Chapter 4 - The Vengeance Reception
The Harbor Crown Hotel ballroom had been transformed. Where there were once ivory ribbons and soft pastel roses chosen for a blushing bride marrying a fraud, there now stood towering arrangements of deep crimson roses, black calla lilies, and burning candlelight that cast dramatic shadows across the polished mahogany panels.
When the heavy oak doors swung open, the murmurs of two hundred of Port Mercy’s elite died instantly.
Emma Bennett stepped over the threshold, but she was no longer the broken woman who had dropped her wedding folders forty-eight hours ago. She wore a custom midnight-blue silk velvet gown that clung to her curves with effortless elegance, a diamond necklace resting against her collarbone that flashed brilliantly under the chandeliers—a piece from the Marston family vault that Adrian had personally fastened around her neck an hour before.
And beside her, holding her hand with a grip that was unbreakable, walked Adrian Marston.
The shock wave rippled through the crowd immediately. Heads snapped around. Whispers erupted like a nest of startled hornets.
At the front table, sitting among the family seating chart Emma had once wept over, were Cole and Tessa.
Cole looked pale, hollow-eyed, and disheveled, wearing an off-the-rack suit that didn't fit quite right. Tessa sat beside him in a cheap yellow dress, her mouth hanging slightly open as her eyes darted from Emma’s designer gown to the blinding diamond ring on her left hand, and finally to Adrian’s cold, impassive face.
"What is this?" Cole choked out, stumbling up from his seat and stepping into the center aisle. "Emma? What the hell is going on? Why is he—why are you with him?"
Adrian stepped slightly in front of Emma, his presence acting like a brick wall.
"Keep your voice down, Cole," Adrian said, his voice carrying effortlessly across the silent ballroom. "You made a scene on Friday. Don't embarrass yourself further tonight."
"You're marrying her?" Cole pointed a shaking finger at Adrian, his face turning an ugly shade of crimson. "You stole my fiancée? Are you out of your mind? She was my wedding!"
"She was your mistake," Adrian corrected coldly, his eyes narrowing. "And as of five minutes ago at the civil registry downstairs, she is Mrs. Adrian Marston. Which technically makes her your aunt by marriage. Try to remember that address when you speak to her."
Gasps echoed through the room. Tessa stood up abruptly, her face twisted in rage and disbelief.
"This is a joke!" Tessa shrieked, pointing at Emma. "You planned this! You were sleeping with his brother behind our backs the whole time!"
Emma finally stepped forward, releasing Adrian’s hand just enough to look her sister dead in the eye.
"Projecting, Tessa?" Emma’s voice was ice-cold, steady, and utterly devoid of fear. "Unlike you, I didn't spend five months sneaking around behind people's backs. I simply traded up for a man who knows how to honor a commitment."
Tessa lunged forward, but a pair of burly security guards hired by Adrian quietly materialized beside her, blocking her path with immovable professionalism.
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"Get out of my sight," Adrian ordered quietly, looking at Cole and Tessa as if they were insects crawling across his shoe. "If either of you is within five miles of Marston property by sunrise, I will personally ensure you never work, rent, or draw breath in the state of Massachusetts again."
Cole swallowed hard, the last bit of color draining from his face as he realized the full, terrifying weight of his brother's wrath. Defeated, humiliated, and utterly ruined, he grabbed Tessa’s arm and dragged her out of the ballroom as two hundred people watched in absolute silence.
