Live Wedding: I Married My Fiancé’s Rival on the Spot Chapter 02

Live Wedding: I Married My Fiancé’s Rival on the Spot Chapter 02

Nina turned back, confused.

“He already cleared all the challenges. Shouldn’t he be the first one up here?”

“I’ll ask.”

She fired off a message, then grabbed my arm.

“Seriously, Mason’s going to look insane today. Three years together and he barely even held your hand. Are you nervous?”

“No.”

Nina laughed. “Liar. Your lips are white.”

My phone buzzed.

A video call from my mom.

She had just finished chemo. Her hair was gone, her face was pale, but she was smiling like sunlight.

“Selena, you look beautiful.”

“I’m watching the livestream. Mason’s working hard to come get you. When he gets there, don’t make it too easy on him.”

I laughed softly and nodded.

“I can’t wait to see you sign the contract.”

A nurse walked in to change her IV and glanced at the screen.

“Your daughter’s the bride today?”

Mom smiled proudly.

“Yes. Fifty couples signing marriage contracts, livestreamed across the city.”

“My daughter found a good man. Three years together, and he’s never given me a single thing to worry about. He treats her like she’s his whole world.”

I tightened my grip on the phone until my nails dug into my palm.

She didn’t know.

The man who had pursued me for three years, loved me for three years—had maneuvered me into tonight’s joint wedding just so he could marry his brother’s widow in the chaos of fifty simultaneous contract signings.

To trap his parents.

To trap the whole family.

Once the city saw it. Once the alliance filed it.

No take-backs.

I took a slow breath and forced a smile.

“Okay, Mom. The signal’s bad. I’ll call you after the contracts are signed.”

Then I hung up.

Nina adjusted my veil as if nothing in the world could possibly be wrong.

“Joint weddings are nice, though. Less exhausting. And the whole city gets to witness it.”

“Once your mom sees you sign that contract, she’ll probably feel half healed already.”

She walked to the window, looked out, then came back muttering, “Where the hell is Mason?”

“Other rooms already have their brides. The MC is calling couple twenty-eight.”

Then she glanced at me.

“But seriously… who would’ve thought you’d end up marrying Mason?”

“After what Ethan did to you, I was terrified.”

Her voice dipped lower.

“That bastard was so good at pretending. Back when he was with you, he acted like he’d hand you all of Chicago wrapped in gold.”

“We all thought you were absolutely signing that marriage contract.”

“Then Iris showed up.”

My fingers curled slightly.

Iris.

Six months into dating Mason, he took me home to meet the Morgan family.

That was when I found out.

Ethan was his brother.

And Iris—the woman who destroyed my engagement—was already his sister-in-law.

I went cold all over and tried to leave.

Mason grabbed my hand, voice shaking.

“Selena. Give me a chance. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Let the past stay buried. Please.”

I struggled for a long time. Every time I saw Ethan and Iris, my stomach turned.

But Mason had been good to me. Truly good.

He never forced me to acknowledge them. Never made me play nice.

At family dinners, if Mason was there, Ethan and Iris never got close to me.

He always said, “If you don’t want to recognize them, then don’t. They have nothing to do with you.”

And the more he protected me like that, the less I wanted to make things difficult for him.

So I told myself the past was the past.

Then Ethan died in a dock explosion.

After that, Iris became an awkward presence in the Morgan family.

“I didn’t want to bring this up on your wedding day,” Nina said with a bitter laugh, snapping me back, “but I’m still pissed. Why the hell is she even in tonight’s joint wedding?”

“And her match? Adrian Vitale.”

“At your engagement party with Ethan, he left you standing there in front of everyone just to go find Iris. Said she wasn’t feeling well. Said she needed someone.”

“And we all know where that ended.”

She swallowed.

“That night, you went to the river alone…”

“If Mason hadn’t jumped in after you…”

She couldn’t finish. She wiped at her face hard.

I handed her a tissue.

“Mason was soaked through,” she whispered. “His lips were purple from the cold. He crouched down in front of you and kept saying, ‘Don’t be scared. I’m here.’”

“He said he understood. Said he had been fooled too. Said he’d walk you through it.”

“We all thought he was sent by God. He chased you for three years. Wouldn’t even hold your hand.”

“Seriously, what kind of man does that unless he really loves you?”

“I’m so happy you finally got your happy ending.”

I looked out the window and laughed once. “He doesn’t love me.”

Nina froze. “What?”

I touched my lower lip.

“He got close to me so Iris could marry Ethan without trouble.”