Chapter 4 At the wedding

Chapter 4

Elena pov

After dragging in a shuddering breath, I walked out of the room with Riley walking right after me.

My legs wobbled underneath me, and this constant headache and dizziness continued.

I was striving to keep myself from stumbling across the room.

Grabbing Riley off the ground, I slid inside the driver’s seat, putting Riley at the passenger’s side.

Riley nudged my backhand with its cold nose, staring at me with sympathy, and profusely running its tongue on my hands.

My lips pouted as I patted its head, muttering words. “Mum will be fine, Riley.”

It was as if it heard me as it shook its head.

I clenched the steering wheel tightly as I drove out of the house. My eyes were focused on the road but my mind was heavy with grief and burning sensations.

Never in twenty years to come will I have imagined that Williams will ever betray me by cheating on me with his stepbrother’s whore.

“Hum.” I pursed my lips into a thin line me at the same time I was fighting back the tears which had threatened to fall.

I took one last glance at my phone. At the message I had received from Kai, the tears steamed down my cheeks uncontrollably.

AMIGO RESORT. The message had said the wedding would be held there.

A night in that resort costs fifteen thousand dollars. Renting it for a wedding? At least thirty thousand.

Was the money for the event funded by Williams?

The same Williams who had been lamenting for the past five months how bad business had been?

I've been taking overtime with my remote work, giving all my proceeds to him.

And now?

I've been played. Williams my husband owns a luxurious hotel, poultry farm, and any kind of business where his yearly profit after tax is roughly 1.4 billion dollars for each of his businesses.

The least he made was nine hundred million dollars.

Yet he took my sweats from me. Little money I was supposed to use for my welfare. I gave him all in exchange for his attentions, love.

My lips quivered.

I stepped out of the car the moment I arrived at the venue. I walked over to the other side of the car, my head peering through the window. “Rilley, you have to stay in the car. I will be right back.” I said in a strangled whisper.

Riley whimpered, lowering its head and I muttered. “Good boy.”

With each step that I took, I felt I was closer to my grave.

I arrived at the wedding reception, and everyone stared at me like I had grown a fourth head. The mistake that I made was that I didn't put on luxurious noisy clothes.

My eyes moved around and they finally settled on Williams who was seated behind a decorated table, beside him was a woman whose face was familiar. “Melissa Robert.”

Bile rose to my throat and right now? A wave of nausea overcame me, and I almost retched.

Williams’s brother's eyes turned to mine at the same time as his mother and sisters. Surprise etched into their forehead but it didn't last as it was replaced by a hateful glare.

One of the wedding ushers walked up to me and waved me over to a seat.

I smiled walking over to the seat, sitting like a prestigious guest while my attention was fixed towards Williams and his new wife.

After what felt like an hour, he finally recognized me the moment his gaze flickered to my side and his jaw dropped.

I smiled as I watched the shock on his face. Melissa’s smile barely faltered. Her shoulders were heightened like a queen. Somehow, she trailed Williams' gaze to mine, then tilted her chin, studying me intently like I’m an alien.

The diamond necklace on her neck sparkled, and for a moment I recognized it.

My mother’s necklace?

But last week I still saw it in the box and William had been missing for three months. Does that mean the one at home was fake?

Maybe, I'm overreacting and the world doesn't revolve around me.

All I know, Melissa was a reality star. Getting a diamond necklace that might just be a speck of dust on her fingers.

She might have many sugar daddies who would spend the world getting her attention.

But, a small voice kept whispering in the back of my head. “That's your necklace. Williams your husband stole it and replaced it with a fake one.”

Rage crackled through my chest at the thought of Williams stealing my necklace to give to his whore.

There was only one way to know this. There's a signature RS at the front of the necklace. I will see to it.

I rose from my seat, approaching Williams.

Williams rose slowly, his chair scraping the floor. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“True” I tilted my head. “I was only here to confirm it was you before I set up a funeral for you.”

Gasps echoed across the hall. Melissa’s expression hardened, the polite smile disappearing.

“And isn't that my diamond necklace on your whore’s neck? And wasn't this wedding funded by my money?”

“What are you talking about?” Melissa demanded, her voice sharp, polished with arrogance.

I turned to her, meeting her gaze with a quiet fury that burned from somewhere deep within me. “He told me business was failing. That we couldn’t afford the rent. That we had to sell my jewelry, my car—my mother’s heirlooms.”

My voice broke slightly. “All while he planned this.”

Williams’s jaw tightened. “Elena, stop. You’re making a scene.”

I laughed then a sound too hollow to be joy, too brittle to be sorrow. “A scene?” I repeated. “Williams, this is my life you staged. My love, my trust. You wrote the script, remember?”

A murmur swept through the crowd again, louder now. Phones were out. Cameras flashing. Melissa shot him a furious look.

“I gave you everything,” I whispered. “And in return, you gave me this humiliation.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, but I blinked them back. No more crying. Not in front of them.

Williams stepped toward me, lowering his voice. “You don’t understand, Elena. You were—”

“Convenient?” I finished for him. “Temporary? A charity project until your real bride came along?”

He flinched.

Good.

Melissa leaned closer, her tone dripping with disdain. “You should leave before I have security remove you.”

“Not until I get this off your neck.” I tried to reach for the diamond necklace around her neck but she ducked, her face brimming red.

Furiously, she turned to Williams with her pointing finger. “Get her out of here before I do something.”

My heart twitched at her words. What if she was really going to hurt me? Kai had told me she was dangerous.

I wasn't going to let her walk on me. I’m going to show her that I’m not the petty type to be intimidated.

“And what are you going to do?” I asked, in a tremulous voice.

Her gaze flickered to mine, and her eyes widened. Then a sinister sneer tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Trust me you don't want to get on my bad side.”

“Likewise you,” I muttered. “I could charge you both for bigamy.” I studied her intently then she scoffed.

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Elena, what's all this ruckus for? This scene really proved what Williams had been complaining about you in the past.”

I knew that voice. My mother-in-law's voice. I turned to face her. “What has he been complaining about? And even if he does. You couldn't tell me so I could change?” I shook my head slowly.

A disgruntled look settled on her face then her dismissive hands waved in the air. “Look I’m not here to lecture you about manners that your mother failed to teach you. But one thing I want you to know is that Williams yearned for peace of mind and he found it in Melissa Robert.” She smiled and looked around. “Isn’t it, right?” she asked.

Her children answered in chorus. “Yes.”

Williams’s mother inched closer to me. “And you're never going to the court to file a complaint against my son. In fact, you'll be getting locked up until this wedding is over in five days.”

She turned to Melissa. “Melissa if you don't get this thing locked up. She's going to ruin your wedding.”

I shook my head. “No! No one touches me. Williams you're just going to stand there and watch them humiliate me?”

I asked but he turned his face away. Melissa waved the security over, and panic struck through my heart like a hatchet.

“Williams? Williams, I’m your wife. No!”

As I was being rough-handled. My gaze gets honed with Kai. Surely, Kai will save me.

Kai will help me.