Chapter 9
Hearing the housekeeper’s words, Ewan glanced around the room and noticed that the once warm and cozy room was left with an empty bedframe. His pupils constricted. With a violent kick, he overturned a chair nearby.
His knuckles were pale, and veins bulged at his temples as he bellowed, “Nova, you’ve grown bold! How dare you pull this running–away–from–home act!
”
The butler cautiously asked, “Mr. Shaw, would you like to send our men to search for Ms. Sterling?”
“No need. If I do, it’ll be exactly what she wants! I’ll ignore her, and she’ll be back within three days!” he fumed.
In the days that followed, Ewan busied himself with wedding preparations. He selected everything from the bridal bouquet to wedding rings, pouring all his care and effort into them.
The following day would be his big day with Wynter, but Nova hadn’t shown up even once. There was not even a single message from her.
In the end, he lost his patience and dialed her number. “Nova, are you done with your nonsense?”
The response he received was a mechanical voice saying, “Sorry, the number you’ve dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”
Ewan’s expression fell. Now that he recalled, this was the first time Nova blocked him.
Wo matter how mad she had been in the past, she would just ignore him. But now, she had the nerve to cut him off completely.
He stared at the phone, and his voice trembled with rage. “Fine, Nova. I doubt you can keep this going forever!”
Today was his wedding, and he refused to believe Nova would miss it. After all, she’d once gone as far as to destroy her reputation and be humiliated just to force him to marry her.
How could someone like that possibly accept him marrying another woman?
That thought calmed all of his panic.
Ewan and Wynter’s wedding was held by the sea.
She’d once told him that her ideal wedding had to be by the ocean, so he booked a beachside venue just for her.
The layout design of the wedding was stunning, and Ewan had selected every visible decoration himself.
Since Wynter loved taking pictures, he had airfreighted tens of thousands of fresh flowers to create a 30–feet–high flower wall.
All desserts at the venue were custom–made by a renowned chef flown in from Belmora. The patrolling soldiers at the entrance showed just how important the wedding was to Ewan.
Guests took their seats in awe and marveled at his display of wealth.
Soon after everyone was seated, the wedding march began to play. High above, a fleet of drones lit up the sky and traced out an image of Ewan and Wynter locked in a kiss.
Wynter stepped toward Ewan slowly, dressed in a wedding gown worth over a hundred million dollars. Children below squealed in delight at the beauty of the bride.
Nonetheless, Ewan kept staring at the entrance.
This was supposed to be his wedding, but his phone never received a single message from Nova. He’d told the soldiers to keep an eye out for her, but there was no sign of her whatsoever.
Could it be that Nova’s words were true, that she didn’t love him anymore?
Just as he was lost in thought, the host’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“Mr. Ewan Shaw, do you take Ms. Wynter Linwood to be your lawfully wedded wife, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold, from this day forward, until death do you part?”
Ewan hesitated. He lifted the microphone and was about to speak when a giant screen lit up.
When he witnessed what appeared on the screen, his eyes widened. For a moment, he was so shocked that he could barely utter a single word.
