Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Billionaire Regretted Losing His Invisible Wife: Kabanata 511 - Kabanata 519

Mia's POVThe hallway outside the bridal suite is long.I've never noticed how long hallways can be. How each step echoes. How the light changes as you move through space—gold near the windows, silver in the shadows, something in between where the two meet and blur.My mother walks on my left. Her hand is tucked into the crook of my arm, her fingers light against the ivory silk, barely there but unmistakably present. She hasn't stopped crying since she saw me in the dress. Silent tears, the kind that don't need sound, that just happen because the heart is too full to hold everything inside.Scarlett walks ahead, champagne abandoned somewhere, her emerald dress catching the light as she moves. Sophie brings up the rear. I can hear her heels.The castle stretches around us.The corridor opens onto a gallery. High ceilings—twenty feet, maybe more—supported by columns that curve upward like the ribs of some beautiful, ancient creature. The walls are pale gold, the color of champagne, the

Mia's POVThe crowd laughs. The soft, affectionate laughter."The rings," the officiant says.Alexander explodes into motion."I HAVE THEM!" He's already running, the pillow bouncing in his hands, the rings jangling. "DON'T WORRY, I DIDN'T LOSE THEM THIS TIME! I KEPT CHECKING! EVERY FIVE MINUTES!""Alexander—""THEY'RE RIGHT HERE! SEE?" He skids to a stop in front of us, holding up the pillow with the kind of triumph usually reserved for Olympic medalists. "BOTH OF THEM! STILL ATTACHED!"Kyle takes the rings. His hand is shaking."Good job, buddy," he says. His voice is thick."I know." Alexander grins. That gap-toothed grin. "I practiced."He runs back to his siblings. I hear the inevitable argument beginning—"You were TOO LOUD, Alexander"—"I was ENTHUSIASTIC, there's a DIFFERENCE"—but it fades into background noise as Kyle takes my hand again.The ring is simple. A band of platinum, unadorned. We chose it together, in a quiet moment that felt more intimate than any grand gesture. No

Mia's POVI should have known better than to close my eyes.The coffee helped—Patricia brought me something that could probably strip paint, bless her—but exhaustion is exhaustion, and I've been running on fumes since the wedding. Since before the wedding. Since approximately five years ago when I gave birth to two human alarm clocks who have never once slept past 7 AM.So when Madison finally falls asleep, and Alexander gets absorbed in some movie about talking cars, and Ethan opens his book about aerodynamics (because of course he does), I let myself sink into the leather seat and close my eyes.Just for a minute.Just—"MAMA!"I jolt awake.Alexander is standing in the aisle, his face pale, his eyes huge."MAMA, ETHAN FAINTED!"I'm on my feet before I'm fully conscious."What? Where? ETHAN!""He's in the bathroom!" Alexander is practically vibrating. "He went in there and I heard a THUMP and now he's not answering and the door is LOCKED and—"I'm already moving.Kyle is right behin

Mia's POVGlass floor panels show the ocean below, actual fish swimming beneath our feet. A private infinity pool that seems to pour directly into the lagoon. A deck with stairs leading straight into water so clear I can see the sandy bottom twenty feet down. And the bed—"THE BED IS BIGGER THAN OUR ENTIRE APARTMENT!" Alexander has already claimed it, bouncing in the center like it's a trampoline. "LOOK! I CAN DO A STARFISH AND I DON'T EVEN TOUCH THE EDGES!""Alexander, shoes off the bed," I say automatically."BUT I'M TESTING THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY!""Test it without shoes."He kicks off his sneakers. They fly in opposite directions. One lands in the pool."...oops.""I'll get it." Kyle is already moving.Ethan has found the glass floor panel and is lying on his stomach, face pressed against it, watching the fish."Mama," he breathes. "Mama, there's a school of sergeant majors. And I think—yes—that's definitely a parrotfish. You can tell by the beak-like jaw structure and the—OH! T