Chapter 2

Aurora Espinoza POV:

My hand trembled as I retrieved my phone, the screen still displaying Kiera's triumphant, hateful post. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst through my chest. The anger was a hot, scalding liquid, burning away the last vestiges of my wedding-day joy.

"This Kiera," I said, my voice shaking but strangely steady. I thrust the phone toward Jacob, the screen glaring. "This Kiera is your wife."

Jacob's eyes widened, a flicker of genuine shock finally breaking through his composed facade. His jaw tightened, and the calculated mask he wore evaporated, replaced by a raw, furious panic.

He snatched the phone from my hand, his fingers surprisingly strong, and stared at the screen. The color drained from his face, leaving him a ghastly white. He scrolled through the comments, his eyes darting, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. The video, the marriage license, Kiera's smug declaration-it was all there, undeniable.

Silence hung heavy in the room, suffocating and thick with unspoken accusations. The distant sound of wedding music downstairs felt like a cruel joke.

Then, Jacob, still clutching my phone, let out a short, hollow laugh. It was a sound devoid of humor, brittle and false. He looked at me, his eyes now devoid of warmth, filled with a cold, calculating anger.

"This is it?" he scoffed, waving the phone dismissively. "This is what you're getting so worked up about? This is some desperate girl's pathetic attempt to get attention." He tossed my phone back onto the bed, the screen briefly flashing Kiera's triumphant face before going dark.

My own phone. My own evidence. He was already trying to erase it, to deny it.

"Pathetic?" I echoed, my voice rising. "Jacob, she posted a marriage license! With your name on it! She's claiming to be your wife!"

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Oh, for God's sake, Aurora! You're so naive! Do you really think I'd marry someone like her? An obsessed intern? You think I'd jeopardize everything we've built, everything we have, for... that?" He gestured vaguely, his disdain palpable.

"Then what is it, Jacob?" I demanded, stepping closer, my anger finally finding its full voice. "Explain it! Explain why my fiancé, on the day of our wedding, has a marriage license with another woman!"

He hesitated, his eyes darting around the room as if searching for an escape route. Then, a new mask descended-that of the burdened hero, the compassionate savior.

"Fine," he said, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. He looked tired, put-upon, as if I was the one causing him grief. "You want the truth? The ugly truth? Then prepare yourself, Aurora, because it' s not pretty."

He sank onto the plush armchair, head in his hands, feigning distress. "Kiera... she's always been a little... troubled. Obsessive. You remember how she was, even back then. Always lurking, always watching."

I remembered her being quiet. Not obsessive. But I listened, a cold dread twisting in my gut.

"Her grandmother," he continued, his voice low and mournful, "she was dying. Terminal. Kiera came to me, in tears, practically begging. Her grandmother's last wish, Aurora. Her dying grandmother's last wish was to see Kiera settled, married to a good man." He looked up, his eyes pleading for understanding. "She fabricated this whole story about us, about her being my 'secret love' all these years. And her grandmother... she believed it. She truly believed Kiera and I were meant to be."

My jaw dropped. "You married her because of a dying grandmother's wish?" The words tasted like ash. My own dying grandmother had wanted to see me married. Would he have married a stranger for her too?

"It was a pity marriage, Aurora!" he insisted, his voice rising in desperation. "A pure act of charity! I couldn't say no. Not to a dying old woman. I intended to annul it immediately after she passed. A quick, quiet annulment. Nobody would ever know."

He pushed himself up, coming to stand before me. "I was going to tell you, of course! After the annulment was finalized. But then... then her grandmother rallied, for a bit. And then she passed, only a few days ago now. I was going to handle the paperwork this week, before our reception, but with everything going on..." He trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the opulent room, at the wedding dress I wore.

"So, you just forgot?" I hissed, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "You forgot you were married to someone else? You forgot to annul it before you stood here, hours before our own wedding, and pledged your life to me?"

"No, of course not!" he cried, reaching for me again. "I never forgot you, Aurora! You're my life! This... this was a momentary lapse in judgment, an act of compassion that got out of hand. I swear to you, Kiera means nothing. She's a manipulative, obsessive girl who preyed on my good nature."

