Chapter Five

Lenora

So many questions were running through my mind at full speed. 

What was he doing here? Why was he staring at me like that?

I couldn't breathe over the weight of his smoldering stare that was sending my mind into autodrive.

He and Liam shared some similarities, but where Liam was lean and soft I only saw harshness in the man before me, with a shadow of a beard, a sharp jawline, dark clothes and his dark blonde hair perfectly put in place, he looked starkly different.

Heat rose up my cheeks. This wasn't real. Had I been ogling him?

Before I could backtrack and come to my senses, his footsteps alerted me. He was walking straight towards me.

What the-

I could tell everyone was shocked but nothing could compare to my disbelief as he walked right up to me on the altar. I inhaled sharply with him up close, his eyes roved over me.

I was too frozen in shock to look at him.

“Beautiful…” he murmured,

Before I could process his words he turned towards the crowd.

“I see that everybody is here. You all know who I am and you most likely know the reason the groom isn't here right now.” He said. I braced myself for his mocking words and taunts, each one designed to make me feel worse than I already did.

Then—

“And that makes him a fool.” 

All I could do was stare at him in shock as a smile spread across his face after finishing his sentence.

“Since my dear younger brother  is foolish enough to let go of this beautiful lady, then I won't waste this chance.”

Suddenly I felt him grip my hand, pulling me towards him.

“Will you marry me?” He asked.

For a second, I genuinely thought I’d misheard him.

The entire hall seemed to tilt beneath my feet.

Marry him?

My gaze searched his face for some sign that this was a joke. Some hint of mockery. Some indication that he was about to laugh and reveal this was all some elaborate prank. But there was nothing.

No humor.

No hesitation.

Just those dark eyes fixed entirely on me.

Around us, the silence became suffocating.

Hundreds of people watching.

Waiting.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Every logical thought in my head screamed at me to say no.

I didn’t know this man.

I didn’t trust this man.

Yet somehow, standing there beneath his gaze, I felt safer than I had all morning.

Safer than I had felt standing beside Liam.

The realization startled me.

Maybe it was shock.

Maybe it was desperation.

Or maybe I simply couldn’t bear standing here and being humiliated all over again. Whatever the reason, my answer was already forming before I could stop it.

“Yes…” 

…

I remained in a daze for the rest of the ceremony. Even as the noise gradually died down and the wedding was officiated, there was a buzzing in my ears that wouldn't stop.

I barely remembered the rest of the ceremony or saying “I do.”

There was only one thing that came to my mind.

What the hell had I just done?

I groaned to myself. Shortly after the wedding came the after-party which was already happening. I had locked myself into my ‘private dressing room’ in the hall to change, trying to avoid facing his family and make sense of everything that happened.

I'd gotten rid of the suffocating bridal gown to wear the champagne dress reserved as the other alternative. 

Multiple calls and messages filled my phone within the past several minutes I'd been here but I ignored all of them in favor of Reese. Her shock at the way the ceremony turned out was obvious in her frantic texts towards me, raging from exclamations to questions. The last one was the one that stuck to me.

‘What the hell happened, babe?’  she had asked.

Swallowing thickly, I sent a single text her way that explained everything.

‘I don't know.’

Because I really, really did not know.

Putting down the phone, the glint of jewelry on my finger caught my eye. 

Looking down at the ring made a lump form in my throat.

I was married to a stranger now. No, to my ex fiance's brother.

The thought refused to settle no matter how many times I repeated it in my head.

Just a few weeks ago I was convinced I knew exactly what my life would look like. There had been a plan. A path. A man waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

Now everything had been ripped apart and stitched back together into something I didn’t recognize.

I had to be going crazy.

“I thought you would have come out by now.” 

I nearly jumped, standing to my feet and whipping my head back to finish.

“How did you get here?” I breathed out. To my surprise he brought out a key similar to the one on my door.

“I found this in my dressing room. It seems like the groom has a reserved key to see the bride, I wonder why?” He smirked like he'd said something amusing but I felt no hint of amusement.

I had gone insane. It was a short moment of insanity that made me accept his proposal and stay throughout the wedding. I should have called the wedding off then and there, or better yet, I should have refused to come to the wedding in the first place.

But none of that answered the question of why he did anything.

“Why did you do this? I don't even know you?” I asked,

“Why did you accept then? You could have rejected me just as easily,” he said, rendering me speechless.

“I-”

He walked towards me and I was hit with his domineering aura. Before I could retort, his hand brushed my arm wrapping his around mine.

“Now is not the time to talk about this.” He smiled, “I'll tell you everything once we leave. For now, we have to face my family.”

I was helpless and led away from the door, his final whisper against my ear.

“Come with me, ‘wife’.”

His words made me shiver with the promise of my future. I wondered what kind of future it would be.