It Doesn’t Matter Anymore novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Inside the banquet hall, the crystal chandeliers sparkled brilliantly.

Allison wore a mermaid-style red dress, breathtakingly beautiful. She held Jerico’s arm, standing at the center of the stage, receiving the blessings of everyone present.

The emcee held the microphone, beaming, and said, “Now, may the bride and groom exchange their tokens of love.”

Jerico took out a uniquely designed diamond ring, just about to place it on Allison’s finger.

“Bang-!”

The doors of the banquet hall were suddenly flung open.

The loud noise instantly silenced the entire room, and everyone turned around in astonishment.

Greyson stumbled in, barely able to keep his balance.

He looked utterly disheveled-his suit ill-fitting, hair in disarray, his face as pale as paper, with only his eyes shining with a frightening intensity.

Security guards rushed forward to stop him, but he shoved them away in a frenzy. He crashed into the champagne tower, sending glass shattering across the floor, and amid a chorus of shocked cries, he charged to the foot of the stage.

“Don’t put it on-!!”

His hoarse, broken shout echoed through the banquet hall.

Allison’s fingers paused slightly. She turned around, looking down at him from above.

Greyson scrambled onto the stage, trying to grab Allison’s hand, but Jerico stepped sideways to block him.

“Allie…” Greyson knelt on the floor, looking up at her, tears mingling with cold sweat as they rolled down his face. “Don’t marry him… please, don’t leave me…”

Trembling, he pulled out a dinner knife he had snatched from a table, pressing it in reverse against his own chest.

The tip of the knife pierced his shirt, and blood began to seep out.

“You hate me, don’t you? You hate me for making you lose the baby, hate me for hurting you because of Sylvia… Kill me! Allie, stab me! If it will make you feel better, my life is yours! But I beg you, don’t leave with someone else…”

He cried like a child, humbled to the point of utter insignificance.

A collective gasp swept through the guests below the stage, and someone raised a phone to record the scene.

Allison looked at the knife, and at the man who had once been so high above, now kneeling and begging for mercy.

She gently pushed Jerico aside and took a step forward.

“Greyson.” She spoke, her voice not loud, but carried clearly throughout the hall via the microphone.

“In this life, in the next, for all eternity, I will never forgive you.”

With that, she no longer looked at the man collapsed on the floor, as if his spine had been ripped out.

She turned around, faced Jerico, and willingly extended her left hand.

“Mr. Langely, please put it on for me.”

Jerico gazed at her deeply, took her hand, and slowly slid the ring-a symbol of commitment-onto her ring finger.

At that moment, everything settled.

Greyson watched helplessly as the ring locked her in, and with it, all his hopes were completely extinguished.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, and amidst the chaos of screams, lost consciousness completely.

On stage, Allison rose on tiptoe and, in front of everyone, kissed Jerico on the lips.

Resolute, yet full of affection.

As if bidding farewell to the past, and as if declaring to the whole world- that rainy night.

The one living now was Jerico’s fiancée.