After the Don Chose To Save the Bridesmaid, the Wedding’s Off

Adrian Vale was the Don the whole city feared, and yet he spent three years chasing me, a girl who waited tables. Then, the night before our wedding, my best friend Nina Ashford and I were taken at the same time. With the cold muzzle of a gun against my forehead, I cried out, my voice shaking, “Let Nina go! She’s innocent!” The kidnapper laughed like I’d told a joke. “Innocent? She’s worth a hell of a lot more than you.” My whole body went rigid. The next second he leaned down to my ear, his smile pure malice. “You really think Adrian’s marrying you because he loves you?” “The day you tried on your wedding dress, he was fucking Nina on your bed.” “And that black ring, the one that stands for the Don’s power? He put it on Nina’s finger a long time ago.” I shook my head, over and over, refusing to believe it. But the kidnapper had already stopped looking at me. He dialed Adrian’s number. “Mr. Vale, you need to make a choice. Your bride, or Miss Ashford. Only one of them walks out of here alive.” “Which one do you choose?” In that instant, I forgot how to breathe. On the other end, Adrian was quiet for only a few seconds. Then he said it, perfectly calm. “Let Nina go.” Chapter 1 “Miss Sutton, the Don says he’s tied up again today. He says you should get an early night and not wait up for him.” “He also wants you to keep up with your recovery. The wedding can’t be pushed back any further.” The maid chattered on beside me, but I just stared out the window, my eyes empty. Ever since the kidnapping, Adrian had kept me in a private hospital for half a month. And in that half a month, he’d come to see me barely two or three times. Once, I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “Why did you save Nina?” Adrian was very calm. “Because the family behind her is powerful. If she’d died because of me, the fallout would have been ugly.” I looked at him. “So you weren’t afraid I’d actually die?” He gave a soft laugh at that. “You’re my fiancée. That fact alone is enough. They’d never let you die.” He said it with such certainty, as if all of it had already been figured into his plans. But the day he came for me, he’d been the one who fell apart. The night they took me, I truly thought I was going to die in that abandoned warehouse. Adrian burst in covered in blood, and when he saw the state of me, the wounds all over my body, his bloodshot eyes were filled with rage. He raised his gun and shot every last one of the kidnappers dead. Then that man, who always stood so far above everyone, said he was sorry, again and again, in front of every person there. He begged me not to die. If I hadn’t heard it with my own ears, heard him give the order to let Nina go. I might really have believed him. But now, I didn’t even have the strength to ask. Seeing me stay quiet, Adrian didn’t think much of it. Every few days he just had the maid bring me jewelry, telling me to pick whatever I liked to wear at the wedding. I pointed at two pieces without looking and sent the maid away. My attitude must have been too indifferent, because word of it reached Adrian fast. That night, he finally came to see me. Except Nina was right behind him. Eyes red, she walked to my bedside and took my hand. “Claire, I’m so sorry. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been hurt this badly.” Watching her play the innocent, I suddenly remembered a night long ago, when she’d cried on my shoulder, drunk. Back then she’d said the man she’d loved for years was about to marry someone else. “I really don’t get it. Why does he have to marry her? She’s a nobody, ordinary in every way. What makes her worth his favor? And me? I slept with him more times than I can count, and I’m the one who has to be kept hidden like some dirty secret!” Back then I’d held her and comforted her, told her softly that she was wonderful, that the man didn’t deserve her. But Nina had suddenly shoved me away, cursing at me through red eyes. “What would you know? He’s wonderful! The one in the wrong is that cheap little bitch! She’s the one who schemed and seduced him!” Back then I didn’t understand why she’d suddenly turned her anger on me. Now, I understood all of it. It turned out that cheap little bitch was me. What made it even funnier was that I’d told Adrian about it that same day. He’d ruffled my hair. “Don’t pay her any attention. Women who’ve just been dumped can never tell right from wrong.” Then he’d hurried out of the estate, saying he had an urgent meeting. At the same time, Nina posted a photo of two hands with fingers laced together, captioned: A love lost and found again. Back then I never once connected that hand to Adrian. But thinking about it now, that black band on the little finger, that old scar across the base of the thumb, I’d seen them countless times. I’d just never dared let my mind land on him. All those details I’d once brushed aside finally slotted together, one by one, in that single moment. The man I loved had cheated on me with my “best” friend. At the thought, I slowly drew my hand back. Nina’s hand hung in the air, and her eyes went red at once. Adrian