Chapter 3 - The Bride’s Entrance
“Liam! What is going on out here? The photographer is waiting—!”
The shrill, high-pitched voice cut through the heavy silence like a glass cutter. Jessica Callaway stepped out onto the terrace, draped in three yards of imported French lace, her veil pinned like a cloud above her meticulously curled blonde hair. She looked radiant, young, and utterly clueless about the bomb that had just detonated in her reception courtyard.
Then she stopped.
She saw Liam standing frozen a few feet away from me, staring down at my triplets as if he were looking at ghosts. She saw Victoria gripping the marble balustrade so hard her knuckles were translucent. And she saw me, standing in an emerald silk gown, smiling like a cat that had not only caught the canary, but owned the entire aviary.
“Who is she?” Jessica demanded, marching over to Liam and grabbing his arm. Her diamond-encrusted engagement ring flashed in the sunlight. “Liam, why is your ex-wife here? And why are there children in tuxedos at our wedding?”
Liam didn't answer her. He couldn't. He was still staring at Leo, whose amber eyes—the exact shade of Liam’s own—were blinking up at him with polite indifference.
“They’re not just children, Jessica,” I said, stepping forward smoothly to fill the suffocating silence. “They’re Sterlings. Triplets, actually. Born five years and two months ago. Which, if you do the math on when Liam and I were still legally sharing a roof, means they arrived just a little bit before the divorce papers ink was even dry.”
Jessica’s face went from pale ivory to a furious, blotchy crimson. “You’re lying! Victoria told me you couldn't have children! She said you were broken!”
“Oh, darling,” I laughed softly, stepping close enough for her to smell my Chanel perfume—ironically, the same one Victoria wore, but better. “Victoria is many things, but a certified OB-GYN she is not. Turns out, I wasn't broken at all. I just needed a husband who wasn't so busy entertaining tech heiresses to actually make a family.”
“Guards!” Victoria’s voice finally cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. Two towering security guards in black suits stepped out from the side corridors, looking nervously between Victoria and the CEO. “Remove this woman and these... these bastards from the property immediately!”
“Touch my children,” I said, my voice dropping an octave, losing every trace of playfulness, “and I will personally ensure that your precious family company faces a federal SEC investigation so brutal your grandchildren will be paying the legal fees.”
The guards stopped dead in their tracks. They knew who I was. Or rather, they didn't know who I was now, but they saw the cold, absolute authority in my posture—and they knew what kind of lawyers a woman wearing twenty thousand dollars worth of custom emerald silk could afford.
“Mom,” Leo tugged gently on my sleeve, his little voice breaking the terrifying tension. “Can we go eat the tiny sandwiches now? I’m hungry.”
May you like
I looked down at my son, the fierce anger in my chest melting instantly into a warm, protective glow. I knelt down, smoothing his lapel. “Of course, sweetie. Let’s go find some food. It seems the adults here are having a bit of a meltdown.”
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