this was about to get. All she saw was that I had changed out of my groom's suit into a black one and brought a crowd, and she assumed I was just too bitter to let it go, that I had hired some muscle to cause a scene.

"Hayden Rourke! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Her voice rang through the hall over the microphone, dripping with the fury of a woman who believed she was above all of this. "Today is a celebration for Royce and me, yet you couldn't keep your tantrum backstage. Now, you have the nerve to barge into my ceremony with a mob?

"Do you have any respect for me as your legal wife? Any concept of the law?"

The moment those words left Meredith's mouth, Royce yanked off his tie and jabbed a finger at me, shouting like he had nothing to lose.

"You've got some nerve, Hayden Rourke! Meredith already said she'd come to the hotel tonight and keep you company, and you still had to chase us out here and make a scene? What's the matter? Watching me and Meredith get married is driving you crazy with jealousy, is that it?"

I looked at the two of them, this absurd, pathetic pair, and felt nothing at all. No anger, no hurt, not even a flicker of emotion.

I just looked at them the way you would look at something already dead.

"Meredith." I finally spoke. My voice was not loud, but the amplifier that one of the bodyguards had handed me carried it to every corner of the ballroom, and every syllable landed like ice.

"Did you forget whose money paid for this?"

Something shifted in Meredith's expression, but she recovered just as quickly, pulling that same superior mask back into place. She let out a scoff into the microphone.

"Hayden, not this again. Fine, I admit you fronted the money for this wedding. But do you have to keep throwing that in everyone's face? It's tacky. It's 20 million dollars. My Series B closes next month. I'll pay you back double.

"Today is about Royce and me. Take your hired goons and get out before you embarrass yourself any further."

"Pay me back?" I almost laughed. The idea was so ridiculous that I could not help but laugh.

I did not bother responding to her. Instead, I turned slightly and glanced at the hotel general manager, who had been standing behind me with his hands clasped and his head bowed.

"Mr. Lawson."

"Sir, at your service." The general manager, a man who carried himself like a king on any other day, was bent nearly double, sweat beading on his forehead.

This particular hotel, the finest five-star property in all of Lynworth, happened to be one of Rourke Group's holdings.

"The full cost of this wedding was paid from my personal account. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. Twenty million in full, charged to your black card."

"Well, as the sole paying client, I'm not satisfied with today's 'groom.'"

My gaze cut across the room like a blade and found Meredith on that stage, her face draining of color.

"I'm terminating all services, effective immediately. Everything I paid for gets pulled. Every. Last. Thing."