He Skipped Our Wedding, So I Married His Rival

Chapter 2

Alex arrived 5 minutes earlier than he'd promised.

When the doorman opened the glass doors, I was in the lobby revising the schedule with the wedding planner.

He wore a black tuxedo with no bow tie, his top shirt button still undone, as though someone had bundled him straight from a conference room into a car.

But he was carrying white roses.

Real ones.

Water droplets still clung to the edges of the petals.

He walked up and offered them to me.

"It's all the hotel florist had left."

I looked down at my original bridal bouquet.

Artificial roses. Almost convincing enough to pass for real.

Ethan had insisted on them.

He'd said real flowers wilted and shed petals, which ruined the photos. Fake ones were less trouble.

At the time, I'd actually thought he had a point.

Alex glanced at the fake bouquet, took it from my hand, and passed it to the planner.

"Throw it out."

He handed me the real roses.

"You deserve something real today."

My hand paused as I reached for them.

Before I could speak, Richard Lane came storming over from the ballroom.

"Elena, have you lost your mind?"

He was so loud that several nearby guests stopped.

"Something came up for Ethan, and you found another man to replace him? Do you have any idea how this makes the Lane family look?"

Before I could answer, Alex took half a step forward, blocking the finger Richard had almost shoved in my face.

"Mr. Lane," he said, perfectly courteous, "your son is the one who abandoned the wedding.

"If you're so concerned about your family's reputation, you should be calling him and telling him to get back here, instead of interrogating the bride he left behind."

Richard's expression soured instantly.

"This is a family matter."

Alex gave him an indifferent look.

"It stopped being just your family's matter when she called me."

Richard turned to me, his jaw clenched. "The joint investment agreement between our companies is based on you marrying Ethan. If you do this today, you'll face the consequences yourself."

I smiled a little.

"Fine.

"Let the lawyers handle it."

He froze for a moment, apparently unprepared for such a decisive answer.

I didn't look at him again.

The wedding planner handed me the revised schedule.

Alex and I went to the downtown marriage license office first.

In Bellavista, getting a marriage license and returning to your hotel for the ceremony on the same day was nothing unusual.

While we waited in line, Alex looked down at the form, then suddenly asked, "Last chance. If you've changed your mind, I can help you get through today without us getting married."

I held my pen.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"I'm making sure you're not too angry to think straight."

"I'm not."

I signed my name.

"My head is perfectly clear."

He looked at me for 2 seconds, then bent over the form and signed, too.

On the drive back to the hotel, he arranged for his assistant to bring a men's wedding band and a simple platinum band for me.

I looked at the ring in the box. "You even took care of this?"

"I don't like using other people's things."

He said it as though it were obvious.

"Especially wedding rings."

1 hour later, the ballroom doors opened again.

The officiant had revised the ceremony. Ethan's name wasn't mentioned.

The guests had clearly heard the news.

When I reached the entrance on my father's arm, the ballroom was quiet enough for every note of the piano to carry.

Alex stood at the end of the aisle.

Black tuxedo, white boutonniere. Behind him were the flowers and lighting I'd spent 3 months choosing myself.

He didn't look remotely like a man who'd been dragged in at the last minute to salvage a disaster.

In fact, he looked more like a groom than the man who was supposed to be standing there.

As my father placed my hand in his, Alex asked softly, "Nervous?"

"No."

"Good."

He gently took my hand.

"You're not the one who should be embarrassed today.

"The man who didn't show up is."

As we exchanged rings, applause finally broke out across the ballroom.

Loud applause.

I watched that unfamiliar platinum band slide onto my ring finger, and a strange feeling came over me.

For 4 years, I'd given way to Ethan over and over, thinking marriage would be the finish line I'd been waiting to reach.

But when I finally stood at my wedding, the man beside me had changed.

After the ceremony, Richard was still sitting in the back row.

His face was an alarming shade of gray.

Alex led me past him, even giving him a polite nod.

"Thank you for staying for the ceremony."

Richard nearly crushed the glass in his hand.

I couldn't help laughing.

Alex tilted his head toward me.

"Happier now?"

"A little."

"Then coming here wasn't a waste."

For the first time, I realized a wedding didn't have to mean tiptoeing around someone else's moods.