All Chapters of My Ex's Uncle Is My Husband Now: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

On the night I was supposed to get engaged, I found my fiancé's hand up another woman's dress.I wish I could tell you I screamed. I wish I could tell you I threw my glass in his face and made a scene people would talk about for years. But that is not what happened. I just stood in the doorway with my champagne still in my hand, and my whole body forgot how to move.It is strange, the things your mind does when it is breaking. I remember I could hear the piano playing downstairs. Soft and pretty. I picked that song myself.Let me go back a little.That evening, I spent four hours getting ready. My hair was curled. My dress was pale blue, the one I saved three months of salary to buy, because I did not want to look cheap standing next to the Ashford family. My mother fixed my necklace again and again and kept saying, "Smile, Lila. Don't ruin this. The Ashfords are the best thing that ever happened to us."My father's company needed the Ashford deal. Everyone knew that. I knew it too.B

I looked at his hand for a very long time.Behind the study door, I could still hear the party falling apart. Chairs scraping. People whispering. Somewhere in the middle of it, my mother's voice, calling my name again and again.Without really deciding to, I walked to the window.The study looked over the front driveway. Down below, the main doors flew open and Ryan came out fast, his jacket half on, his face red with anger. Not shame. Anger. He had been made to kneel in front of everyone, and he could not forgive anyone but himself for that.He never looked back at the house. Not once.Sabrina ran after him, holding up her dress, her heels slipping on the stones. "Ryan! Wait!" He didn't wait. He just opened the car door and let her climb in, and then the red lights went down the long driveway and disappeared into the dark.That was it. Three years of my life, and he did not even look up at the window to see if I was alive.I thought it would hurt more. But what I felt was strange and

For a moment, nobody in the café moved.I could feel Damien's hand on my shoulder. It was warm, even through the thick gray sweater. It did not squeeze. It did not pull. It just rested there, calm and heavy, like a stone that was not going anywhere.My heart was jumping like a silly child. I told myself it was nothing. It was for show. He said it himself, on paper only. But my body had not read the paper.Ryan was still turned , staring up at his uncle. His mouth was a little open. The smirk had slid off his face so fast it looked like someone wiped it away with a cloth."Uncle?" His voice came out small. "What are you doing here?""Buying groceries." Damien nodded at the bag on the table. "Rice. Eggs. Tomatoes."Ryan looked at the bag. Then at the ring on my finger. Then at his uncle's hand on my shoulder. Then back at me. I watched him put it together, one piece at a time. It was like watching a man walk slowly into a wall."No," he said. "No. This is a joke. She's lying. She's tryi

"Celia," Damien said.He said it quietly, but I heard everything inside that one word. Of course. Who else would call my parents to a family dinner and not tell me?My stomach dropped. I had spent the whole ride trying to be brave, and now my courage was leaking out of me like water from a cracked cup."Stay close," Damien said. He opened his door, walked around the car, and held out his hand.Clause nine.I put my fingers in his, and we walked up the white stone steps together. His hand was cold again, but he held mine tighter than he did in the car. I did not know if that was a good sign.The front doors opened before we reached them.My mother was standing right there. She must have been waiting. She wore her best cream coat, the one she saved for weddings, and her eyes were red and wet. The second she saw me, her face changed. She rushed forward and grabbed both my hands."My poor girl," she cried, loud enough for the whole hall to hear. "My poor, confused girl. Thank God you're s

"Do you really think he loves you?"Her breath was warm on my ear. It smelled of mint and expensive perfume."He's only using you, Lila. To hurt Ryan. That's all this is. A man like Damien Ashford does not fall for a girl like you. He just wants his nephew to feel small."I did not move. I could not."And when he's finished with you, he will throw you away." She smiled. I could hear it in her voice. "You'll be nothing again. A boring girl in a borrowed dress. And I'll still be here, with Ryan's baby, and the Ashford name."She stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror. She touched her lip with one finger, like she was checking a painting."Wash your face," she said. "You look like you've been crying. It's very unattractive."Then she walked out, and the door closed with a soft click.I stood alone in that huge, shining bathroom. The tap was still running. I did not turn it off.*A boring girl.*Ryan's word. Out of her mouth. They had probably laughed about it together, in bed,