glanced at me, his brow drawing together. But I smiled quickly. “Sorry. The wound hurts a little.” The displeasure on Adrian’s face eased at that. Nina gave me a long, unreadable look, but she still said, “It’s fine, Claire. As long as you’re okay.” Adrian probably thought I’d finally come to my senses, because he walked Nina out himself. The instant the door shut, the wound on my stomach throbbed like it had been torn open again, and I finally couldn’t hold on. I braced myself against the wall, gasping. I made it to the window, lowered my head, and saw the two of them down below. Nina, eyes red, threw herself into Adrian’s arms, and the next second he bent his head and kissed her. In that moment, my heart hurt a thousand times more than my ribs did. I turned my face away and tried to press down everything inside me, but the tears came anyway. Holding the wall, I made it back to the bed and pulled the spare phone I’d prepared out from under the pillow. When the call connected, I asked through trembling lips, “How much longer... until my identity is completely wiped?” Chapter 2 The day I was discharged, Adrian came to pick me up himself. He didn’t take me home. He took me to see the wedding venue. Neither of us said a word the whole way. The car finally stopped near an estate by the sea. A long time ago, I’d said offhandedly that if I ever got married, I’d want the wedding by the ocean. I hadn’t expected him to remember. Too bad I didn’t want to marry him anymore. When we arrived, I’d barely followed him into the hall before I froze. Nina was standing in the middle of the wedding team, a run sheet in her hands, like she’d been waiting for us all along. Adrian explained, “Nina studied event planning years ago. She’ll handle the flow of the wedding for you.” “You two are best friends. Having her plan your wedding should make you happy.” I looked at Nina, and she was looking at me too. I didn’t miss the flash of provocation in her eyes. I swallowed the disgust rising in me and let Adrian’s decision stand. For everything that followed, I offered almost no opinions. Nina said which song to use for the entrance, and I nodded. She said how to seat the guests, and I said anything was fine. It wasn’t until three days before the wedding, when I went for a final walk-through, that I pushed open the doors of the hall and a thick wave of floral scent hit me in the face. The entire wedding hall was practically buried in flowers. Before I could even speak, my throat had already started to close. My chest felt like a hand had clamped around it. My airway squeezed tighter and tighter, and even my fingertips began to go numb. Adrian was quick to realize something was wrong and caught me. Nina’s face went white in an instant, and the next second her tears fell. “I’m sorry, Claire. I really didn’t know.” “I just wanted to give you the most beautiful wedding. You never even told me you were allergic to pollen!” She cried so convincingly. But we’d been to the flower market together before, and I’d broken out in a rash after just a few minutes. That day, she was the one who took me to the hospital for the medicine. My face flushed red, and I glared at her. “You... you’re lying...” But before I could finish, Adrian pressed my hand back down. He turned and looked at me, impatience already in his eyes. “That’s enough.” “She didn’t do it on purpose.” My breathing came faster and faster, and the world kept flickering black at the edges. Adrian only frowned. “If you’d been clear about this sooner, it wouldn’t have blown up like this.” In that instant, I didn’t even have the strength left to struggle. The paramedics arrived quickly and lifted me onto a stretcher. Adrian started to follow. But Nina cried so hard she could barely stand, and she clung to his sleeve. In the last second before the ambulance doors shut, I saw him stop where he was. He held Nina and comforted her in a low voice. And I lay on the stretcher, my throat sealed shut, able to hear nothing but my own thin, ragged breathing. In that moment I didn’t cry, and I didn’t make a scene. I just wished time would move faster. Faster still. Fast enough to reach the wedding day. Fast enough that I could finally vanish from Adrian’s world for good. Chapter 3 The allergic reaction was worse than I’d imagined. That night my fever wouldn’t break, and an angry rash spread across my skin. The doctor said I needed rest, that I couldn’t be exposed to any triggers for at least a week. But the wedding was only three days away. Once the news made it back to the estate, the Vale family’s people came to the hospital fast. They stood outside my room, voices low behind a half-closed door. “Everyone coming to the wedding is the cream of the city. Looking like she does now, how is Miss Sutton supposed to show her face?” “The Don’s wedding can’t become a joke. Better to postpone it, wait until she’s recovered.” “It’s already been postponed once. She really is nothing but trouble.” I lay in bed listening, and couldn’t even be bothered to open my eyes. Not long after, Adrian came. When he pushed the door open, the room went silent at once. A few of the family elders