Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 412

The guests filled the rows, hundreds of them, the men in their best suits and the women in hats and jewels, and the photographers lined the aisle like they were waiting for a royal wedding. It was grand. It was luxurious. It was exactly what the old hag would have wanted, and Madam Lily had delivered it exactly to plan.

"The bride is still waiting inside her car, sir," one of my men told me. "She cannot come out until the groom has arrived."

I found it unnecessarily dramatic. But I got out of my car, stood by it, and I waited.

Then the door of the bride's car opened, and the bride began to get out.

I quickly read a message on my phone before I looked up. Then I saw the bride.

And suddenly, I couldn't breathe. My phone almost fell off my hand, and my heart began to beat so fast, it was impossible to control it.

The bride stepped out in white silk, a dress that seemed to drink the light, and I should have been looking at her, but I was not.

Behind her stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Scarlett. The maid of honor, in a dress the color of deep green water that brought out the fire in her hair, her shoulders bare, her eyes bright, and she had no idea what she was doing to me, none at all. I had known she was beautiful. I had not known she was this. Then her eyes found mine across the lawn, and she smiled.

The smile shattered every bit of self control I had left.

Right in front of me, Tasha stood in her wedding dress, staring up at me with wide, innocent eyes, and she did not hide her gaze from me anymore, not the way she used to. A second ago, I had completely forgotten that she was standing there, right in front of Scarlett.

I swallowed, and I took a step back, and the cameras kept snapping, capturing every second of it.

My eyes went back to Scarlett, and she was still staring at me, still smiling, and an ominous feeling settled into my chest so deep that I began to second guess every decision I had made, every plan I had laid, every step I had taken to get here.

And I found myself wondering, with the cameras flashing and the bride waiting and the whole city watching, "Am I making a mistake?"