Married to My Ex's Father

Chapter2

Chapter 2: The Billionaire's Offer

"Marry me instead."

The words lingered between us with astonishing weight, and for several long seconds the cathedral became so silent that even the reporters seemed to forget they were holding cameras. Adrian Ashford's hand remained outstretched, steady and unwavering, while hundreds of curious eyes shifted between us, waiting for a response that refused to come.

I searched his face for the slightest hint of mockery, but the man standing before me looked as though he had just announced the most ordinary decision in the world.

"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked at last, forcing the words through a throat that suddenly felt too tight. "Because if you're trying to rescue my dignity, you've chosen a very strange way to do it." The question drew a ripple of whispers from the guests, yet Adrian's expression never changed.

"I don't joke about marriage, Miss Hayes," he replied calmly. "And I certainly wouldn't do it in front of three hundred witnesses."

The first camera flash shattered the silence, and dozens more followed almost instantly. Reporters surged toward the altar with microphones raised above their heads, each determined to be the first to capture the scandal that would dominate tomorrow's headlines, while guests abandoned every trace of wedding etiquette in favor of recording the spectacle on their phones.

"Mr. Ashford, are you replacing your son?"

"Miss Hayes, did you know this was going to happen?"

"Is this revenge against Ethan?"

Adrian didn't acknowledge a single question. Instead, he stepped slightly closer to me, subtly placing himself between the reporters and the altar, and when he finally addressed the crowd, his voice carried the effortless authority of a man accustomed to being heard.

"This is neither revenge nor entertainment," he said. "It's a private decision, and the only person whose answer matters is Miss Hayes."

The cathedral doors swung open before anyone could ask another question, and the sharp rhythm of expensive heels echoed across the marble floor. Vivian Ashford swept inside with the confidence of someone who believed every room belonged to her, although the fury blazing in her eyes made it clear she had arrived looking for someone to destroy.

"Adrian, have you completely lost your senses?" she demanded, stopping only a few feet away. "The family has already suffered enough humiliation today, and now you're making us the laughingstock of the entire country." Her gaze settled on me with open contempt, and her smile turned as cold as polished steel. "So this is your backup plan? You couldn't keep my son, so now you've set your sights on his father. I underestimated your ambition, Miss Hayes."

My fingers tightened around the bouquet, but before I could answer, Adrian calmly adjusted one of his cufflinks and turned to face Vivian, the small gesture almost casual, yet something about it made the room noticeably quieter. "You will apologize," he said.

"For telling the truth?" Vivian's laugh was sharp and immediate.

"For forgetting how to behave."

The laughter vanished from her face at once, and Adrian's voice remained calm even as every word landed with quiet precision. "You will not insult her in my presence again. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever."

Vivian stared at him in disbelief, uncertainty flickering across her face for the first time since she'd entered the cathedral.

"You can't be serious."

"I've never been more serious."

She took a slow step toward me, lowering her voice just enough that only those nearest the altar could hear. "Do you know why Ethan left you?" she asked softly. "Because I made sure he did."

The confession struck harder than any slap, and I felt my breath catch as a hundred unanswered questions crashed together inside my mind. Before I could speak, Adrian moved between us once again, placing himself squarely in Vivian's path. "Leave," he said.

"I beg your pardon, excuse me?" she managed, though her composure had already begun slipping.

"You've embarrassed yourself enough for one day."

For a heartbeat I thought she might argue, but the expression in Adrian's eyes convinced even Vivian Ashford that she had already lost this battle. She shot me one last poisonous glance before turning sharply on her heel and walking away, and the promise of future trouble lingered long after she disappeared through the cathedral doors.

The reporters erupted again, desperate to chase the newest scandal, but Adrian ignored them completely. When he looked back at me, the sternness faded from his features, replaced by the same quiet composure that had unsettled me from the moment he walked into the cathedral. "There's a private meeting room beside the vestry," he said. "You deserve the chance to make this decision somewhere cameras aren't shouting for an answer."

"And if my answer is no?"

"Then I'll escort you out of this cathedral myself and make certain nobody bothers you again."

"You'd still help me?"

"I gave you my word before I asked for your answer," he said, and for reasons I couldn't explain, I believed him completely.

Charlotte hurried toward us before we could leave, clutching a small ivory gift box wrapped with a silver ribbon. "One of the coordinators insisted this belongs to you," she said, slipping it into my hands. "There wasn't a card, but they said it arrived with the bridal gifts this morning." I barely glanced at the box before placing it inside my handbag, because my thoughts were consumed entirely by the impossible man standing beside me, and whatever mystery waited inside that package could survive another hour, while Adrian Ashford's proposal could not.

The private room felt strangely peaceful after the chaos outside, and the silence gave me my first real opportunity to look at him without hundreds of strangers watching. "Why me?" I asked quietly. "We've exchanged polite conversations at family dinners, but you don't know me well enough to ask me to marry you."

"No," he admitted. "I know something far more important."

"And what's that, exactly?"

He held my gaze without hesitation. "I know what you did after your world collapsed." When confusion must have shown plainly on my face, he continued without waiting for me to ask. "You walked into that cathedral instead of running away. Most people protect their pride by hiding. You protected yours by facing the truth."

"That still doesn't explain why you proposed," I said, unwilling to let the compliment distract me from the question that mattered.

His eyes grew thoughtful before he answered. "Because the person responsible for ruining your wedding is connected to the people trying to ruin my life."

A chill settled over the room, and my voice came out barely above a whisper. "What are you talking about?"

Adrian glanced slowly toward the ceiling, his attention settling on a decorative smoke detector fixed above the doorway, and without another word he crossed the room, reached up, and twisted the cover loose. A tiny listening device fell into his open palm, and he studied it for a moment before looking back at me with the same calm expression he had worn since the altar.

"Now," he said quietly, "do you understand why I asked you to marry me?"