4

Jackson’s rough pull made Ava stumble slightly forward. The bouquet in her hands nearly slipped from her grasp if she hadn’t caught it quickly at the last second.

The entire ballroom grew even louder with panicked whispers and restless murmurs. Just as Ava was about to protest, Maverick’s voice cut through the chaos first.

Low. Quiet. Yet powerful enough to make Jackson stop in his tracks.

“Watch yourself, Jackson.”

Jackson slowly turned around. And the moment their eyes met, he let out an irritated scoff. “What? You don’t like it?”

When Jackson was younger, he and Maverick had actually been fairly close. But as time passed, especially after Jackson gained more influence as the leader of Langham Group, the distance between them only grew wider and wider.

And for the first time, Maverick’s gaze turned openly cold as he looked at his nephew with clear displeasure.

“Take your hands off my wife,” Maverick said calmly.

Jackson laughed shortly, full of mockery. “Your wife?” His gaze shifted toward Ava, his jaw tightening hard. “Are you seriously going along with this joke?”

Maverick didn’t move an inch. “I don’t like repeating myself.”

His flat tone somehow felt far more oppressive than shouting ever could. Several guests exchanged nervous glances. Everyone could feel the tension in the ballroom thickening by the second.

In the end, Jackson finally released Ava’s wrist, though his face remained dark with anger.

“You actually expect me to stay quiet and watch this insanity happen?” he snapped. “Ava, what the hell do you want?! Did you deliberately humiliate me in front of everyone?”

Ava gently rubbed the reddened skin around her wrist where Jackson had gripped her too hard earlier. In the past, in moments like this, she would have immediately panicked and tried explaining herself so Jackson wouldn’t get angry.

But now…

For some reason, she only felt tired.

“Humiliate you?” Ava smiled faintly, though disappointment filled her eyes completely. “Weren’t you the one who told me to cancel our wedding?”

Jackson instantly fell silent.

Eleanor couldn’t stand by and watch this continue any longer. What Ava had done was outrageous. How could she replace her son in such a short amount of time? No matter what happened, Ava shouldn’t have acted so recklessly.

And to make matters worse, the replacement groom was her own younger brother-in-law.

Maverick Langham.

Eleanor immediately strode toward them, her face flushed red as she struggled to contain her fury. “Ava Celeste!” she snapped sharply. “Do you even realize what you’ve just done to our family?!”

Ava visibly startled, even flinching from the sudden outburst.

“Mom, I can explain—”

“What exactly is there to explain?” Eleanor cut her off harshly. “Everything’s already happened! What did Jackson even do to deserve being humiliated like this? Are you really throwing away your entire relationship over one small mistake?”

Her words sounded dramatic enough to stir the guests once more, making people begin questioning all over again what had truly happened.

How could the groom possibly be replaced by another man?

“Eleanor—”

“I don’t need your explanation, Maverick,” Eleanor cut him off sharply, her gaze turning icy. “I want to hear the ridiculous excuse from my former future daughter-in-law,” she said, emphasizing every word.

Ava let out a long breath. She had already expected this would happen. Just… not this quickly. Still, sooner or later, Jackson’s family was bound to question her decision.

“I—”

“What exactly did Jackson do now?” Sophia suddenly appeared through the crowd of guests, her expression filled with disgust.

“If anyone humiliated the Langham family today, it was Jackson.”

“And who are you?!” Eleanor snapped furiously. “How dare you speak about my son like that!”

But Sophia wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. “Everyone here wants to hear why Jackson didn’t show up today, right?” she said loudly.

She completely ignored the murderous glare Jackson had been directing at her the entire time. Fine. The punch she had been wanting to throw at that bastard could wait. But exposing him publicly like this? Sophia wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.

“He said he had a business meeting that was supposedly very important.” She let out a mocking laugh. “So important that he told Ava to postpone their wedding. Ava was even expected to explain all of this personally to the media and the guests.”

Sophia swept her gaze slowly across the ballroom, looking at the guests one by one.

And when her eyes accidentally landed on Eleanor, her smile turned even more sarcastic. “Oh, of course. She also had to explain it to Jackson’s family.”

Then Sophia’s expression hardened.

“But you all should know something. That was just Jackson’s excuse.”

Almost every guest in the ballroom looked stunned by her words.

“He was actually with Megan. Somewhere. We don’t know where exactly.”

The whispers among the guests instantly grew louder. Jackson’s face visibly paled. But Sophia still wasn’t finished.

