Chapter 3 - The Re-Entry
Forty-eight hours later, the grand dining hall of the Drake Hotel was packed with every prominent figure in the Midwest.
The Moretti family patriarch, Marco Moretti, had called an emergency gala to formally announce his younger son's engagement to Serena Hart. My parents were sitting at the head table, beaming with pride, fully convinced they had successfully traded up by securing Julian.
Serena sat beside Julian wearing a pastel pink designer gown, flashing her diamond ring to every society reporter who passed.
No one expected me to show up. The tabloids had spent the last two days running headlines about the "Heartbroken Elder Sister" hiding in shame.
At 8:30 PM, the heavy oak doors at the back of the dining hall were thrown open by two armed Moretti security guards.
The room went dead quiet.
I walked into the hall on the arm of Nikolai Moretti.
I wasn't wearing white. I wore a backless, floor-length velvet gown the color of fresh blood, paired with three million dollars worth of black diamonds around my throat—a direct gift from Nikolai’s private vault. My hair was swept up in a flawless chignon, and my red lips held a calm, terrifying composure.
Beside me, Nikolai walked like a king reviewing his domain, dressed in a bespoke midnight-black tuxedo, his hand resting possessively over mine on his arm.
Gasps rippled across the room like a physical wave.
My mother dropped her wine glass. It shattered against the white tablecloth, staining the linen red.
My father stood up so fast his chair screeched against the parquet floor. "Evelyn? What is the meaning of this?!"
Julian stood up beside Serena, his face twisting from smug satisfaction to absolute horror. "Nikolai... what are you doing with her?"
Nikolai didn't hurry. He led me smoothly across the floor, every camera flash in the building exploding around us like lightning. He guided me directly to the center stage where his father, Marco Moretti, sat in a heavy leather chair.
"Father," Nikolai said, his deep, resonant voice echoing through the silent room. "Before you give your blessing to Julian's sudden change of heart, I have a formal announcement to make."
Marco Moretti, a grizzled old man with eyes like flint, looked between Nikolai and me with intense interest. "Speak, Nikolai."
Nikolai reached out, sliding his large, warm hand around my waist and pulling me firmly against his side. The gesture was so natural, so commandingly possessive, that my heart skipped a beat.
"Julian has chosen to align himself with the younger Hart daughter," Nikolai announced, turning to face the entire room. "Which leaves the primary heir, the administrator of the Hart estate, and the true legal head of their family alliance free."
Nikolai looked down at me, his expression softening into a look of absolute, breathtaking devotion that was so convincing I almost believed it myself.
"Evelyn Hart has accepted my proposal," Nikolai declared clearly. "We were married in a private civil ceremony at city hall three hours ago."
The room exploded into absolute chaos.
Serena shrieked, standing up so fast she knocked over her water glass. "What?! That's impossible! Nikolai, she's my sister! You can't marry her!"
"I can, and I have," Nikolai said coldly, turning a lethal gaze upon his younger brother. "Which means, Julian... when you address my wife from this moment forward, you will speak to her with the respect owed to the future matriarch of this family."
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Julian went chalk-white. "She... she was supposed to be mine!"
"You gave her up," I spoke for the first time, my voice ringing out through the hall like a silver bell. I looked straight into Julian's panicking eyes, then shifted my gaze to Serena, whose face was contorted in ugly shock. "You took the spare, Julian. I took the crown."
