I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 23

I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 23

The pastor, stunned for a moment, regained his professional composure. He treated the roaring man at the doors as nothing more than noise from the street.

He turned to Ava and solemnly repeated the vow.

“Ava Monroe, do you take Ethan Blackwood to be your husband?”

Outside, Jackson’s yelling continued, the sound of a dying animal.

“Ava, you love me! You can’t—”

Ava’s gaze remained fixed on Ethan’s. In his deep eyes, she saw her untainted future.

“I do.”

Her voice was not loud, but it was an ice-tempered blade that pierced the commotion and struck Jackson’s eardrums.

At the church entrance, Jackson went rigid. Those two words seemed to strip the bones from his body. His struggles ceased, and he collapsed, his knees hitting the marble floor with a dull thud.

His eyes were blank.

“The groom may now kiss the bride,” the pastor announced.

Ethan gently cupped Ava’s face and bent to kiss her.

It was a kiss of pure joy, not possession. The moment their lips met, thunderous applause erupted inside the church, drowning out all other noise.

As they walked back down the aisle, Jackson seemed to be jolted by the sight and once again tried to rush in.

“Ava!”

This time, one of the bodyguards twisted his arm behind his back while the other delivered a merciless punch to his abdomen.

Jackson let out a muffled groan and curled inward.

At that exact moment, Ava was holding Ethan’s arm, gracefully accepting the blessings of her guests. On one side was violence and humiliation; on the other, flowers and applause.

The guests’ murmurs surged.

“He deserves it. He’s disgraced the Devereaux name.”

“I heard he treated Ava terribly. And that mistress… not to mention what he did to Chloe.”

“But I’m still a little surprised,” a woman in a Chanel suit whispered. “Ethan Blackwood could have married anyone. Why choose someone newly divorced?”

Her companion touched her arm, her eyes full of admiration.

“You don’t know the story,” she lowered her voice, but it was still loud enough for Ava to hear as she passed. “I heard it from an old housekeeper in the Blackwood family. To get his very traditional mother to agree to this marriage…”

“Ethan stood outside his mother’s study for three days and three nights.”