Chapter 2 - Echoes of Betrayal
Chaos erupted in the chapel. Whispers bounced off the vaulted wooden beams like a swarm of angry hornets. Aunt Beatrice clutched her pearls, while several groomsmen stepped forward unsure whether to restrain the bride or pull the enraged groom away. But Ethan didn't care about the social ruin or the ruined reception venue booked at a staggering cost. His entire universe had narrowed down to the small, shivering child standing before him and the stack of papers clutched in her grip.
"Look at me, Lucy," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a raw, fractured whisper as he knelt down to her eye level, ignoring the furious gasps of Victoria behind him. "Is Olivia... is she really..."
"She's in the hospital downtown," Lucy choked out, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "The doctors said she won't make it past midnight. Her heart is failing. But before she closed her eyes, she made me promise to find you. She said you deserved to know you didn't abandon us. She said she did this to protect us, but that woman..." Lucy pointed a small finger at Victoria, who was now backing toward the vestry door. "...that woman hunted us down every time we moved."
Ethan’s head whipped around. Victoria was halfway down the side aisle, her expensive lace train dragging across dropped flower petals, her expression shifting rapidly from panic to calculated coldness.
"Ethan, don't listen to a street rat!" Victoria shrieked, her voice losing its polished composure entirely. "It’s a scam! Some extortion plot! Look at her, she’s a tramp’s kid looking for a payout!"
"Shut your mouth!" Ethan roared, rising to his full height. The sheer fury in his voice physically halted everyone in the room. He turned back to Lucy, his expression softening instantly as he gently took the tan envelope from her cold hands. "We are leaving. Right now. Take me to your mother."
Victoria lunged forward, grabbing Ethan's arm with manic desperation. "You can't leave! We have three hundred guests! We have a multi-million-dollar empire to merge, Ethan! You’ll ruin us!"
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Ethan stared down at her hand on his sleeve as if it were a venomous snake. He slowly peeled her fingers away, one by one, with absolute disgust. "Our engagement ended the moment you signed those checks, Victoria. If you ever come near me, or this child, or anyone I care about ever again, I will personally spend every last cent I own to ensure you spend the rest of your life behind bars."
Without another word, Ethan scooped Lucy up into his arms. The little girl buried her face into his soaked sweatshirt, crying quiet, exhausted tears. Ethan walked past his frozen guests, past the altar where he had almost made the biggest mistake of his life, and kicked open the heavy oak chapel doors, stepping out into the pouring rain.