“Oh, and if you’re all wondering why Ava finally gave up…” She raised her phone high enough for everyone nearby to see. “Maybe you should take a look at Megan’s latest post.”

Several guests immediately grabbed their own phones and opened social media. Most people there already knew exactly who Megan Trivia was to the Langham family.

Especially to Jackson.

And within seconds, another wave of commotion exploded throughout the ballroom.

“Oh my God!”

“She actually posted that?”

“Isn’t this obviously directed at Ava?”

“On the day of their wedding?”

Eleanor’s face immediately drained of color the moment she saw the post everyone was talking about.

The photo of Jackson’s hand wearing the watch Ava had given him was painfully obvious. And Megan’s caption only made it worse, practically announcing to the entire world that Jackson had chosen to stay beside her instead of attending his own wedding.

Jackson instantly shot Sophia a furious glare. “You!” he snapped. “Stop talking nonsense!”

“Not yet.” Sophia stared right back at him fearlessly. Unfortunately, before she could continue exposing him further, Ava stepped in first.

“That’s enough, Sophia. You don’t need to say anything else.”

“But I—”

Ava slowly shook her head, looking at her best friend with quiet pleading in her eyes.

Sophia clenched her jaw in frustration, but eventually took a step back. Even so, the anger in her gaze remained obvious as she continued glaring at Jackson.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the ballroom became even heavier.

The guests’ eyes shifted repeatedly between Jackson, Eleanor, and Ava. The earlier whispers had faded completely now. Everyone was openly waiting for an explanation.

And Jackson knew it. The man took a deep breath before looking back at Ava, his jaw tense.

“So now you’re deliberately trying to make me look like the worst man in this room?”

Ava stayed silent.

“I went to see Megan to make sure she was okay.” Jackson’s voice began rising again. “She’s sick and needs extra attention. After that, I still had to continue my business trip.”

Sophia immediately clicked her tongue sarcastically, but Ava stopped her first with a small glance. Jackson stepped closer again.

“Do you think I was out there having fun? Everything I did was still for work and for our family.”

“Family?” Ava repeated softly.

“Ava.” Jackson was clearly beginning to lose his patience. “You know Megan’s condition hasn’t been stable lately.”

“And you’re always there for her,” Ava replied quietly.

That simple sentence made Jackson frown slightly. Because for the first time, Ava didn’t sound angry. She wasn’t demanding explanations the way she normally would either.

“She has no one else except me,” Jackson said defensively. “I was only making sure she was okay.”

Ava stared at him for several seconds before a small smile slowly appeared on her face. But somehow, that smile hurt far more than tears ever could.

“In that case,” Ava said softly in the middle of the silent ballroom, “you must have been thinking about Megan so much that you forgot what today was supposed to mean to me.”

Jackson immediately opened his mouth to respond, but Ava spoke again before he had the chance.

“I was never angry because you cared about Megan.” Her eyes slowly turned glassy, though she fought hard to remain calm. “I’m just tired of always being the one expected to understand the way you treat her.”

The entire room fell completely silent. Not a single guest dared interrupt. Even Eleanor seemed to lose her words as she watched Ava finally expose the wounds she had hidden alone for years.

“Ava…” Jackson lowered his voice, trying to calm the situation.

But Ava slowly shook her head.

“If you were capable of thinking about Megan and making sure she was okay…” Ava drew in a deep breath before continuing, her voice beginning to tremble slightly, “…did you ever stop to think about how I felt being left behind like this?”

Something twisted painfully inside Jackson’s chest. And for the first time that night, he saw something in Ava’s eyes he had never truly seen before.

Disappointment.

A disappointment so deep it unsettled him completely.

“Like I told you before,” Ava continued, forcing herself to keep her emotions under control, “if you didn’t come within thirty minutes, I would replace the groom.”

Jackson’s hand clenched tightly into a fist. And before he could say another word, Ava slowly turned toward Maverick, who had remained calm beside her the entire time.

Their eyes met briefly. Then Ava spoke softly. “And now… he’s the one who replaced you.”

The ballroom somehow grew even quieter. And without knowing where she found the courage, Ava carefully reached for Maverick’s hand, closing the distance between them.

Maverick didn’t pull away.

Instead, he simply allowed Ava to stand quietly at his side.

“Right?” Ava looked straight at Jackson. Then, softly but clearly, she said,

“My husband?”