The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife (Blair and Grayson) novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6

~CHASE~

My world shook.

One second I was standing in the back of the packed church, half-listening to the music and the soft murmurs of the elite crowd, and the next I was staring at the woman who had once been the center of my entire existence walking down the aisle on the arm of a man I hated more than anyone on this earth.

Blair.

My Blair.

Except she wasn’t mine anymore. She was walking toward Grayson fucking Shaw in a gown that looked like it cost more than my entire contract, her hair swept up, diamonds glittering at her throat, and that soft, almost shy smile she used to save only for me.

My lungs forgot how to work.

Beside me, my wife’s fingers dug into my forearm so hard I felt the bite of her nails through the sleeve of my suit.

“Chase,” she whispered, voice soft and stunned. “That. . .that can’t be her. Tell me that’s not Blair.”

I couldn’t answer. My throat had closed completely.

The ceremony continued like some sick dream. Grayson stood at the altar looking every bit the smug bastard he was—tall, sharp, expensive.

When Blair reached him, he took her hand like he had every right to it. Like he hadn’t stolen the one person who had ever really known me.

They turned to face the priest.

And then the vows started.

I barely heard the words. All I could see was the way Grayson’s thumb brushed over the back of her hand. The way she looked up at him. The way her lips moved when she said “I do.”

My wife’s voice cut through the haze, low and sharp. “She’s not a billionaire. Blair Monroe was never a billionaire. I looked her up last night after you got that weird invitation. There was nothing. No photos. No social media. Just a name on some old family registry. This has to be a joke. Or a scam.”

I swallowed hard. “I checked too.”

She turned her head sharply. “What?”

“Last night. Monroe has three daughters. One of them named Blair. But there were no pictures anywhere. Nothing recent. Nothing public. I couldn’t prove it was her.” My voice sounded strange even to me—flat, distant. “I told myself it couldn’t be. That the name was just a coincidence.”

The family kept their personal lives locked down. There were no public photographs of the daughters. No social media trails. No easy way to confirm which face belonged to which name. At the time, I had told myself it was a coincidence. A desperate stunt using a famous last name.

Now she was standing at the altar in front of half the league, and the doubt was getting harder to ignore.

The officiant reached the end of the vows.

“You may kiss the bride.”

Blair turned toward Grayson without hesitation. She rose onto her toes and kissed him.

Fuck. I hated it. Seeing her kissing another man. It bothered me more simply because it was that damn Grayson.

I had known her for nine years. Six of those years she had been mine. I had been the one who kissed her in parking lots after late practices. I had been the one she waited for. And now she was kissing another man in front of a room full of people like it meant something to her. Like she wanted that kiss.

I’d tried to hide our relationship when we were dating. Sometimes I made her wear disguises. Other times, I only met her in private. No one knew she was the girl I’d been dating except those extremely close to me.

Sophie made a low, disgusted sound. “Look at her. Acting like she belongs up there. It’s embarrassing.”

I barely heard her.

It was the kind of kiss that said mine in a language everyone in the room understood.

The memories kept on coming.

Late nights in the library when neither of us could sleep. Her laughing into my mouth when I kissed her after practice.

And then I became captain. I started cheating the second I moved up.

The coach’s daughter had started showing up more. Sitting in the stands. Waiting after games. Smiling at me like I was already hers. I told myself I owed her. That the only reason I had the C on my jersey was because of her father’s influence. When she finally said she liked me, I didn’t know how to say no without risking everything I had worked for.

That was the truth I didn’t like examining too closely. Once the C was on my jersey and Sophie began telling me her father had pushed for me because of her, everything shifted. So I married her. I convinced myself it was the practical choice. The smart choice. Blair had always been soft.

Quiet. Easy to keep in the background. Sophie understood the world I was stepping into. She looked the part. She played the part.

Marrying her had felt like securing my future.

Watching Blair kiss Grayson Shaw made that future taste very bitter.

Sophie tugged on my arm again. “Chase. Are you even listening to me?”

“What?”

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