started to speak, but Adrian swept them with one cold look. “She is my bride.” “Anyone who says she can’t show her face can get the hell out of this family.” The whole group shut their mouths at once. Once, those words would’ve meant everything to me. Now, I only looked at him, calm. Adrian came to my bedside and looked down at the rash on my face, his brow knit tight. “Still hurting?” I shook my head. He was quiet for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Do you want to postpone?” I looked at him, my tone firm. “No.” He was startled, and then he smiled. “I know. You’ve waited a long time for this day.” “Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.” I lowered my eyes and gave a soft sound of agreement. That night, Adrian brought in the best doctors, along with several professional makeup artists. They gathered around me, working out how to cover the rash. Adrian stood off to the side, watching me in the mirror. “On the wedding day, you’ll be the most beautiful bride.” Yes. I would be the most beautiful bride. And this would be the last Adrian ever saw of Claire Sutton. In the final three days before the wedding, Nina’s social feed never went quiet. There was the lavish villa, the limited-edition sports car, the jewelry she’d just won at auction for a sky-high price. Everyone thought she was blissfully happy. But the day before the wedding, she came to my hospital room with a face like a storm. “Claire Sutton. Call off the wedding tomorrow.” I looked up at her. Nina finally stopped pretending. She sneered. “You really think he can’t live without you? Don’t forget, the day we were taken, he chose me.” “Last month, the shootout at the docks. He said he was going to deal with a traitor, and you waited all night for him at the estate.” “But the moment his wound was patched up, the first room he walked into was mine.” She stepped closer, one pace at a time, undisguised contempt in her eyes. “And that family dinner.” “You thought he sent you home early because he was worried you’d feel out of place.” “The truth is, what they discussed in the second half was beyond you, and you had no right to hear it.” She stared at me, spelling it out word by word. “Do you even know how this family works? Do you know which glass to raise, which words to swallow, which table you can’t sit at?” “You’re a waitress who flinches at the sound of a gun. What makes you fit to be the Don’s wife?” I listened quietly until she finished. Then I smiled. “You’ve said a lot. But the one standing beside him tomorrow is still going to be me.” Chapter 4 Nina’s face stiffened. I looked at her and said it slowly, one word at a time. “You look down on me this much, and yet in the end you still cried in my arms and asked... why you weren’t as good as me.” At those last words, her expression twisted in an instant, and her hand flew up to strike me. But right then, footsteps sounded outside the door. Adrian was back. Nina’s hand froze, and the next second she suddenly turned, grabbed the vase off the table, and smashed it hard against the floor. Without a flicker of hesitation, she dropped to her knees on the shards. Blood seeped from her knees at once. When Adrian pushed the door open, what he saw was Nina kneeling in the broken porcelain, sobbing so hard her whole body shook. “Claire, I never meant to ruin your wedding. It was all an accident.” “You’re my best friend. How could I not want the best for you...” Adrian’s face darkened instantly. He crossed the room in a few strides and lifted Nina up. He raised his eyes to me, and that one look was full of disappointment. “Claire Sutton. How did I never know your heart could be this cruel?” I sat on the hospital bed and said nothing. Adrian looked at me, his voice colder still. “You used to carry home stray kittens just because they were hurt.” “You’d stand up for a waitress a customer had reduced to tears.” Nina clutched his shirt, shaking her head through her tears. “Don, don’t blame Claire... she just cares too much about this wedding.” The moment those words landed, Adrian’s expression only got worse. He looked at me, ice in his eyes. “Apologize to Nina.” I didn’t move. Adrian’s voice dropped, low and final. “Claire Sutton, don’t forget, you were nothing but a waitress carrying plates.” “I’m the one who put you at a Vale wedding. I’m the one who made those family elders lower their heads and call you their Donna.” “If you can’t even learn this much grace, then I can just as easily send you back to where you came from.” I went still, sure I’d misheard. Adrian had chased me for three years, and at first I’d refused him. He was a mafia Don, and I was just a waitress. His world had guns, and blood, and enemies that never ran out. My world had menus, shift schedules, and rent due at the end of the month. I’d said, “Mr. Vale, we’re not from the same world.” He’d said, “Then I’ll step into yours.” And later, he really did chase me like an ordinary man. He came to the restaurant to eat, and he waited in line, and he waited for a table. I refused his gifts, so he stopped sending expensive jewelry and just brought me an umbrella on rainy days. Once, when I worked