Chapter 2 - The Woman They Had Never Seen
Two hours later, I walked into the rehearsal dinner wearing the dress my mother had tried to make impossible.
It was deep emerald silk, simple from the front, elegant from every angle, and fitted so perfectly that for the first time that weekend, I did not feel like the daughter everyone expected to hide in the background.
Alexander walked beside me.
His hand rested lightly against mine.
The private dining room went silent before we had taken five steps.
My mother, Catherine, was standing near the head table in a silver dress.
Aunt Marlene was beside her.
Lucas was speaking with his fiancée, Sophie, near the windows.
All of them turned.
My mother recovered first.
“Well,” she said.
“That’s certainly dramatic.”
I almost laughed.
She had destroyed my clothes, insulted me, and mocked my relationship status.
Yet somehow my arrival was dramatic.
Alexander leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“You want to leave?”
I looked around the room.
Twenty-six years of shrinking myself seemed to be waiting for my answer.
“No.”
I straightened my shoulders.
“I want dinner.”
Alexander smiled.
“That’s my wife.”
The word carried farther than he intended.
Several relatives looked at one another.
Lucas crossed the room immediately.
“Emily.”
He glanced nervously at Alexander.
“You’re actually married?”
“For fourteen months.”
“You never told us.”
“You never asked anything about my life unless you needed something.”
His face tightened.
“That’s not fair.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“Tonight is about your wedding, Lucas.”
His voice remained calm.
“We’re not here to create trouble.”
My mother gave a short laugh.
“That’s generous, considering Emily apparently decided to arrive with a billionaire like some kind of revenge stunt.”
Alexander looked at her.
“I arrived because someone cut my wife’s clothes into pieces.”
The room became quiet again.
Aunt Marlene took a long drink.
My mother smiled stiffly.
“It was a family disagreement.”
“Destroying someone’s property isn’t a disagreement.”
Alexander did not raise his voice.
That somehow made the words heavier.
My father, Robert, finally approached us.
He shook Alexander’s hand.
There was embarrassment in his eyes when he looked at me.
“I didn’t know she had done that.”
“You were in the house,” I said.
His expression fell.
Before he could answer, a hotel manager hurried toward us.
He was wearing a black suit and a gold name badge.
The moment he saw Alexander, he stopped.
“Mr. Hale.”
Lucas frowned.
“You know him?”
The manager looked confused by the question.
“Of course.”
Then he smiled professionally.
“Mr. Hale’s company owns this hotel.”
The silence that followed was almost beautiful.
My mother’s face lost its color.
Lucas stared at Alexander.
Sophie slowly turned toward him.
“This hotel?”
Alexander nodded.
“Among others.”
My mother opened her mouth.
Alexander raised one hand gently.
“Please.”
“This is still Lucas and Sophie’s evening.”
He meant it.
That was the difference between Alexander and my family.
He did not need to humiliate people simply because he had the power to do it.
We were halfway toward our seats when the manager spoke again.
“Mr. Hale, there is one issue.”
Alexander stopped.
“What issue?”
The manager glanced at Lucas.
Then at my mother.
“It concerns the account paying for tomorrow’s wedding.”
My stomach tightened.
The manager lowered his voice.
“Our finance department flagged it this afternoon.”
May you like
My mother’s hand suddenly closed around her wineglass.
And for the first time since Alexander entered the house, she looked frightened.
