The Misplaced Bride

Chapter 2

Aurelia's POV

There was pin drop silence after Nicole left. But my heart and mind are racing with thoughts miles per hour.

My mother promised me to the Ashcrofts? Why? We were doing just fine. We are financially in a good state for us to be in debt of the Ashcrofts.

What might have happened?

Before I could say something, I slipped into the wedding dress. The white silk hugged my body like it owned my body. It feels so extravagant but still comfortable I don't know how they both exist in the same sentence.

I looked at myself in the mirror when a lady was placing the veil over my head.

I look stunning.

I walked out with a bouquet in hand, ready to tell Lucien Ashcroft that I don't want the wedding. That is the only logical plan that I think will work at the moment.

With every step I took, the weight on my shoulders doubled up to a point I couldn't take full breaths. It feels suffocating.

I stood at the doors that went up to the ceiling. Four men were standing in front of me and their job was to open the door. Imagine being so rich that you need four men to open the door for you.

How insufferable.

And just like that, they opened the door for me.

The hall is vast. Grand and Overflowing with power dressed in couture.

My eyes don’t scan the crowd. They go straight to him.

Straight on the man at the altar who looked like he wanted to be anywhere in the world but here. He is not even looking at me.

The crowd collectively gasped the moment they saw me. It was those gasps that made Lucien Ashcroft turn his head and look at me finally.

He is a work of art.

The moment his dark brown eyes met mine, something shifted. Something in his eyes shifted. If I am not mistaken, I saw a little bit of confusion as he looked at me.

"Miss?" The man at the door called me and I realised that I should be moving forward.

And the more I walked closer to Lucien Ashcroft, the more I realised that he is sculpted by the fire. I don't even want to use the word hot. Because he is bigger than that.

I realised he is someone who should be admired from a long distance. Because the closer I get to him, the more it is evident that he is dangerously handsome. The kind that ruins you.

It might have taken me three minutes to walk from the door to Lucien at the altar. But it felt like forever. Maybe that was also because I was admiring him.

Once at the altar, I looked up at him and he stared at me with an expression that said "You cannot frigging read my mind through my face"

He leaned closer so he could whisper his words at me.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me.

Does he know me?

"Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked him back.

He stared at me for a moment and then scanned the crowd. I did too.

The entire Ashcroft family is sitting to my left and they are so poised. They look like sculptures in a museum and not people at a family member's wedding.

"We'll be back in a minute. There is last minute turbulence. Let me talk to my bride in private," Lucien announced and the entire crowd gasped once again.

And my heart did a flip flop at the way he addressed me as his bride. I shouldn't be feeling this way but something is so wrong with me. I am cooked.

He held my hand and helped me get off the stage. He didn't help me when I was getting on it though. So does that make him a gentleman or not one?

We walked behind the closed doors and his expression changed the moment we were in private.

"Who are you? What are you even doing here?" He asked me in a tone that made my throat go dry.

I hate the effect he has on me. Why does he even have this effect?

"I am Aurelia. And from what your mother told me, my mother promised me to you," I told him in a whisper.

Okay wait. Why am I feeling intimidated by him when I didn't even do anything that remotely got in his way?

"Aurelia?" He asked me and the way my name rolled down his tongue made it sound like a melody disguised in a threat.

"They got the names mixed up. f**k!!" He groaned and now I am curious.

So is this a case of mistaken identity? Of course it should be. Why will my mother give me to this family?

"That makes me the misplaced bride here?" I asked him with a small nervous smile.

He looked at me without saying a word. But that silence was just enough for me to know that this is not my place and the white gown does not belong to me.

"Thank you. Now we can just walk in and tell them that this is not going to happen," I said again, easing up to the situation.

But at that moment, I saw something flash in his eyes. Just for a brief moment before he masked it with his resting cold face.

I saw a moment of relief. A moment of ease in his features. People can tell me I was hallucinating but I saw what I saw.

"What?" I asked him, noticing that his stare did not waver from me at least for a second.

"Why are you here?" He asked me and though it is a question, he makes it sound like a command.

"My mother gave me the address and the invitation. I came here searching for someone," I told him.

I hid the part where it was the Ashcrofts I was searching for. Because now is not the time for me to ask him to explain how his family knows mine.

I just want this wedding to stop. I can deal with everything else later.

"Did you find that someone.?" Lucien asked me again.

How does he make everything sound like the words dance on his command?

"No," I shook my head at him.

"Okay. Great. Because we are not cancelling the wedding," he said.

That was a blow to me that took seconds of processing. What the heck?

"What?" I asked him again.

Did he say what I heard? Or was I admiring him too much to miss the words that he spoke?

"We are not cancelling the wedding. You are going to walk in there and say your vows," he said and that's when I noticed the ends of his mouth curling up just by a fraction of an inch.

"Why?" I asked him,"I am not the chosen bride for you"

"But you fit exactly in the picture now. You and I are going to be benefited through this," he said.

Spoken like a true businessman. What a spectacular way of conducting a meeting with the wedding being the subject. Bravo!

"I don't want this," I shook my head slightly at him.

The country's most eligible bachelor is in front of me. His blue eyes are watching me with intent. I wish I could look away but I can't.

"Neither do I," he said and now I want to punch him in the jaw.

Are all the billionaires the same insufferable idiots?!

"Then why are we doing this?" I asked him again and this time, he smirked. As if suddenly he knew what to do.

"This is the wedding of the decade, hun. Look alive. We are going to be great on paper," he said.

I hate his confidence. I hate his arrogance. I hate the way he speaks like the world bends to his will.

I hate him.