Chapter 60

The entire room let out one loud gasp as Mars stood and shouted his objection. Murmurs followed closely after, creating a deafening roar of confusion to replace the silence from before.

“On what grounds, Mars?” Andrew seethed. His face was red with rage and his eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits.

“On the grounds that you are already married!” Mars shouted back at him, making his way up the aisle so that he could be face to face with Andrew.

The murmurs grew to be concerned shouts and questions. As far as the media could tell, Andrew and Olivia were the perfect, golden couple of the year. I watched on with shock of my own. Was it true or was Mars lying to buy Ethan some time to act?

“I am not married,” Andrew announced with a roll of his eyes. That seemed to satiate the crowd a little bit, but everyone was still expecting some sort of explanation.

“I have been married before,” He said, “But that was very long ago and-”

Mars cut him off, “But you are still married to her!”

Andrew’s eyes went ablaze with anger, “Mars I have always treated you well in my company, do not do this.”

Mars didn’t back down, though. He continued, “You married a poor peasant woman over twenty years ago, and I have the information here: you never got divorced.”

The cameras came closer to the wedding arch so that they could get a better view of the situation. I nearly forgot that all of it was being live streamed.

“We didn’t need to get divorced,” Andrew bit out angrily, “She died, so the marriage is null.”

The crowd’s murmurs grew louder again. Andrew must be right, was Mars just trying to stir problems. It made it worse that Mars had been Andrew’s second in command for a long time, the betrayal of him was just as interesting to the viewers as Andrew’s potential, former wife.

“She didn’t die.” Mars grinned, wide and chaotic. “She never died, she ran away from you - yes- but you’re still married.”

Andrew deflated. Every tense muscle ready to strike, the very air from his lungs depleted as I saw the realization dawn on his face. Whatever he was remembering, obviously he was still married and he knew that.

He looked back at Olivia, then shifted his gaze to me with a horrified expression.

“I was in love, it doesn’t count!” He tried to reason with everyone. The crowd stood up, shouting obscenities at him for trying to trick Olivia into a marriage. Even the priest backed away from his position on the altar and shook his head signaling he would not allow them to marry.

That’s when Olivia stepped up to address the crowd and the cameras.

“I cannot marry a man who belongs to someone else,” Olivia announced. Her mouth was pressed into a firm line to appear as serious as possible, but I could tell by her eyes that she was the happiest she had been in months.

“Olivia!” Andrew argued with her, trying to get her to look at him.

Olivia, though, kept her gaze focused solely on Mars. Mars held his hand outstretched for her to grab. Without a second to spare, Olivia placed her palm in his and the two of them ran down the aisle together and out the door.

I could just barely see out of the windows, but I did see them hop into the ‘Just Married’ car that was waiting outside for the couple after the wedding. Mars revved the engine a few times before they sped off to who-knows-where.

The people in the pews turned to watch them, half of them tried running out to chase them and get them back into the church to answer some questions, but they were gone.

Andrew, frozen at the altar, got swarmed with dozens of people and cameras. They surrounded him like ants on an apple at a picnic. I couldn’t see him anymore.

Ethan grabbed my hand, whisking me away from the ever growing crowd around Andrew, and pulled me out the same doors Olivia and Mars just exited from.

“When were you planning to tell me about your plan?” I panted as we ran to where Ethan had parked his car earlier.

Ethan let out a giddy laugh, “It took Mars and I a whole month to dig up something that deep on Andrew. We didn’t discover it until last night while you and Olivia were doing the bachelorette party.”

I shivered slightly as Ethan unlocked the doors and we threw ourselves into the car. A nervous spark ran through my body as I realized just how close Olivia came to having to marry Andrew for real. Ethan and Mars’ plan had so many opportunities to go wrong.

“You are so lucky,” I laughed, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Ethan started his car and sped off before anyone at the church could realize we had disappeared.

“We thought about revealing it last night,” Ethan confessed as he drove us back to our house. “Mars and I thought that a public reveal at the wedding would be better. Especially since that idiot decided to live stream it on almost every news station in the city.”

“Do you think…?” I trailed off, remembering the Alpha Chairman elections and how important a stable appearance was to the candidates. If you didn’t look trustworthy, you wouldn’t get a single vote.

“Forgetting that you’re technically married to a woman and then claiming she died when she didn’t really will make Andrew look really incredibly bad,” Ethan nodded at me with a smile. “There’s no way he can receive the most votes in the chairman election now.”

I giggled with Ethan, absolutely giddy that everything was working out the way it was.

Olivia got out of her marriage, Ethan had a good chance at Alpha Chairman, and I could finally start working again if he was sure he wouldn’t need my help with press and media as much anymore.

“That’s amazing, Ethan!” I clapped, “I’m so happy for you. I’m so happy in general!”

Ethan smiled at me. One of his rare big toothy grins.

“I’m so glad I’ve had you at my side throughout all of this, Ava,” His voice was soft and sentimental as he spoke.

I felt a blush growing on my cheeks, darkening my complexion with a bright red hue. I shrugged off the compliment, even though it made the core of my stomach pool with bubbles.

“I am always here to support you,” I admitted, quietly.

I knew Ethan heard me, though, because he shifted one of his hands from the wheel to my knee. He gave it a firm squeeze and winked at me. I had to look out the window to hide my spreading blush.

Suddenly as we pulled into the driveway to the house, I saw the ‘Just Married’ car sitting in our driveway. I remembered that Ethan did all of that for Olivia.

Everything he did was so that he and Olivia could be together.

A bitter taste found its way into the back of my mouth. I tried to swallow it down, but it only spread.

“What are they doing here?” I asked, trying to appear happier about their presence than I was.

“Olivia is going to stay with us for a while.” Ethan opened the door to the car to get out. “She needs me.”