“Oh, feisty.”

The man let out a derisive laugh and turned to mutter to the people beside him. “Left at the altar and still acting like she's above everyone. Does she even know what kind of situation she's in right now?”

“I offer to be your groom—that's doing you a favor—and you still have the nerve to cop an attitude with me?”

The words barely left his mouth before he moved in, hands grabbing for me.

Behind him, the other men started hooting, egging him on.

“I want a turn too!”

“Count me in!”

My parents' faces went white with fury. They were rising from their seats to intervene when my phone rang.

Earlier, to give the guests something to watch, I'd had the emcee connect my phone to the giant screen above the stage.

Someone must have hit accept.

The next second, Stephen Sanchez's face filled the ballroom screen on a video call.

“Carina, why are you still hanging around the venue like you can't take a hint?”

“I already told you. Today's wedding is off.”

“If you insist on staying, don't blame me when you embarrass yourself. You're bringing this on yourself.”

Rebecca leaned into the frame beside him.

“Carina, I'm so sorry about all this.”

“I just mentioned that I wanted to see what a wedding felt like, and Mr. Sanchez put together a whole mock ceremony for me. And look—”

She stepped back so the camera caught her full body, then did a slow, proud spin.

Showing off a gown even more extravagant than mine.

“Mr. Sanchez had this flown in by helicopter from overseas. It's a one-of-a-kind piece, diamonds set right into the train. I don't even know how many times more expensive it is than yours. Oh, Carina, you're not mad at me for saying that, are you……”

Surrounded by smothered laughter and prying stares, I opened my mouth calmly.

“Of course not.”

Stephen scoffed. “Carina, you really are generous. Generous enough to hand your own husband over to someone else.”

“Well, that puts my mind at ease. I was worried you'd fall apart over me walking out. Maybe do something drastic.”

“Looks like you're doing just fine.”

“Oh, and if you've got nothing better to do, you're welcome to come down to the riverside for our mock ceremony. It's not real, obviously, but hey, it's still an experience.”

Stephen's gaze turned indulgent as he ruffled Rebecca's hair.

“Rebecca says her one regret is that you're not here. She'd be thrilled if you came.”

“I'll have to pass. I've still got a wedding to get to.”

I spoke first. “If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up.”

And I did.

Then I gathered my skirt and walked through the ballroom, heading for the doors to see if he had arrived.

The red carpet to the entrance was long.

When we'd planned it, the hotel manager said the carpet measured eighty-eight feet, one for each blessing. The grandest possible aisle for a wedding.

Now every one of those eighty-eight feet landed on someone else's laughter.

The whispers around me sharpened, cutting deeper.

“Where's she going? Don't tell me she's actually heading to the riverside to find her husband.”

“Let her go. She'll only humiliate herself more. That little secretary is wrapped up in Mr. Sanchez's arms right now.”

“I heard he chartered an entire cruise ship for the mock wedding just to make the secretary happy. Fifty million. Fifty million.”

“Meanwhile the bride's side looks pathetic. The contrast is brutal……”

Halfway down the carpet.

The ballroom doors swung open from the outside.

I looked up, startled.

Light poured in from beyond the threshold.

Backlit against it, a tall figure stepped through, shoulders perfectly squared, stride unhurried.

He walked to my side and stopped. His voice was gentle.

“Sorry I'm late. Traffic.”

I stared at his face, and suddenly my nose prickled.

This man had waited seven years for me.

And I had chosen Stephen Sanchez.

Three years ago, he told me: I hope you'll be happy with Stephen. But if he can't give you that, come find me.

I'll always be your way out.

I said okay.

But I treated it like a joke and turned the page.

Then he went abroad, and three years passed without a word.

Three years of silence. I assumed he'd forgotten.

Until an hour ago, when I stood on that empty stage in my wedding dress and watched Stephen toss the bouquet aside and bolt through the doors without a backward glance, racing toward his secretary without a second of hesitation.

