The Wedding Game That Cost Him Everything Chapter 04
“Be good. Sloane handled all the wedding arrangements. Don’t waste her effort.”
Tucker took Isolde’s phone and locked her in the dressing room.
He used his authority as the heir to control the door. No one dared let her out.
Isolde borrowed the makeup artist’s phone.
Only after calling the coastal rescue center did she learn that every boat and person on that remote island had already been pulled out.
There were fifteen of them in total, all the people closest to her.
Some had sunburn, some had heatstroke, some were badly frightened.
The worst off were those who had been bitten by insects after spending the night on the beach.
Her best friend, Chloe, was three months pregnant and had been among them.
All because Sloane thought the bride’s friends should have to prove they could survive one night without protection in an unprotected area before they deserved to attend a Moretti Family wedding.
After the rescue, they had tried to call and tell her.
But her phone had already been shut off.
Isolde was sick with guilt and rage.
She had been too careless. She shouldn’t have just kept double-checking the schedule, forgetting that in Tucker’s world, schedules could always be changed by someone with more power.
She pulled the ruined wedding dress over her clothes and had the makeup artist lead her back to the ballroom.
As she passed the bar, she grabbed two open bottles of red wine.
Tucker and Sloane were sitting side by side, taking pictures.
Isolde walked up behind them and poured both bottles over their heads.
Sloane jumped to her feet with a shriek.
“Are you insane? This dress is borrowed couture. It’s one of a kind.”
“You abandoned my family and friends on an island with no cell service. There was a pregnant woman among them, and they spent the night on a beach before a hurricane. I think you’re the one who’s insane.”
Sloane was breathing hard with rage.
“Tucker, are you just going to stand there while she bullies me?”
Tucker looked as if his patience had finally run out.
“Isolde, that’s enough. This wedding has been a disaster because of you. Sloane has already given you plenty of slack.”
Isolde stared at him in disbelief.
“Did you hear what I said? Chloe is pregnant. She spent the night on a beach and was bitten by insects.”
Tucker’s expression didn’t change.
“Weren’t they rescued already?”
“We don’t even know if her baby is going to be okay,” Isolde could barely get the words out.
Tucker’s tone stayed flat.
“She’s not carrying my heir. If something happens, that’s just bad luck. Don’t blame everything on Sloane.”
Isolde looked at him and felt a chill spread through her entire body.
When no one had supported their relationship, Chloe had always stood by her.
When they fought, Chloe had been the one trying to talk sense into them both.
After Isolde accepted the proposal, Tucker had even said Chloe deserved most of the credit and that he would be grateful to her for the rest of his life.
Apparently, his lifetime was very short.
Isolde tore off the last scraps of the wedding dress still hanging from her shoulders and flung them in his face.
His ring for her was still tangled in the torn fabric.
Taking it off in front of all those witnesses was a public rejection of the identity and protection the Moretti Family had not yet officially bestowed.
Tucker’s expression changed instantly.
His eyes reddened as he reached out and pinched her chin.
“Isolde, are you threatening me?”
“You promised me you wouldn’t play games with our marriage.”
Then he shoved her, hard.
Isolde stumbled and fell to the floor.
Tucker turned away and picked up two cloth-covered boxes from the head table.
He strode toward the enormous ornamental fish tank in the middle of the ballroom.
The moment Isolde saw the boxes, her whole body went rigid.
They were her parents’ urns.
The two outer-circle witnesses closest to the tank took a reflexive step back.
Insulting the dead was enough to ignite a blood feud. They all knew Tucker only dared to do this because the Blake family had no one left to demand repayment from the Morettis.
Sloane wrapped her arms around Isolde from behind, holding her fast as she struggled to get up.
“I had your parents’ ashes brought here specially. I wanted to surprise you.”
“At first, I thought bringing a dead girl’s parents to her wedding would be interesting.”
She clicked her tongue.
“You really made him angry this time.”
Isolde’s throat was so tight she couldn’t force out a single word. She could only stretch her hand out, desperate.
Once, Tucker had stood before her parents’ graves and sworn he would never make her unhappy.
Now, he was pouring their ashes into the water.
And water was what her parents had feared most in life.
After the car crash, they had drowned.
“Isolde, you ruined our wedding.”
Tucker took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his hands.
“Now you know what it feels like to watch something you care about get destroyed.”
Mouth open, Isolde stared blankly at the ashes clouding the water.
“All right. That’s enough. Everybody go. The wedding is postponed for three days.”
The paid witnesses began to file out quickly.
They knew what they had just seen was enough to spark a blood feud, and they also knew the code of silence required them to keep their mouths shut.
Tucker escorted Sloane out.
“Think it over. The wedding will continue in three days. Don’t make a scene then.”
Isolde stood there for a long time.
Until she was the only one left in the flower-filled hall.
Then she dialed a secure number that had called her many times before, her voice hoarse.
“I agree to leave Tucker, but on one condition.”