Too Late, Ex, I Married The Alpha

This was Aurora Vale’s ninth visit to Ivory Bridal.

The first eight times, she had come alone. Alone to stand in front of the full length mirror in a wedding gown that Ethan Sterling had prepared specifically for her.

“Miss Vale.” The bridal store manager adjusted Aurora’s veil carefully. “Will Mr. Sterling be joining you today?”

“He’ll be here,” she said. “Today is our seventh anniversary. He promised.”

The words had barely left her lips when the fitting room door was open.

Ethan Sterling walked in, Aurora’s smile started to form…. And then she saw Chloe Bennett stepping in behind him then her smile died.

Chloe was the younger sister of Ryan Bennett, Ethan’s closest friend who had died protecting him during a rogue wolf attack two years ago.

With his last breath, Ryan had asked Ethan to look after his sister. Ethan had taken that request and turned it into something Aurora had spent two years trying not to see clearly.

“Ethan.” Aurora kept her voice calm. “Why did you bring Chloe?”

Ethan didn’t even looked at the dress, his eyes looked past it like it was nothing. He walked toward her before stopping beside the fitting platform.

“Aurora, we need to move the wedding up to next month.”

She blinked. “Next month? The venue is booked, the invitations are printed, the guest list has three hundred names on it. That’s not possible.”

“Chloe is pregnant.” His voice was calm. “It’s just under two months along. We can’t wait.”

“Chloe is pregnant,” she repeated slowly

“What does that have to do with our wedding?”

Ethan looked at her. “The child is mine.”

Aurora’s hand trembled and caught the edge of the dressing table behind her.

“What did you say?” Her voice came out barely above a whisper. Then louder, “You told me you only saw her as a sister. You told me that every single time I asked, Ethan. Every time.”

“Aurora, calm down, It was an accident. I was at a pack party, someone spiked my drink. Chloe was looking after me, and I was confused. I thought she was you.”

The laugh that burst out of Aurora’s chest wasn’t funny. It was the sound of something breaking.

“You mistook her for me.” She stared at him. “Ethan. You haven’t touched me once in seven years. Not once. You said you wanted our first time to be on our wedding night, remember? You said that. So tell me…. how exactly did you mistake her for me? You don’t even know what I feel like.”

His jaw tightened. “Stop causing a scene, Aurora.”

That sentence hurt more than the betrayal itself. Like she was the problem, like she was embarrassing him.

Aurora pressed her fingers hard against her ribs, where the old scar tissue pulled tight whenever her emotions ran too high.

Three years ago, she had stood in front of a blade meant for Ethan.

The blade tore through her shoulder and damaged the nerves in both hands so badly she couldn’t hold a scalpel without trembling.

Before that day, Aurora had been one of the most talented surgeon in the city.

Afterward, she could barely hold a scalpel steady.

And Ethan knew that.

“My future was destroyed because of you,” Aurora said quietly. “I gave up my medicine career because of you.”

Something flickered in Ethan’s eyes.

Guilt.

Maybe.

He reached for her hand. “Aurora…”

“Don’t.” She stepped back. “Don’t touch me.”

He stopped and said, “My parents have pointed out that you can’t have children. Not after the injury. The nerve damage affected more than your hands.” He paused. “It makes sense for the child to be raised under your name. You’d be giving him a proper family.”

Aurora froze for a moment, she genuinely thought she heard wrong.

“You want me…” her voice cracked, “…to raise your mistress’s child?”

“She can’t enter the Sterling family openly,” Ethan said calmly. “But you can.”

Aurora looked at him like she had never seen him before.

“You’re unbelievable.”

Ethan stepped closer.

“Aurora, don’t make this difficult.”

The words snapped something inside her and she slapped Ethan hard on his face.

The slap echoed through the store. Ethan’s head snapped to the side from the hit, leaving a red mark on his cheek.

“A tool.” Her voice was shaking. “That’s what you want me to be. A tool to legitimize the child you had with the woman you were sleeping with behind my back.”

Ethan looked back at her slowly, his eyes were colder now.

Before he could speak, Chloe suddenly stepped forward. Her expression was pitiful.

She reached out and took Aurora’s hand between both of hers.

“Aurora, please don’t be angry with Ethan. It really was my fault.” Her voice was sweet, trembling with sincerity. “I should have pushed him away that night.”

“I made a mistake. I never wanted this to happen. I never wanted to hurt you.” She continued. I never wanted to take him from you. All I want is for my child to have a father.”

She squeezed Aurora’s hand. . “Please, Aurora. Be generous. Grant me this one wish.”

Then a sharp pain pierced Aurora’s skin.

Aurora gasped. Chloe’s nails pierced deeply into the soft skin of her wrist, hidden from Ethan’s view.

“What…” Aurora pulled her arm back.

Chloe screamed and stumbled backward dramatically, crashing against the dressing table before collapsing onto the floor and holding her stomach.

“Aurora,” she gasped. “Why did you push me? I was only trying to apologize”

“Chloe!”

Ethan rushed forward immediately. He dropped to his knees beside Chloe, holding her with a tenderness Aurora had never once received from him.

Aurora stood there in shocked.

“Chloe. Chloe, look at me. Are you hurt?”

Chloe put her face on Ethan’s chest, tears rolling down her face.

“My stomach hurts…”

Ethan’s expression changed instantly and he looked up at Aurora with cold fury.

“You pushed her?”

Aurora laughed

“She scratched my skin with her nails”

Chloe cried harder immediately.

“I was only trying to apologize…”

Ethan didn’t even look at Aurora’s bleeding wrist. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Chloe.

“Apologize to her,” he said coldly.

Aurora looked at the marks Chloe’s nails had left on her wrist. Then she looked at Chloe in Ethan’s arms, pretending to be hurt.

She looked at the man she had loved for seven years, kneeling on the floor of a bridal store, holding another woman’s body like it was the most precious thing in his world.

How stupid.

How completely pathetic she had been.

She straightened up and wiped her face then she looked directly at Ethan.

“You want to give your child with her a legitimate name.” Her voice was soft now. “Then why are you marrying me at all?”

She pulled the veil from her hair and let it fall

“The engagement is over.”

“Aurora…”

“A man who belongs to someone else.” She pulled the neckline of the gown with both hands. “I don’t want him.”

The stitches on the dress tore and the pearls fell onto the marble floor. She pulled the ruined gown off her shoulders and threw it at Chloe’s feet, leaving only the fitted ivory slip dress beneath that stopped mid thigh.

“That dress is yours.” Her voice didn’t shake.

“That man is yours. Congratulations, Chloe. You schemed long enough for it.”

She turned and walked out barefoot.

“Aurora!” Ethan shouted behind her. “If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back!”

Aurora didn’t turn around. She kept walking.

The cold marble floor hurt her bare feet, but she kept going.

Behind her, she heard Chloe make a soft sound of pain in Ethan’s arms.

Then Ethan spoke again, his voice calm and confident. He was sure Aurora would come back, just like she always had.

“She’ll come back. Aurora Vale has nowhere else to go. She can’t survive without me.”

He truly believed it.

She walked out thinking she had hit rock bottom.

She had lost her engagement, her dignity, and the last shred of the future she had spent seven years protecting.

It felt like the worst night of her life.

She had no idea it was about to get worse.