And just like that, I remembered.

I took out my phone and dialed the number I'd saved three years ago and never once called.

“Seen enough of the show?”

“Plenty. Now get over here and marry me.”

And now, here he was.

He took my hand. His palm was warm.

He tilted his head slightly, gaze sweeping across the ballroom full of faces still frozen in shock, before settling back on mine.

“The wedding continues.”

He paused, the corner of his mouth lifting,

“The bride's husband has arrived.”

Dead silence from the guests.

The girl holding up the livestream rig was the first to react, swinging the camera toward him: “Oh my God oh my God oh my GOD, who IS that?!”

But once they got a look at Joel, the mockery came back twice as hard.

“Carina, you're really something. You think you can just drag in some random guy off the street to save the day?”

“Don't you think this is a little much? Losing face at your own wedding, so now you'll marry whatever trash walks through the door...”

I turned to Joel, a faint smile pulling at my lips.

“They're calling you trash. Thoughts?”

Joel let out a low laugh and leaned closer.

“Why would I care what they think? They're nothing.”

That was the Joel I knew.

I tightened my grip on his hand, and we walked shoulder to shoulder, step by step, toward the altar.

“Carina Sullivan, you stop right there!”

My mother.

She rushed over in three frantic strides, seized my arm, her eyes rimmed red.

“Who is this man? Do you have any idea what you're doing? Every guest here is from the Sullivan and Sanchez families. You bring some stranger in out of nowhere—this is insane!”

I patted the back of her hand. “Mom, I just don't want to marry a man who can't even stay for his own wedding.”

Her eyes went red instantly.

“I know Stephen broke your heart, but even if you're hurting, you can't just...”

She shot a glance at Joel, her voice rising.

“Who even is he? You don't know a single thing about him and you're just going to marry some stranger?”

My father walked over too, his face dark.

“She's right, Carina. Even if you never marry anyone, your mother and I won't say a word. But a Sullivan daughter does not throw herself away on some nobody.”

But the moment they turned and actually looked at Joel, they both went still.

Jaws dropping open.

They'd seen that face before.

On the cover of financial magazines. In news-channel interviews.

The richest man in Alderton. Head of Henson Group. Joel Henson.

Net worth in the hundreds of billions. Famously low-profile. Almost never seen in public.

One word defined him in the public eye: unfathomable.

“You're...Joel Henson?”

Joel smiled politely.

“Sir, ma'am. It's me.”

“You have nothing to worry about. I'm not some stranger she pulled off the street. I've waited seven years for this day.”

“I can promise you I'll do a far better job as a husband than the man who ran.”

The room went dead silent.

Stephen's relatives looked like they wanted to crawl under the floorboards.

Then Joel offered something even better.

“Mrs. Sullivan made a good point just now.”

“Most of the guests here are from the Sanchez side. Holding the ceremony in this hall doesn't quite feel right.”

“If you'd be so kind, please ask everyone to move to the banquet hall next door. Everything's already prepared.”

After that, my parents had nothing left to object to. They nodded and started directing guests.

In the flurry of commotion that followed,

every person who'd been mocking me minutes ago stood frozen in disbelief.

“What kind of insane luck does Carina Sullivan have? She actually hooked the Henson heir?”

“This has to be staged!”

The girl with the livestream practically tripped over herself keeping up, her camera locked on Joel.

“Everyone, we have a shocking twist!”

“The bride, Carina Sullivan, has just been swept away by another man at her own wedding! And this man appears to be……Joel Henson of Henson Group! Yes, that Joel Henson!”

The live-stream comments were scrolling so fast they blurred.

Meanwhile, at the riverside mock-wedding, Assistant Lambert came running up to Stephen, white-faced.

“Mr. Sanchez, you told me to keep an eye on Miss Sullivan's ceremony. Something's happened.”

“Miss Sullivan is marrying another man. They should be exchanging rings right about now……”