Chapter 2

But before I could finish, I heard the sounds of wedding party games in the background.

Simon Carter cut me off impatiently. "Rachel, why are you only calling now to apologize to Chloe? Lucky for you, she and the baby are both fine.

"To make it up to her, I took her to the dressing room you booked so she could get her makeup done. But the makeup artist turned her away. Don't pay the final bill yet. After Chloe's wedding, I want them to apologize to her.

"Seriously, what kind of wedding dress did you get? You spent all that money and made it so tiny that Chloe couldn't squeeze into it. Thank God the necklace at least fit her."

I gripped my phone so hard that my knuckles turned white, blood rushing to my head. I was so furious that I wanted to reach through the phone and slap him hard.

"Simon, taking something without asking is stealing," I snapped.

Simon frowned, sounding irritated. "What are you talking about, Rachel? We're about to get married. What's yours is mine."

I clenched my fists, my head pounding with rage.

"Who says I have to marry you?" I asked.

On the other end, there was a lot of noise as guests hyped the couple. "Hey, time for the Newlywed Game."

Simon wasn't paying attention to me. He held the phone away, shouted back at them, then tossed a couple of half-hearted words my way before hanging up.

"Rachel, be good. I'll come pick you up tonight," he said.

Eric, the celebrity makeup artist I'd specially hired, stepped forward, looking genuinely concerned.

"Ms. Linwood, if you need to postpone the wedding, I can clear my schedule for you," he said.

I let out a cold laugh. "No need. If the groom isn't good enough for me, I'll get a new one."

"But your wedding dress..." Eric said.

The dress was dumped on the floor, completely ruined. The hand-sewn diamonds were scattered all over the place. There was no way that it could be fixed anytime soon.

Right then, my phone buzzed. It was a short text with a photo. [You left your wedding dress design at home, so I had someone make it for you and brought it to the venue.]

A rush of warmth filled my heart. I turned to Eric and said, "Eric, today, I'm gonna be the most dazzling bride."

*****

I booked out an entire island for my wedding, confident no one could get on without my permission. But when the security guard stopped me at the dock, I realized Simon had this planned from the start.

"You're stopping me? Don't you know who the bride is today?" I snapped.

The security guard looked me up and down, rolled his eyes, and scoffed, "The boss told me that someone was gonna try to sneak in as the bride today.

"The groom brought the real bride over three days ago to set up the place himself. You really think I'd mix you up with her?"

Three days ago, Simon said he felt bad for me working nonstop, so he'd finish the rest of the wedding setup. It turned out that he planned to hijack my wedding from the start.

The security guard was clearly losing patience. "Hey, even if you don't have an invitation, there's no need to pretend to be the bride. Your little trick is not fooling anyone. The real bride, groom, and all the guests are already on the island."

I glanced at my watch. It was still an hour to go before my wedding was supposed to start. It was not hard to guess who was already inside.

The security guard pushed me out of the way, snapping, "Don't stand here! Do you know who's on this island today? It's all rich and powerful people. People like you don't belong here, so beat it."

I smirked, letting out a cold laugh. "People like me? I'm telling you. You're fired."

The security guard snorted, his lips curling in disdain. "Who do you think you are?"

Suddenly, his phone started blaring from his pocket.

"Hey, boss, what's up?" he answered. "What? I'm fired?"

He whipped his head around to look at me, his eyes wide with shock and fear.

I didn't bother to look up but kept typing on my phone.

Eric looked worried. "Ms. Linwood, all the boats have already left for the island. How are we supposed to get there?"

Right then, the roar of helicopter blades echoed in the distance.

I tilted my chin up and said, "See that? We're taking the helicopter to the island."