He Jilted Me at the Altar. I Married His Enemy by Midnight. Chapter 02

He Jilted Me at the Altar. I Married His Enemy by Midnight. Chapter 02

I didn’t take the card.

I took a cab to my parents’ estate instead—still in my wedding dress—because some pathetic, childish part of me still believed that when it mattered, family chose family.

I was wrong.

I heard the laughter before I reached the dining room. Champagne glasses. My mother’s voice, bright as bells.

「—and City Hall is so them, so spontaneous—」

I pushed open the door.

They were celebrating.

My mother. My father. My aunt. And at the head of the table, glowing, my sister Sienna—still in her short white dress, Julian’s hand resting on her thigh, a three-carat ring throwing light across the tablecloth.

My ring. I’d seen the receipt. He’d bought it while we were together.

「Aria.」 Sienna’s smile didn’t even flicker. 「You’re still in the dress? Oh, honey.」

「You,」 my voice came out shaking, 「were my maid of honor.」

「And you,」 she tilted her head, 「were in the way.」

I lunged.

I don’t remember deciding to. I just remember my father’s arms hauling me back, my mother’s nails digging into my wrist, and Sienna shrieking, stumbling into Julian’s chest like I was a wild animal—like I was the dangerous one.

「She’s hysterical!」 my mother snapped.

「I’M HYSTERICAL?!」 The scream ripped out of me raw. 「She slept with my fiancé! He humiliated me in front of four hundred people! There’s a video of my face trending RIGHT NOW and you’re drinking CHAMPAGNE—」

「Lower your voice.」

My father’s tone was ice. Boardroom ice.

「Julian is a Whitmore. This family needs the Whitmores. Which sister wears the ring is irrelevant to me.」 He straightened his cuffs. 「Sienna secured him. You lost him. That’s the whole story.」

I stared at him.

Twenty-seven years of straight A’s, of piano recitals, of making him proud—and I was a deal that fell through. That was the whole story.

Julian spoke for the first time. He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. He looked bored.

「Aria, we’ll have your things sent to a hotel. Let’s keep this civilized.」

「My things.」 I laughed, and it sounded broken even to me. 「From the apartment I decorated. For our life. That you were never planning to live.」

「Never’s a strong word.」 He swirled his champagne. 「I considered it. But Sienna offered a better arrangement.」

Arrangement.

That word snagged on something in my brain—cold and wrong—but before I could grab it, my mother took my elbow and steered me toward the door like a waitress removing a dropped plate.

「You’ll stay somewhere else tonight,」 she said. 「Your sister’s celebrating. You’re upsetting her.」

「Mom.」 I searched her face for anything. One flicker. One crack. 「I’m your daughter too.」

She hesitated.

For one second, I let myself hope.

「Then act like it,」 she said. 「Smile at the engagement gala on Friday. Wear something nice. Don’t embarrass us twice.」

The door closed in my face.

I stood on the front steps of the house I grew up in, in a wedding dress worth more than most cars, and I had nowhere on this earth to go.

My hand drifted to my stomach.

「Okay,」 I whispered to the tiny heartbeat that was now the only family I had left. 「Okay. It’s just us. I’ve got you.」

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

【Ms. Hale. The offer expires at midnight.】

【My employer suggests you ask yourself one question before you delete this message.】

【Why did Julian Whitmore need to destroy you TODAY—when he could have simply left you a year ago?】

I stopped breathing.

Because that was it. That was the cold, wrong thing snagged in my brain.

Arrangement, Julian had said. Paperwork.

None of this was passion. None of this was even cruelty for its own sake.

It was scheduled.

A second message appeared. An address. A time: 11 p.m.

And one more line that made the hair rise on my arms:

【Come alone. And Ms. Hale—congratulations on the baby.】

Nobody knew about the baby.

Nobody.