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Chapter 8
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Replaced at the Altar Chapter 10
Three days after the sentencing, I went to Lynworth Correctional Facility.The visiting room was cold and damp. Through the thick bulletproof glass, I saw Meredith again.She shuffled out in heavy handcuffs. The moment she saw me, something ignited in those dead, ashen eyes of hers—a wild, desperate hope that had no business being there.She threw herself against the glass and snatched up the phone receiver, her voice shaking so badly it was barely intelligible. "Hayden! Hayden, you came to see me! I knew it. I knew you still cared!"I was wearing a tailored couture suit with my hair neatly styled. I picked up the receiver without hurry and looked at her with the calm detachment of someone studying a stranger."You had the guards pass along over a dozen letters begging me to visit. You said you had trade secrets about Rourke Group to share with me and that you wanted to see me one last time."My voice was level and cool. "So talk. What are these so-called secrets?"Meredith falt
Replaced at the Altar Chapter 9
Two weeks later, I was sitting in Lynworth District Court. The gallery was packed. Apart from a handful of reporters from the major outlets, every seat was filled with creditors and former employees that Meredith had left holding the bag.I sat in the plaintiff's section in a clean, dark-patterned suit.The gavel came down, and the bailiffs brought Meredith and Royce in.Two weeks had aged Meredith by a decade. The long hair she had always kept immaculate had been cut blunt to her ears. She was wearing a blue detention uniform, her eyes sunken, her face gaunt. Everything about her radiated defeat.Royce looked even worse. Without the designer watch and the expensive suit to hide behind, he was sallow and rail-thin, his eyes darting around the courtroom like a frightened animal."Defendant Meredith Soames, the prosecution has charged you with embezzlement, contract fraud, and bigamy. How do you plead?" The judge's voice rang through the courtroom with cold authority."Your Honor!
Replaced at the Altar Chapter 8
The video of Meredith and Royce being led out of their own wedding in handcuffs did not need a full day to spread. Within half an hour, it had rocketed to the top of every major social media platform's trending list.#FemaleCEOArrestedForBigamyAndFraudOnWeddingDay#RourkeHeirPulls20MillionDollarWedding#SelfMadeQueenMeetsSelfMadeDownfallEvery single one was trending within minutes.None of this was accidental, of course. Mom's fingerprints were all over it. Rourke Group's PR department was the best in the industry, and all they had to do was nudge a few levers before every last detail of Meredith's dirty laundry was spread across the internet for the world to see.Public opinion was a landslide, and it was not in her favor.[Oh my God, is this woman missing part of her brain? She had the sole heir to a hundred-billion-dollar empire and she threw him away for a middle school dropout? You can't make this stuff up.][You don't get it. Women like her are insecure to the bone but c
Replaced at the Altar Chapter 7
"No! I didn't commit fraud! She gave me that money! I didn't know! I didn't know anything!"Royce finally grasped how serious this was. He stumbled backward, the color draining from his face, his boutonniere falling to the floor. He shoved Meredith away like she was contagious. "Meredith, you lying piece of garbage! You tricked me! You told me you were loaded! Are you trying to get me thrown in prison?"Just like that, the two people who had been calling each other their 'true love' minutes ago turned on each other like dogs.Meredith had completely lost it. She did not even register Royce's screaming. She crawled across the floor, threw herself at my feet, and tried to grab my legs."Hayden! Baby! I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"She was sobbing so hard that she could barely breathe, her whole body shaking as she pressed herself flat against the floor."I lost my mind for a second, and that lowlife manipulated me! I'll give back every cent. I'll send him back where he came fr
Replaced at the Altar Chapter 6
The words landed like a bomb going off inside Meredith's head. Her eyes went wide with disbelief. She stared at me, her voice trembling so badly it barely held together. "Pocket... pocket money? Hayden Rourke, who... Who the hell are you?"The lead attorney standing beside me stepped forward, adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses, and spoke without a trace of warmth."Ms. Soames, allow me to make a formal introduction. The man standing before you is the only son of Ms. Gwendolyn Harlow, chairwoman of Rourke Group, and the sole first-in-line heir to the Rourke empire, Mr. Hayden Rourke."Meredith's legs gave out. Her legs gave out, and she dropped to the floor, her face the color of ash. She had always believed I was just some lovesick fool with a bit of money, someone she could manipulate and control at will.She had spent years keeping me small to protect that pathetic self-made pride of hers. And now she was realizing that everything she had ever been proud of meant absolutely nothing
Replaced at the Altar Chapter 5
"Yes, sir!"Mr. Lawson looked like a man who had just been let off the hook. He snatched up his radio and barked into it. "Security! Catering! Lighting crew! All operations cease immediately! Clear the venue!"What happened next was something Meredith and Royce would remember for the rest of their lives.The romantic spotlights that had been bathing the stage in a soft glow cut out all at once. In their place, the harsh white overhead work lights snapped on across the entire ballroom, ripping the dreamlike atmosphere to shreds.The wedding march flowing through the speakers died mid-note. The host's microphone let out a single piercing whine and then went dead.Uniformed hotel staff poured into the venue. They walked straight onto the stage without hesitation and began tearing down the rose walls, arrangements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that had been flown in from overseas.Waitstaff wheeled their carts to the guest tables and, without so much as a word of warning, st
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