He looked down at me.
“This woman pulled me out of a burning wreck with her bare hands. She tore her own clothes to bind my wounds. She stayed with me until the ambulance came, and then she disappeared into the night without asking for a reward, a favor, or even giving her full name. I spent three years looking for her.”
He turned his gaze back to Mrs. Vance, who looked like she was about to be sick.
“She is the only person in this room with a soul. And you dare to call her a placeholder?”
“I… I didn’t know,” Mrs. Vance whispered.
“You didn’t care,” Julian corrected. “And as for your son…”
Julian laughed. It was a cold, terrifying sound.
“Ryan isn’t with an heiress, Mrs. Vance. Isabella Sterling doesn’t exist. She is an actress I hired from a theater company in London.”
Mrs. Vance dropped the microphone. It hit the floor with a deafening screech of feedback.
“What?” she gasped.
“I found out a month ago that my employee—your son—was engaged to the woman who saved my life,” Julian explained, his voice icy. “I did a background check. I saw his texts. I saw his greed. So, I set a trap. I had ‘Isabella’ approach him. I offered him a fake merger, a fake fortune, and a fake future to see if he would sell out his fiancée.”
Julian looked at me, his eyes softening. “He failed the test in less than twenty-four hours. He sold you out for fool’s gold.”
My head was spinning. The heiress was fake? Julian Thorne had orchestrated this?
“Why?” I whispered, looking up at him.
“Because he was going to destroy you,” Julian murmured, for my ears only. “And I couldn’t watch the woman who gave me a second life waste hers on a coward.”
He turned back to the stunned audience.
“Ryan Vance thinks he is getting married today. He is right about the date, but wrong about the groom.”
Julian turned fully toward me. He took both my wine-stained hands in his.
“I know this is sudden,” he said, his intensity burning through me. “I know this looks like madness. But I have known who you are for three years. I know your bravery. I know your kindness. And I know you deserve better than a man who treats you like an option.”
He paused, glancing at the priest who stood open-mouthed in the background.
“Marry me, Maya,” Julian said. “Right now. Today. Don’t let them win. Don’t let them see you broken. Let’s rewrite the ending of this script together.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. Marry a stranger? Marry a billionaire I had saved once?
But then I looked at Mrs. Vance. She looked terrified. I looked at the crowd. They looked awestruck.
And I looked at Julian. Underneath the power and the anger, I saw the man I had saved. I saw the vulnerability he was hiding from everyone else. He was offering me a shield. He was offering me a sword.
The double doors at the back of the church burst open again.
“MAYA!”
It was Ryan.
He ran into the church, looking disheveled. His tie was crooked, his hair wild. He was sweating profusely. He had just received the text from the “heiress” firing him and revealing the prank.
He sprinted down the aisle, stopping short when he saw Julian holding me.
“Boss?” Ryan gasped, bending over to catch his breath. “What… what are you doing here? Maya? What is going on?”
Julian smiled. It was a shark-like grin, all teeth and no mercy.
“You’re just in time for the ceremony, Ryan,” Julian said pleasantly. “Take a seat. You’re in the back row now.”
Part 4: The Power Exchange
Ryan looked between his mother, who was trembling, and his boss, who was holding his fiancée. The realization dawned on him slowly, horror creeping across his face.
“The merger…” Ryan stammered. “Isabella… she said…”
“She said you were boring and cheap,” Julian supplied helpfully. “That was unscripted, by the way. That was just her personal opinion.”
“You set me up!” Ryan shouted, his face turning red. He looked at me, desperation clawing at his features. “Maya, baby! Listen to me! It was a mistake! My mother… she made me do it! She pressured me! I love you!”
“Stop,” Julian commanded.
He didn’t shout. He just spoke the word with absolute authority. Ryan’s mouth snapped shut.
“You left a diamond to chase a rhinestone, Ryan,” Julian said. “I offered you a fake deal to see if you had any integrity. You proved you have none.”
Ryan stepped forward, reaching for my arm. “Maya, please. You know me. We’ve been together for two years. You can’t marry him. He’s… he’s a monster.”
I looked at Ryan. I saw the sweat on his upper lip. I saw the greed in his eyes, even now. He wasn’t sorry he hurt me; he was sorry he lost the “rich girl.” He was sorry he was in trouble with his boss.
Then I looked at Julian.
He was standing between me and Ryan like a wall. He didn’t care about the wine on his suit. He didn’t care about the scandal. He had engineered a massive, expensive, chaotic event just to ensure I didn’t marry a bad man.
Julian looked down at me. “It’s your choice, Maya. You can walk away. I’ll have a car take you anywhere you want. Or… you can take a leap of faith.”
I thought about the “placeholder” comment. I thought about the years of Mrs. Vance making me feel small. I thought about Ryan ignoring my calls to chase a bigger paycheck.