His words, once so convincing, now sounded hollow, like a desperate performance. The compassion, the pity he claimed to have felt for Kiera, felt like a slap in the face to me. What about my feelings? What about the seven years we' d spent building our lives, our company, our future?

"Pity?" I scoffed, stepping away from him. "You married her out of pity? Do you know what I sacrificed for us, Jacob? For our company? My entire savings, my inheritance, my youth! Every late night, every cancelled holiday, every single penny I poured into making our dream a reality. And you-you're telling me you married someone else out of goddamn pity?"

His face hardened. The aggrieved savior disappeared, replaced by a cold, calculating businessman. "Oh, here we go," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Always about the money, isn't it, Aurora? Always about what you 'sacrificed.' Don't tell me you're suddenly going to claim victimhood and start tallying up your contributions."

My blood ran cold. "Victimhood? Jacob, I'm wearing a wedding dress to our reception, and you're married to another woman! What do you call that?"

He stared at me, his eyes narrowing to slits. "Look, I'm trying to be understanding here, but you're being hysterical. This is a minor misunderstanding, one I can fix. I'll get the annulment. Kiera means nothing. You mean everything. Don't ruin our day, Aurora." He reached into his tuxedo jacket. "How much do you want? To make this go away? To forget all about this Kiera nonsense and get married?"

He pulled out his wallet, a thick wad of cash visible inside. He peeled off a few hundred-dollar bills, holding them out to me. "Just take it. See it as a little something for your troubles. Now, let's go get married."

The money felt like a filthy insult. He was trying to buy my silence, to buy away his betrayal. My vision swam with tears of pure, unadulterated rage. My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms.

"You think this is about money?" I whispered, my voice trembling with suppressed fury. "You think you can just pay me off?"

He shrugged, a dismissive flick of his hand. "It always is, eventually, isn't it? Just name your price. We can sort out the company shares, whatever you need to feel... compensated. Just not today. Not right now." He took another step towards me, his eyes hard. "Don't make a scene, Aurora. You wouldn't want to embarrass yourself. Or me."

His words were a threat, a thinly veiled warning. He wasn't asking; he was telling. And in that moment, something inside me snapped. The years of love, of trust, of building something together, shattered into a million irreparable pieces.

My hand still clenched the rose he'd given me. Without thinking, without a single thought beyond the primal urge to hurt him as he had hurt me, I swung. The thorny stem caught him across the cheek, leaving a thin, red line.

Jacob stared at me, his eyes wide with disbelief, then morphing into pure, unadulterated fury. The gentle mask was gone, completely. This was the real Jacob, cold and vicious. He raised his hand. Before I could react, his palm connected sharply with my cheek. The force of the blow sent me reeling, my head snapping back. I stumbled, falling heavily against the ornate dresser, pain exploding behind my eyes.

My ears rang. My cheek stung, a fiery imprint of his hand. I tasted blood. He had hit me. On our wedding day. After marrying another woman. After gaslighting me.

He stepped back, his chest heaving, his eyes blazing with a frightening intensity. "You BITCH!" he snarled, his voice raw with menace. "Look what you made me do! You think you can just assault me? You think you can ruin my reputation, ruin everything I've worked for, and get away with it?"

He pointed a shaking finger at me. "From now on, Aurora, you're the other woman. Not her. You." He spat the words, venom dripping from each syllable. "And if you try to make trouble, if you try to expose me, I will make sure you lose everything. Every single thing. Starting with your good name."

His threats, his violence, his utter lack of remorse-it was a brutal awakening. I lay there, my cheek throbbing, my heart aching with a pain far deeper than any physical blow. The man I loved, the man I was supposed to marry, was a monster. And I was trapped.

But as I lay there, looking at his enraged, distorted face, a cold, hard resolve began to form in the shattered pieces of my heart. He wanted to destroy my good name? He wanted me to lose everything? He would soon learn that Aurora Espinoza was not a woman who went down without a fight. He would learn what it meant to truly lose everything.