After the wedding party, I was about to toast our marriage with a glass of champagne with Eric Hawthorne.
Then the door to the walk-in closet in our new bedroom swung open.
Madison Vale stepped out in a spaghetti-strap nightgown, walked straight over to Eric, and settled onto his lap, her arms wrapping around his neck.
“You always come see me first when you get home,” she murmured. “If you don’t come tonight, I’ll never get to sleep.”
Eric’s expression darkened, but he didn’t push her away. He just guided her into the guest room next door.
Before closing the door behind them, he turned back to me, still frozen in place.
“Maddie’s out of line. I’ll handle this. I’ll make sure it never happens again.”
A moment later, the sound of Madison’s tearful voice drifted through the guest room door.
The two maids by the staircase didn’t look remotely surprised. One of them headed into the guest room with a robe and a glass of water.
“Eric made Maddie cry again. They’ve been like this since high school. You’d think a wedding would be enough to make them stop.”
“One of them always coaxes, and the other always gives in. Who in this house doesn’t know the drill?”
Their smiles vanished the moment they saw me.
“Elodie, you’re new to this family. Don’t make a scene over something like this. It won’t do anyone any good.”
I lowered my eyes to the champagne flute in my hand.
We hadn’t drunk from it, and we hadn’t signed a marriage license.
The Hawthorne family had insisted on holding the ceremony first, with plans to go to the Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office the next day to make it official.
Which meant I could still call this whole thing off.
Since the marriage hadn’t legally begun, the things I had promised the Hawthornes—they wouldn’t be getting a single one.
He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 11 I couldn’t help but laugh. “Maybe we should move to the conference room. If you stand here, everyone’s going to think they’re about to be served with a notice of breach.” Wyatt wasn’t offended. He followed me inside. “Perhaps I was a
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 10 “It’s enough to put the end of the relationship and the business decisions in writing. I don’t want to argue with them anymore.” Wyatt nodded. “Alright. We’ll do it your way.” The car door shut, cutting off the argument erupting behind us.
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 09 What the Hawthorne family had always wanted wasn’t a daughter-in-law willing to swallow her pride. It was the orders and financing they were about to lose. “The deal we had on the table was an annual procurement framework large enough to keep
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 08 Not long ago, Hawthorne Apparel had been trying to restructure its debt. They had reached out several times, hoping to secure a meeting with Wyatt, but had never succeeded. He was also outside counsel for the Carrington Group. Eric knew exactly what
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 07 Madison froze for a second, then laughed. “This is a family dispute. What gives you the right to interfere? Did she bring you here to put on a show?” She looked him up and down. “Nice suit. Elodie, is this a friend
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 06 The moment he saw the moving trucks, his face darkened. “Elodie, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Madison immediately latched onto his arm. “She’s trying to empty the house! She brought all these men here, people we don’t even know.
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 05 “She walked out on her own last night, and now she’s back with a whole group of men.” “She looked so proper at the wedding. Turns out she couldn’t even wait one night.” I took out my phone, started a video recording,
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 04 The next morning, I returned to the Hawthorne house with my assistant and a moving company. The garage held the furniture I had shipped from my Manhattan apartment. Upstairs, my clothes and jewelry were still in their boxes. I made a list
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 03 Eric didn’t respond to me. He just put an arm around Madison and guided her back into the guest room. Before he shut the door, he said one last thing: “Come find me when you’ve calmed down.” Through the closing crack, Madison
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He Chose Her On Our Wedding Night So I Took Everything Chapter 02 When I didn’t answer right away, Eric must have assumed I was about to back down. “Alright. Go back to the master bedroom. I’ll come over as soon as Maddie calms down.” I looked at him. “And what are you coming over
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