The Wedding Game That Cost Him Everything Chapter 01
At Isolde’s wedding, Tucker’s best friend, Sloane, proposed a game she called “Price the Vows.”
She looped a ribbon around Isolde and gave it a hard yank.
The ribbon, marked with five thousand dollars, went taut, and Isolde’s wedding dress nearly slipped.
“I’m offering five grand to buy her out of marrying Tucker.”
Sloane jerked her chin toward the massive screen behind the altar.
“Simple rules. Each ribbon has an amount written on it, plus something Tucker is willing to sacrifice from his vows. If he makes the transfer, he agrees to the terms.”
Tucker just smiled and sent the money.
Sloane flashed the payment screenshot on the big screen.
A public payment from an heir was as good as a binding agreement.
Isolde clenched her fists, ready to refuse the guests now closing in around her.
Tucker lowered his voice. “Sloane’s just trying to liven things up. Don’t make a scene.”
Isolde froze.
Once, Sloane had stuffed balloons under her shirt and faked a pregnancy, tricking Isolde, a surgeon, into pressing a stethoscope to her stomach to listen for a heartbeat.
Then she’d popped them right in her face.
The blast had left Isolde with temporary hearing loss.
Tucker had called it a great joke.
On the night of their engagement party, Sloane had deliberately left a drunk Isolde stranded outside a bar.
That neighborhood wasn’t under Tucker’s protection. A stranger had nearly dragged her into a car.
Tucker had insisted that was just a joke, too.
In his eyes, everything Sloane did was entertaining.
The guests began scrambling to tie ribbons to the hem of her dress.
One man held his up and shouted, “I wrote thirty grand. To buy the audacity she has, marrying a guy like you.”
“If you dare make that transfer, the wedding’s off,” Isolde said, her voice ice.
Tucker frowned. “Everyone’s just having fun. Come on, honey. Don’t be like this.”
Sloane chimed in from the side. “Yeah. Don’t be such a killjoy.”
The next second, a phone notification chimed.
A thirty-thousand-dollar transfer receipt appeared on the big screen.
The room erupted.
Suddenly, Isolde didn’t have the energy to argue anymore.
Sloane was right.
From the start, this whole thing had been a meaningless, humiliating charade.
…
…
“The game is officially on!”
The moment Sloane’s excited announcement cut through the air, the crowd surged forward.
Isolde lunged for the emcee’s microphone.
“Don’t touch me. The wedding is canceled.”
But the mic was dead.
She looked up at Tucker.
He was the one who had signaled the sound engineer to cut it.
He offered her a placating smile, then stepped back two paces to stand beside Sloane.
Hands began grabbing at her wedding dress, tying ribbon after ribbon onto the delicate fabric.
In their world, silence was a form of command. Tucker didn’t stop them, so no one was going to take the bride’s protests seriously.
That sharp ringing returned to Isolde’s ears.
Yesterday, Sloane had tricked her family and friends onto a small island off Long Island with spotty reception, calling it a “pre-wedding surprise.”
Now, there wasn’t a single person here on her side.
Sloane called this a test. If a bride without Family backing couldn’t handle this, she wasn’t fit to stand beside an heir.
Riiip—
In the chaos, someone wasn’t just tying on a ribbon—they were yanking at her dress.
Isolde snapped back to reality and stumbled away from them.
“Stop. The wedding is canceled. I’ll make sure Tucker’s father and every caporegime knows what happened here today.”
The room went quiet for a beat.
If the Family head started asking questions, the outer-circle people here could lose their protection. Even the man who had just grabbed her dress froze.
Sloane just laughed, smoothing it over. “The bride’s joking. If Tucker accepted your bid, come on up and get paid.”
She looped her arms around Tucker’s neck, practically hanging off him as she waved at the crowd.
Tucker was smiling, his eyes glinting with tacit approval.
The guest hesitated, then stepped forward anyway.
The moment the transfer notification sounded, the crowd surged again.
Isolde was quickly backed into a corner.
Her voice was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
Too many hands were on her. More and more of her was exposed.
“Tucker!”
She hugged herself, her voice raw from shouting.
Across the crowd, Tucker saw the scraps of her wedding dress scattered on the floor, and the smile finally vanished from his face.
“Enough.”
The crowd didn’t stop right away.
“I said, enough.”
This time, they finally began to drift back.
Tucker had not yet inherited the Moretti Family, but he was already the designated heir, the Family’s second-in-command. In this hall, his second command was law.
Most of the hoop skirt under Isolde’s dress had been torn away.
Someone laughed under their breath. “Didn’t make it to the front, but damn, getting to touch a bride that pretty was worth it.”
“Seriously. An heir’s wedding is insane.”
“Shut up,” Tucker snapped.
He took off his suit jacket.
When he saw the red marks on Isolde’s arms and legs, his expression darkened.
“Didn’t I tell you not to go too far?”
People in the crowd started glancing at each other uneasily.
Just then, Sloane sneezed.
“Is the AC on too high?”
Tucker paused, then immediately turned and draped his jacket over Sloane.
Isolde was shivering in the cold air, goosebumps rising on her bare arms.
Sloane made a show of shrugging it off.
“Gross. What, you think I’m your date?”
Tucker pressed her hand down. “Keep it on.”
Sloane huffed. “Fine. Better.”
Isolde drew a deep, steadying breath.
She yanked down a nearby decorative curtain and wrapped it around herself, then slowly pulled herself to her feet.
Tucker reached out and caught her arm. “Where are you going? The ceremony isn’t over.”
They still hadn’t exchanged rings. Once the ceremony was complete, Isolde would be publicly recognized as the future heir’s wife and fall under the Moretti Family’s protection.
Isolde gave a cold laugh. “You think this wedding can possibly continue?”
He studied her for a few seconds, then that smile returned.
“You’re right. Stitching all these ‘blessings’ back into a wedding dress will take some time. Go on back to your room and rest.”
At that moment, Isolde had a thousand things she wanted to say.
In the end, she said only one.
“Tucker, we’re done.”