Chapter Four
Elowen’s POV
I handed him my phone.
Grayson glanced at the screen, let out a cold chuckle, and called Owen.
“Shut down the real estate development deal we’re negotiating with the Hale family. And raise the rent on every commercial property they lease from us by three percent.”
“But Mr. Whitmore, Preston is still your...” Owen hesitated.
“What is he to me?” Grayson’s voice turned icy. “Do I need to explain my decisions to you?”
“Understood. I’ll take care of it right away.”
I gave him an amused look.
“Isn’t he your best friend? Is your family really going to be okay with this?”
Grayson tossed the phone back to me.
“He humiliated my wife. I don’t care who he is.”
I nodded and said nothing more.
Grayson leaned closer and looked down at me.
“Are you still thinking about him?”
I smiled.
“I’m just imagining the look on his face if he shows up at the wedding tomorrow.”
Grayson took a sip of wine.
“Don’t worry. By the end of tomorrow, Preston Hale will be finished in this city.”
The wedding was held at the largest private estate in the Hamptons.
The wedding stunned all of New York high society with its extravagance.
Limited-edition supercars lined the drive outside the estate. Even the air seemed to smell like money.
Preston sauntered through the gates with Brielle on his arm and several of his rich party-boy friends behind them.
“You actually came?” one of them joked. “That ugly bodyguard is probably standing in front of an empty altar right now, making a fool of herself.”
Preston smiled with contempt.
“If she wants to humiliate herself, I’m happy to watch. I’d like to see how she plans to pull off a wedding without me. Once reality sinks in and she comes crying to me, maybe I’ll be generous enough to save her a little dignity.”
Brielle held his arm and spoke gently.
“Preston, you’re too kind. I don’t understand why Miss Hart refuses to let this go.”
The group entered the main hall and stopped in their tracks.
The ballroom looked like something out of a fairy tale. White roses covered the ballroom, while a world-class orchestra performed in one corner.
Every guest was someone important in New York. Even several powerful figures from politics and business, people most guests could never hope to meet, were seated in the front row.
“This...” Preston’s expression changed as a bad feeling began to settle in. “That broke bodyguard Ellie can afford a wedding like this?”
At that moment, the lights in the ballroom went dark. A single spotlight fell on the curved staircase leading down from the second floor.
The entire room fell silent.
I stepped slowly into view at the top of the stairs, wearing my starlight gown with the lace wrap Grayson had insisted on adding.
My thick black-framed glasses were gone, along with every freckle on my face.
My real face glowed beneath the lights. I looked like a goddess standing far above everyone beneath me.
“Oh my God... Is that the bride? She’s gorgeous!”
“She looks like a real-life fairy. How has no one in New York ever seen someone that beautiful before?”
Preston stood frozen in the crowd as if he had been struck by lightning.
He stared at me, his mouth falling open.
“Ellie? No... That’s impossible...”
Jealousy flashed across Brielle’s face. She grabbed Preston’s arm and shook it hard.
“Preston, who is she? There’s no way Ellie looks like that!”
Preston finally came to his senses and shoved through the crowd toward the stairs.
“Ellie! That’s you, isn’t it? You’ve been lying to me this whole time! You made yourself look ugly just to test me!”
Regret filled his eyes.
He didn’t dare admit the truth. If he had known Ellie really looked like this, he never would have called off their engagement.
Before he could reach the stairs, two burly bodyguards in black stepped forward and pinned him to the floor.
“Let go of me! I’m her fiancé! You can’t touch me!”
Preston struggled wildly, any trace of dignity gone.
I watched him writhe on the floor like a maggot. I was about to speak when an icy voice came from the other side of the ballroom.
“Who let this piece of trash in here to harass my wife?”
Everyone turned toward the voice.
Grayson emerged from the shadows with Owen and several bodyguards behind him, his face hard and icy.
The ballroom went completely silent. No one could believe what they had just heard.
Grayson walked over to Preston, who was still pinned to the floor.
“Preston, did you just call my wife your fiancée?”
He planted his shoe hard on the back of Preston’s hand.
Preston screamed.
Grayson bent down, his eyes cold.
“Remember this. She is my legal wife now. Call her your fiancée one more time, and I’ll kill you.”
