I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 24

I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 24

The woman’s words were a stone thrown with perfect precision, stirring gentle ripples in the deepest part of Ava’s heart.

“To get his very traditional mother to agree to this marriage… Ethan stood outside his mother’s study for three days and three nights.”

Ava’s steps faltered. A warm hand seemed to tighten around her heart.

She knew how much capital Ethan had poured into her revenge, but she had not known he had paid this price for her, too. It wasn’t a cold transaction or a calculated Wall Street move. It was pure, stubborn devotion.

Her grip on Ethan’s hand tightened.

Ethan glanced at her, asking silently with his eyes.

Ava met his gaze. In that deep sea of stars that seemed to shine only for her, she saw the softest persistence of a powerful man. A warmth mixed with guilt and emotion swept through her.

She opened her mouth, and one word emerged, clear and voluntary.

“Husband.”

Ethan’s tall body stiffened. He stopped and looked at her in disbelief. The light that lit his eyes was brighter than all the crystal lamps in the church, and a blush spread rapidly to the tips of his ears.

“I didn’t expect…” His voice was hoarse. “I didn’t expect you to call me that so soon.”

Ava looked at his rare awkwardness, an expression that would never appear on his face at a negotiating table. The warmth in her heart deepened.

“What else?” she teased. “Should I call you ‘wife’?”

Ethan understood immediately. As if reciting another vow, he said obediently and solemnly:

“Wife.”

Ava’s smile bloomed. She lifted her face and answered clearly.

“Husband.”

They smiled at each other, all words melting into their shared gaze.

At that very moment, outside the church doors, Jackson, who was being dragged away, happened to turn his head.

He saw it.

He saw Ava’s smile.

It was not the trained, perfect smile of Mrs. Devereaux. Nor was it the tired, bitter smile she wore when facing him.

It was a smile he had never seen before. From the heart. Radiant.

That smile was like the midday sun, piercing through all the lies he had told himself.

She had never smiled like that when she was with him.

He had given her Charleston’s most expensive jewelry, the grandest parties, the supreme Devereaux name, but he had never given her a smile like that.

And this man had done it with one wedding.

The sharp pain in his abdomen and the humiliation of being dragged away vanished. In their place was a deeper, more complete ache, one that could crush a soul.

He finally understood.

He hadn’t just lost her. From the moment he chose betrayal and violence, he had killed the Ava who loved him with his own hands.

Everything he had become, everything he had lost, was his own fault.

Perhaps letting go was the only thing he could still do for her.

Jackson stopped struggling and let security throw him, like a sack of garbage, out of that sacred place of sunlight and roses.