I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 28

I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 28

The noise and blessings inside the church, as if separated by a warm membrane, completely shut out the filth beyond the doors. The reception was held in the estate’s rose garden, the air thick with champagne and flowers.

Ava held Ethan’s arm and moved among the guests. She heard people speaking quietly, their tones filled with amazement.

“Mr. Blackwood all but declared war on Charleston’s old order for her.”

“I’ve never seen Ethan Blackwood care this much about any deal.”

The words drifted into Ava’s ears. The proper smile on her face slowly melted into real warmth. Suddenly, she felt that perhaps the thirty-year nightmare had existed only to push her toward this perfect ending.

She reached out and held Ethan’s hand tighter, tilting her head to ask in a voice only they could hear, “Husband, are you getting used to it?”

Ethan’s tall body stiffened. He looked down at her, and the light that instantly lit his eyes was brighter than all the crystal lamps in the garden.

“What did you just call me?”

“Husband,” Ava repeated deliberately, meeting his focused gaze. “Don’t you like it?”

“No, that’s not it.” Ethan’s ears reddened at a visible speed, giving his cool, undefeated face a softness that belonged only to her. “I just didn’t expect… it to happen so soon.”

A sly curve touched Ava’s mouth. She leaned closer. “Then what about you? What are you going to call me?”

Ethan’s throat moved. He gazed at her as if he wanted to pull her into him. He didn’t say Ava, or Mrs. Monroe. With a solemnity that was almost an oath, he said in a low voice, “My wife.”

The words carried a scorching heat that branded itself directly onto Ava’s heart.

She suddenly made a decision.

“Ethan,” she said, pulling him into a quieter corner, her expression turning serious. “I want to tell you a secret. About why I chose you.”

She told him everything about the thirty-year nightmare. She told him how, in that future, she had stubbornly refused his help, foolishly trusted Jackson, and ended up with her family destroyed, confined in a psychiatric hospital, and dying alone.

“…In that future, I died as Mrs. Devereaux,” Ava said softly, her words carrying immense weight. “After I died, no one from Jackson’s family came to claim my body. It was you, Ethan. Only you, as an ‘old friend,’ paid all my fees and gave me my final dignity.”

Ethan listened quietly, without a trace of shock or doubt on his face. He only held her hand tighter, as if he wanted to press her into his very bones.

Only when she finished did he speak, his voice hoarse with restrained emotion.

“Then thank you, Ava. Thank you for choosing me this time.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a burning kiss to it.

“I promise you, I will fill every one of your regrets from that nightmare. What you lost, I will help you get back. What you deserve, I will give you twice over.”

This time, Ava’s tears finally fell. Not from sadness or pain, but from happiness.

At the same time, on the lawn outside the church, Jackson regained consciousness. The shattered pain in his jaw made it impossible to speak. Struggling, he pulled out his phone and opened social media with trembling fingers.

Pinned at the top was the livestream of the wedding reception.

In the frame, Ava leaned into Ethan’s arms, her face wearing a genuinely happy smile Jackson had never seen before. It was so dazzling it made his eyes ache.

At that moment, remorse a thousand times stronger than physical pain swallowed him like a tsunami.

He finally understood. What he had lost was not merely a wife, not a beautiful accessory to be controlled.

He had lost the only woman who could have brought him his best future. The most complete life he might have had.

And he had destroyed it all with his own hands.