My Ex Ran Off with His Mistress, So I Married Her DonChapter 2

The walk back to the ballroom feels a mile long.

Before we reach the doors, I hear voices from the side hall.

Three of Ethan's groomsmen are smoking near the service entrance.

“Bennett really did it,” one of them says. “Seven years with Rachel, and he throws her out of her own wedding.”

Another laughs.

“We told him to move Sophie somewhere else. He said no. Said Rachel needed to stop acting like everything had to be about her.”

My stomach twists.

So this isn't just some emergency.

He chose this.

My mother hears it too.

Her face goes white.

Then she pushes through the ballroom doors.

Inside, Sophie is standing beside Ethan near the dance floor, still wearing her wedding dress.

He slides a ring onto her finger.

Sophie looks up at him with tears in her eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “If you hadn't come for me, I really would've jumped.”

Ethan brushes a tear from her cheek.

“I told you I'd protect you.”

My mother loses it.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Every head turns.

She storms forward and knocks over one of the flower arrangements.

“Ethan Bennett, you bastard!”

“Mom—”

“No!”

She points at him with a shaking hand.

“My daughter is being humiliated in front of everyone she knows, and you're standing here playing husband with another woman?”

She raises her hand.

Ethan immediately pulls Sophie behind him.

Then he catches my mother's wrist.

“Laura, calm down.”

“Don't you dare tell me to calm down!”

His jaw tightens.

Several men near the wall move closer.

Not hotel security.

Bennett men.

Men who spend enough time around mafia families to know how to look threatening without saying much.

One of Ethan's friends steps in.

“Mrs. Collins, Sophie's been through enough.”

He signals to two men.

“Take her somewhere private.”

They grab my mother by both arms.

“Get your hands off me!”

“Mom!”

I rush forward.

They drag her toward a private lounge.

I grab one man's shoulder.

“Let her go!”

Ethan catches my wrist before I can reach him.

Hard.

“Rachel. Stop.”

I stare at his hand around me.

“My mother is being dragged away.”

“They're keeping her from making this worse.”

“You mean embarrassing you.”

His face hardens.

“You're acting crazy.”

Something inside me goes completely still.

“Let go.”

He does.

For one second, his expression softens.

“Rachel, I know you're pissed, but look around. Everyone's already here. I can't exactly switch brides now.”

I almost laugh.

Behind him, Sophie lowers her eyes.

“Go home,” Ethan says. “We'll talk tonight.”

“No.”

A crash comes from the lounge.

Then another.

My father is standing outside the door with a fire extinguisher in both hands.

He slams it into the lock.

Metal snaps.

His hand is bleeding when he pulls the door open.

My mother stumbles out.

Dad puts himself between us and Ethan.

“We're leaving.”

He takes my mother's hand, then mine.

As we cross the hotel lobby, I look through the glass doors.

Down the street, the Russo church is still surrounded by black SUVs.

Armed men stand on the steps.

Capos.

Soldiers.

Men nobody crosses without permission.

And in the middle of them stands Damian Russo.

His bride has been stolen.

His family has been humiliated in front of half the city's underworld.

Yet he looks completely calm.

That somehow makes him more frightening.

He turns his head.

Sees me.

I stop walking.

“Rachel?” my father says.

I pull my hand free.

Then I cross the street.

One of Damian's soldiers moves to block me.

Damian lifts two fingers.

The man steps aside immediately.

I keep walking until I'm standing in front of the most dangerous man I've ever met.

His dark eyes move over my face.

“Rachel Collins.”

He knows my name.

I swallow.

“You need a bride.”

His expression doesn't change.

“So do I.”

For the first time, something flickers in his eyes.

I take a breath.

“Marry me.”