We move up the wedding. Quick decision made over breakfast when I'm three months along and barely showing.
Not because of shame—fuck shame—but because we want something real. The first time around was strategy, revenge plot, fake engagement that everyone could see through.
This time? Actual vows. Actual commitment. Our choice, not Alexander's orchestration or media spectacle.
"I want to marry you before my brain starts the pregnancy hormone chaos," I told Caelen. "Want to remember choosing you with absolute clarity."
He'd smiled. "So romantic."
"I'm serious. Last wedding was performance art. This one's real."
Small ceremony. Close friends only. Alexander's closest business partners who've become something like family.
String lights and flowers at a private garden venue upstate. Everything honest. Everything real. No performance art masquerading as commitment.
Caelen's vows wreck me completely. Standing there in his tux, scar catching sunlight, looking at me like I'm the only person who exists.
"I can't promise perfect," he says. Voice steady. "Can't promise easy. But I promise to choose you every day. On purpose. No lies. No schemes. Just us."
Just us. After everything—the strategy, the revenge plot, the fake engagement that became real—just us.
My voice shakes when I speak. "I promise to be honest even when it's hard. To choose you back. To build something real instead of running from something fake."
We kiss and it feels like beginning. Like finally starting the life I was supposed to have all along instead of the one I settled for.
The reception's at Alexander's penthouse. Familiar territory. Safe.
Champagne I can't drink. Food I can barely eat—morning sickness is a bitch even at night. But I'm happy. Actually, genuinely happy.
For the first time in forever, I'm not waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Should've known better.
Kael shows up uninvited. Security tries to stop him at the entrance but he's insistent. Desperate. That particular brand of reckless that comes from having nothing left to lose.
"I need to talk to Maeve. Five minutes."
I hear his voice before I see him. That familiar tone that used to mean safety, now just means complications.
Caelen's immediately between us. Protective. Solid. "You need to leave."
"I know about the baby."
The words drop like bombs. Actual explosions in the middle of my wedding reception.
Silence. Everyone staring. Alexander's face goes dangerously calm. Caelen's muscles tense.
"How—" I can barely form words.
"I have friends in the hospital. People who talk." His eyes are desperate. Wild. Like he's been spiraling for weeks and finally snapped. "Is it mine?"
The question hangs there. Loaded. Dangerous.
"That's none of your business," Caelen says. Voice like steel.
"It is if it's my kid." Kael's getting louder. More desperate. "The timing—I did the math. Seven weeks ago. That office—"
My stomach drops. Not morning sickness—pure dread.
"You have no right—" I start.
"I have every right if that's my baby." He steps closer. Caelen moves with him, maintaining distance. "Do you understand what this means? I could be a father. That changes everything."
"It doesn't change shit," I snap. "You lost any right to be part of my life when you filed for divorce with lies attached."
"Those weren't lies—"
"You claimed I cheated throughout our entire marriage. We have timestamped proof that's bullshit." My voice is climbing. "You tried to destroy me. You don't get to play concerned father now."
His face does something complicated. Hurt. Rage. That particular Kael cocktail of self-pity and entitlement.
"If it's mine, I have rights. Legal rights." Not a request. A threat. "Paternity test. Custody. Visitation. You can't keep me from my own child."
There it is. The manipulation. The control. Same old Kael in new desperate packaging.
"Are you threatening me?" Each word precise. Sharp. "At my wedding? To another man?"
"I'm stating facts." His jaw's set. Stubborn. "If that baby's mine—"
"Then what?" I step forward. Caelen lets me. Knows I need this. "You'll drag me through court? Use it to leverage back into my life? Play the victim father kept from his child?"
"I just want to be part of—"
"You wanted nothing." My voice is pure ice. "When I was your wife, you wanted nothing to do with me. Wouldn't touch me. Wouldn't look at me. Made me feel worthless for two months straight."
He flinches. Good.
"That day in the office?" I'm in his space now. "That was a mistake. A monumental fuckup. Not some romantic reunion. Not a new beginning. A mistake."
"It meant something to me," he says quietly.
"Well it meant nothing to me." The lie tastes bitter but necessary. "I love Caelen. I'm building a life with Caelen. If the baby's yours, we'll handle it legally. But you don't get to show up here and demand anything."
Kael looks at Caelen. Man-to-man bullshit. "You're okay raising my kid?"
"It's not your kid," Caelen says. Simple. Certain. Voice like steel. "It's hers. And hers is mine. Now get the fuck out before I have you arrested for trespassing."
The certainty in his voice. The claiming without possession. Everything Kael never understood.
"If it's mine—" Kael tries again.
"If." Alexander's voice cuts through. Cold. Controlled. "That's a very big if. And until paternity is established, you have zero rights to anything. Including this conversation."
He nods to security. Two large men appear like magic.
"Mr. Dareth needs to leave. Immediately."
Kael looks between us. Desperate. Cornered. "You can't keep me from my own child."
"We're not keeping you from anything," I say. Voice steady despite the adrenaline. "There's a process for this. Lawyers. Courts. DNA tests. You want to be part of this? Do it the right way. Not by crashing my wedding with threats."
Security's already moving. Hands on Kael's arms.
He goes but not quietly. Still talking. Still threatening. "I'll get a lawyer. I'll fight for my rights. You can't shut me out."
His voice fades as they escort him through the door. Out of my wedding. Out of my life.
Again.
I'm trembling. Adrenaline crash hitting hard. Caelen pulls me close immediately.
"Don't worry, baby girl." His voice is steady. Certain. "He can't touch us. Won't let him near you or the baby. I promise."
The protection in his voice. The absolute certainty. It's everything.
"I love you," I whisper against his chest.
"Love you too." He kisses my hair. "Now let's get back to celebrating our wedding before I have to kill your ex-husband."
The joke breaks the tension. People are staring but trying not to. Awkward wedding guest shuffle.
Alexander approaches. Face controlled but eyes blazing. "I'll handle the legal side. Restraining order for now. If he wants paternity established, it goes through proper channels. Lawyers. Courts. No more ambushes."
Of course he's already strategizing. That's what he does.
"Later," I say. "Right now I just want to celebrate marrying the man I actually love."
Caelen's hand finds mine. Solid. Real. Mine.
The reception resumes. Slower. People whispering. But the music's playing and my husband—my actual husband—is pulling me onto the dance floor.
"You okay?" he asks. Quiet. Just for me.
"Getting there." I lean into him. "Ask me again tomorrow."
"Tomorrow you'll still be my wife." His smile is soft. Real. "And the day after. And every day after that."
Every day. The promise Kael never kept. The one Caelen's kept since day one.
We dance. Slow. Intimate. Ignoring everyone else.
My wedding. My choice. My future.
And Kael can go fuck himself with his legal threats and desperate manipulation.
I chose Caelen. I choose Caelen. I will keep choosing Caelen.
Everything else is just noise.