The Wedding Where The Bride Was Swapped While I Was Underwater Chapter 01

On the day of our private-island wedding, my fiancé, Adrian Prescott, had me locked inside a steel dive cage and lowered into the ocean.

He claimed I had shoved his assistant, Vivian Reed, into the water and nearly killed her by triggering a heart attack.

To avenge her, he wanted me to suffer exactly as she had.

His eyes held the stern reproach of a man convinced he was doing this for my own good.

“Stay down there and think about what you did. I’ll pull you up myself in ten minutes. Once you’re ready to admit you were wrong, the wedding will go ahead as planned.”

One of the security guards spoke into the radio, forcing panic into his voice.

“Mr. Prescott, her scuba tank appears to be leaking!”

Adrian was certain this would finally teach me a lesson.

“Then let it leak. She’ll never lose that spoiled attitude unless she learns what real danger feels like.”

Whatever hope I had left died with those words.

I pulled the regulator from my mouth, and the crushing need for air swept over me.

Then the radio crackled again. My brother, Ethan Bennett, had arrived.

My eyes flew open, but I heard Ethan laugh.

“That was brilliant. She’s been terrified of water since she was a kid. She must be scared out of her mind by now.

“But Vivian is still lying in the sun. If we’re putting on a show, at least make it convincing.”

Adrian chuckled, utterly confident.

“It’s only a prank. I rented the best diving equipment money could buy. Nina won’t be hurt.

“If we don’t fix that temper of hers, she’ll keep bullying Vivian whenever she feels like it.”

He believed his punishment was perfectly controlled. He was certain I would emerge unharmed.

He did not know that his little prank had become the final blow that broke me.

The sea above was calm.

Far beneath it, I took my final breath.

…

The guards saw me rip out the regulator.

But Adrian had warned them that no matter how violently I struggled, I would only be putting on an act. They were to ignore me.

Seawater rushed into my lungs.

I clung to the bars and tried to pull myself upward.

Their words kept echoing through my mind.

Vivian had never been in danger.

“If anything happens to Vivian, you’ll pay with your life.”

No wonder Adrian had refused to hear a single word in my defense before having me thrown into the ocean.

It had all been a lie from the beginning.

Suffocation closed in, as if countless hands were tightening around my throat.

The current had already swept the regulator farther and farther away.

All I could do was watch it disappear.

It was too late.

It was too late for everything.

Just hours ago, Adrian had promised to give me the most spectacular wedding in the world.

But my consciousness went dark.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself hovering in midair, an unseen force drawing my spirit straight toward them.

The sunlight was blinding.

The island was covered in champagne roses, my favorite flowers.

Vivian lounged comfortably on a beach chair in a bikini, without the slightest sign that she had nearly died from a heart attack.

Adrian sat beside her with a plate of peeled grapes, feeding them to her one at a time.

“Are you still mad, Vivian?” he asked gently.

“Nina has been spoiled all her life. She may really have bumped into you by accident today. Be the bigger person and forgive her this once.”

Vivian turned her head with a pout and spat a grape seed directly into his palm.

“Who knows whether it was an accident?”

Someone stepped forward and draped a towel over her shoulders.

“Don’t be upset, Vivian.”

It was my own brother.

Ethan gazed at her with open indulgence.

“My sister has always been stubborn. A little more time underwater will teach her a lesson.

“Still, she’s been down there long enough. If you’re no longer angry, we should bring her up. We have hundreds of guests waiting.”

He knew I had nearly drowned when I was five. He knew the terror had never left me.

Yet to please Vivian, he had gone along with their punishment.

Vivian pursed her lips.

“You both keep saying you care about me, but all you really care about is finishing the wedding.”

Adrian quickly took her hand.

“What will it take for you to forgive us?”

She pointed toward the wedding setup at the far end of the beach.

“It’s simple. Let me be the bride today.

“I want to wear her dress and have you announce to everyone that I’m the one you’re marrying.

“Agree to that, and I’ll let you bring her up.”

It was absurd.

I stared at them.

Even if Adrian no longer cared about me, this wedding was supposed to unite the Prescott and Bennett families.

Hundreds of prominent business figures and reporters were seated among the wedding guests.

Vivian was only his assistant. Her demand was outrageous. Adrian could never agree to it, and Ethan could never allow our family to be publicly humiliated.

But after a brief silence, Adrian merely laughed and tapped Vivian playfully on the nose.

“Fine. Whatever you want.

“If it makes you happy, changing brides is hardly a big deal.”

Ethan laughed too. Instead of stopping them, he turned to the wedding coordinator.

“Tell the officiant there’s been a change. Vivian will be taking Nina’s place at the altar.

“We can bring my sister up after the ceremony.”

But Ethan. Adrian.

You would never pull me from that water alive.