until dawn, he sat outside the restaurant and waited for me. No luxury car, no gun, none of those silent guards at his back. Just a late-night meal going cold in his hands. He’d said, “Claire, I’m learning. Learning how to love you like a regular man would.” In that moment, my heart had finally softened, and I reheated that cold meal for him. But now, he was threatening to kick me back into my old life. I drew in a deep breath, and in the end I gave a bitter little smile. “I’m sorry, Miss Ashford.” With that, I turned and walked out of the room. I didn’t catch the flash of confusion in Adrian’s eyes. Not long after I left the hospital, an encrypted text came through. The new identity was ready. Name, documents, exit records, all of it spotless. I stared at the screen for a few seconds, then booked a plane ticket under the new name right away. That night, I went back to the estate. Adrian sat waiting in the living room, a black velvet box in front of him. When I came in, he lifted his eyes to me. “Today, I’ll chalk it up to you being upset.” “The wedding is not being called off.” He opened the box. Inside sat a black ring. “This ring is the symbol of the highest power in the Vale family.” Adrian picked it up, grabbed my hand, and slid it onto my ring finger. “After tomorrow, everyone will know you’re my wife.” “Claire Sutton, I’ve given you every bit of grace I can. It’s time you learned some sense.” I looked down at the ring on my hand and remembered what the kidnapper had said. The heart I’d thought had gone numb still ached, a fine, needling pain. After a moment, I gave a slight nod. “All right.” Adrian’s face finally eased. I turned to go, and he called me back. “Have Nina be your maid of honor tomorrow.” I stopped short. Adrian’s tone was flat, like he was informing me of the most ordinary thing in the world. “The bridesmaids you’d chosen don’t belong at a Vale wedding. They couldn’t handle an occasion like this.” “Nina comes from the Ashford family. She knows the rules, and she can hold things together for you.” My throat tightened, but I still couldn’t stop myself from asking. “If you think my friends aren’t worthy of attending our wedding, then why are you marrying me at all?” Adrian frowned faintly. “Claire, the wedding isn’t just about you. It represents the face of the Vale family.” He looked at me, his tone so cold it bordered on cruel. “You need to learn to be grateful.” “Standing here at all is only possible because I’ve silenced a lot of talk for you.” He looked at me, disappointment in his eyes, and the cold impatience of a man looking down from on high. He was like a completely different man from the Adrian who used to worry I’d feel small, who used to soften himself in front of me. I let out a deep breath, and it was a long while before I spoke. “I only have one last question. Was this your decision, or Nina’s idea?” Adrian was silent for a beat. Then he knit his brow, as if he couldn’t understand why I insisted on nitpicking something so small. “Does it make a difference?” “Nina was only worried you’d never been through an occasion like this and might embarrass yourself on the spot. She offered to help smooth things over for you.” “She’s always looking out for you, and yet you make things hard for her at every turn. Claire Sutton, I want you to be reasonable.” In that moment, even arguing suddenly felt pointless. “Since the Don has already decided, then we’ll do it that way.” At that title, Adrian’s face finally darkened. He was about to say something when a call from Nina pulled him away. In the silent, dark living room, the rash on my face itched and stung, but it was nothing next to what Adrian had just said. That night, Adrian didn’t come back. The next day, I got up early and and had my camouflage makeup done. The rash was covered without a trace, but underneath, my skin still itched like mad. While the maid was arranging my dress, Nina walked in, and the maid behind her said in a low voice, “Miss Sutton, the Don gave instructions. Miss Ashford will oversee the entire flow of the wedding today.” “The veil, the ring, the train, how to walk in, where to stop. All of it is up to Miss Ashford.” The maid withdrew, and Nina came to stand behind me, adjusting my veil. “I always used to think that not marrying him meant I’d lost.” “But looking at you now, I realize I was wrong. Because you married him, and you don’t look all that happy either.” I watched her in the mirror, and after a moment I said quietly, “I feel the same way.” Nina’s hands went still, and the smugness in her eyes flipped instantly to fury. But the bells outside had already begun to ring for the start of the wedding, so she could only grab the veil, stone-faced, and go wait for me at the doors of the hall. Inside, the guests were seated, and Adrian stood at the far end of the aisle. The organ began to play, but the doors stayed shut. The next second, a maid stumbled into the hall, her face bloodless. “Don, Miss Sutton is gone!” She was gasping hard as she raised a trembling hand. In her palm sat a single black ring. “There’s no one in the dressing room. This was the only thing left on the table.”