The Groom's choice

Chapter 1- Marriage With Another Man

Rosaline Hart could barely contain her excitement as she typed out the message to her best friend, Amelia. Rafael, Amelia's fiancé, was wrapped in her bed sheets while she typed the message.

The moment she hit send, she pictured the scene unfolding on her end. Amelia stood there in her wedding dress, just moments away from marrying Rafael. Rosaline knew the message would shatter her, and she wanted it to.

Amelia's fingers trembled as she read the text, the blood draining from her face. She struggled to breathe and to process the betrayal. And then she would call Rafael, the man she had been waiting to wed. Their wedding was today.

Rafael's phone rang beside him, vibrating against the sheets. He groaned, reaching for the phone as he picked it up.

"Rosaline needs me right now, so we're going to have to delay the wedding. I'll make it up to you afterward," he said, his voice devoid of any real emotion.

Rosaline watched his lips from those empty words, and a wicked sense of satisfaction curled inside her. Her plan was working out.

"Make it up?" she murmured under her breath. As if she actually believed that. Maybe in the underworld.

She knew Rafael. He wouldn't change his words, but she also knew she wouldn't be able to stop what was coming next. Amelia had lost before she even realized her friend was playing the game.

Amelia called her parents, desperate for their support. And that would be the final nail in the coffin. She was already exhausted by the news.

"Amelia, I'm really sorry, but Rosaline suddenly fell ill. We might not make it," Dehlia told her, feigning concern. Her parents also wouldn't make it.

Amelia's heart broke as she connected the dots. A week before the wedding, her parents had seen the birthmark on Rosaline's back while they were trying on the bridesmaid dresses. That was when they realized she was their real daughter. The one they had lost. The one they had unknowingly replaced with Amelia.

Five years of love and sacrifice for Rafael went to waste.

They had chosen Rosaline.

As Amelia stood there, abandoned by her family and humiliated before her guests, she would do something reckless. Something she thought would take control of the situation.

"Hey everyone, I'm really sorry, but the groom has a bit of a situation and might not be able to make it."

The collective gasp from the guests sent shivers down her spine.

"So, I'm wondering if anyone here would be willing to marry me right now. If so, let's do this!" She finally cleared the air.

She was so desperate and naive at the same time, she didn't want to think about what had just happened. She needed to fill the space.

The silence stretched, the tension thick enough to choke on. And then, a voice cut through the room like a blade.

"I'll marry you."

That was when everything shifted. That was when Rosaline's carefully crafted plan began to spin out of her control.

Johnson Wright.

The enigmatic, powerful figure whispered about in hushed tones. He was Rafael's distant uncle, and older than him. The true force behind the Wright name. He came to the wedding because of his brother.

He wasn’t supposed to be there. He wasn’t supposed to interfere. But fate had other plans.

Yet, there he was, standing tall, meeting Amelia's gaze with an unwavering confidence that sent a ripple through the room.

"Are you really willing to marry me?" Amelia asked, her voice steady despite the madness of the moment.

He didn’t hesitate. "I never joke about important things like this."

The ceremony was quick. Too quick. Rings were exchanged, and just like that, Amelia had married into the Wright family. Just not the way Rosaline had planned it.

When Rafael's parents finally arrived, their perfect scheme in ruins, Mia Wright's voice was filled with rage. "That b***h is totally disrespecting our family! I want to see who she's marrying."

Mia rushed outside just in time to see Amelia slipping into a sleek car, Johnson beside her. By the time realization struck, they were gone.

"Babe, don’t you think that guy kinda looked like Johnson?" Mr. Wright muttered.

Mia scoffed. "No way! You must've seen it wrong. There’s no way Johnson would be caught up in something like this."

But he was. And that changed everything.

Rosaline had won against Amelia. She had taken her groom, her family, her place. But now, she is no longer in control.

Because Johnson Wright was not a man to be underestimated. He was the voice behind the Wright group of companies.

And for the first time, she wondered if she had made a mistake.