They Rejected Me—Then I Married The Billionaire They Feared Chapter 09
The next time I saw Adrian was the day I married Felix.
As the car neared the church, I caught sight of a small group by the side entrance.
Adrian. Caleb. Logan.
They were in suits, but they looked hollowed out—stripped of every ounce of the assurance they used to wear like second skins on the Grant estate.
Sienna was on her knees at Adrian’s feet, clutching the hem of his trousers and crying.
He looked down at her, and there wasn’t a trace of softness left in his face.
She crawled over to Caleb and begged.
Caleb took a step back. He wouldn’t even let her fingers touch his shoe.
Logan had always been the fiercest defender of hers. This time he shook her off without a second thought.
She sprawled on the pavement and looked up at them, sobbing. Still the same pitiful little tableau. But this time, no one bent to lift her.
The car glided past them.
Adrian looked up.
Our eyes met through the glass.
He was thinner. His eyes were webbed with red, like he hadn’t slept in days.
I looked at him once, then away.
After the engagement, my father had offered the three of them a check and a clean exit from Grant Group.
None of them took it.
They said they would pay back every debt they owed the Grants.
When I heard that, I felt almost nothing.
All those years—the Grant estate, the best schools, the trust distributions, the connections that opened every door, the projects, the cars, the apartments, the very identities they wore in the city—none of it could be closed out with a check.
They wanted to pay it back. First they’d have to be capable of it.
The car stopped in front of the church.
Fireworks bloomed above Manhattan, and the whole street lit up gold.
Felix was waiting for me at the end of the red carpet.
He rarely used the wheelchair anymore.
When the guests saw him standing, more than a few faces changed. But no one dared to ask.
He held out his hand.
I placed mine in his.
His grip was steady. He walked me down the aisle, one step at a time.
Blessings washed over us from both sides.
Near the end of the ceremony, someone slipped an unsigned envelope into my hand.
I saw the handwriting and knew instantly who it was from.
Adrian.
I didn’t open it.
I simply let my fingers go slack and let it fall.
The train of my gown swept over it. The guests behind us walked over it.
I didn’t look back.
Felix watched me the whole time, a smile in his eyes.
Just before the priest could pronounce us husband and wife, Felix motioned to his assistant, who handed him a document.
He placed it in front of me.
“I hereby voluntarily transfer the entirety of my personal assets to my wife, Evelyn Grant. Without condition. Signed today, effective today.”
The church went still.
Even my father was stunned.
I stared down at the paper. For a moment I couldn’t find my voice.
Felix leaned down and asked, softly, “It’s not too late to change your mind. Do you still want to marry me?”
I pressed a hand to my mouth and nodded.
He smiled, put the pen in my fingers, and guided my hand as I signed.
Then he looked into my eyes and said, “I swear to you—for the rest of my life, I will hold nothing back from you.”
Every person in that church heard him.
Not once, after that day, did anyone say the heir to the Grants needed a husband to hold up the room for her.
After the wedding, Felix proved—thoroughly—that we would not be needing any medical assistance for children.
Within three years we had two.
A boy. A girl.
After our daughter was born, Felix went and had a vasectomy on his own.
He said he never wanted me to go through the pain of childbirth again.
Later, my father told me that Adrian, Caleb, and Logan had gone into business together after leaving Grant Group. They lost everything. Then they lost more than everything, drowning in debt. In the end, the three of them left the country and never came back.
Once Sienna’s lies unraveled in public, every hand that had ever reached out to help her fell away. She was eventually charged with fraud and evidence tampering. From what I heard, her life was not a soft one.
I listened. I nodded.
Those people had nothing to do with me anymore.
Out in the garden, Felix was walking toward me, a small hand in each of his.
Our daughter had a rose clutched in her fist.
Our son was running too fast and nearly tripped.
Felix bent and scooped him up, then held out his other hand for me.
I looked at the three of them, and finally, I smiled.
My life—my whole life ahead of me—was right here.
The End.