“Aunt?”
Ralph knelt on the red carpet, his whole face twisting.
He looked like he couldn't understand the word.
I used to call him Big Brother Ralph.
Nina called him that too.
And now his uncle had made me his aunt.
Those two words hit harder than any slap.
“Dean, you can't marry her.”
Ralph gritted his teeth.
“The one she loves is me.”
“She's followed me since high school. When I went abroad, she waited. When I came back, she married me.”
“You think she actually wants to marry you?”
“She's just hurt because of me. She's sulking.”
Dean looked at me.
“Is he right?”
I didn't answer right away.
A flicker of hope lit in Ralph's eyes.
“Lena, I know you're angry.”
“I admit it. I handled today badly.”
“But we've been together for years. You can't just cut that off.”
Nina grabbed his sleeve.
“Ralph……”
Ralph didn't look back.
His eyes stayed nailed to my face.
It struck me as almost funny.
This was exactly who he was.
He could stand there on our wedding day, holding another woman's hand, forcing me to step aside.
And then, the moment I turned away, put on the face of a man who'd been betrayed.
“Ralph.”
I spoke.
“Do you still remember? Three years ago, when my father was in trouble, I knelt at your family's door and begged you for help.”
His expression shifted slightly.
“The situation was complicated back then. I didn't have a choice.”
“No choice?”
I nodded.
“You said if I married you, you'd help the Hensons keep our last piece of land.”
“And what happened?”
“The land went into a Delgado project, and my father was left carrying all the debt.”
“You used my mother's medical records to force me into signing a prenup.”
“You told me that other than the title of Mrs. Delgado, I could forget about walking away with anything.”
The murmuring in the room started up again.
Martha roared “Shut your mouth!”
“Lena Henson, don't stand there twisting black into white.”
“Your father's investment failed on its own. What does that have to do with the Delgados?”
I looked at her and smiled.
“What's the rush, Martha?”
“I haven't even gotten to you yet.”
Her face twitched.
Nina seemed to sense something was wrong and tugged Ralph backward.
“Ralph, let's just go.”
“It's fine if the wedding doesn't happen. I don't want to put you in a hard spot.”
The more she backed away, the more the irony hit me.
She hadn't looked like this earlier, when she was forcing me out of my place.
Dean's assistant stepped up onto the stage.
The wedding photo on the screen was taken down.
My name and Ralph's disappeared.
In their place, two names.
Lena Henson. Dean Delgado.
Another round of sharp breaths ran through the room.
Ralph stared at the screen, and the last bit of reason in his eyes shattered.
He shot to his feet.
“Who gave you permission to change it?”
“This is my wedding!”
Dean unhurriedly straightened his cuff.
“The contract was signed by Lena Henson.”
“The bills were paid by Lena Henson.”
“The bride is Lena Henson too.”
“Which part of this is you?”
The color drained from Ralph's face.
Martha was so furious she was gasping.
“Dean, if you dare marry her today, I'll pretend I never had you for a son.”
Dean smiled.
“When did you ever treat me like one?”
The line was soft.
But it froze Martha where she stood.
I turned my head to look at him.
Dean didn't explain.
He simply took my hand and led me toward the stage.
The officiant's legs had already gone weak with fright, but he forced himself to pick up the microphone anyway.
“So, so the wedding continues?”
Dean said “It continues.”
Ralph rushed forward.
“I don't agree to this!”
The words were barely out when the ballroom doors were pushed open from outside.
Several people in uniform walked in.
The man at the front held out a badge.
“Mr. Ralph Delgado, someone has reported you for suspected business fraud and illegal transfer of assets.”
“Please come with us.”
The bag in Nina's hand dropped to the floor.
Ralph's head snapped toward me.
“Lena Henson, was this you?”
I stood under the lights, holding up the hem of my wedding gown.
“Don't rush.”
“This is only the first gift.”
“The first one?”
With hands clamped down on his shoulders, Ralph was still staring at me, hard.
“Lena Henson, what the hell did you do?”
I didn't answer.
Because Nina had suddenly dropped to her knees.
She went down fast, but kept her belly carefully shielded.
“Miss Henson, I'm begging you, let Ralph go.”
“He just lost his head for a moment.”
“If you have to hate someone, hate me.”
“I'll get rid of the baby, I'll leave Bayport, and I'll never show up in front of you again. All right?”
Ralph growled “Nina, what are you saying!”
Nina only cried harder.
“I can't just stand here and watch her destroy you.”
“I know Miss Henson hates me, but the baby really is yours.”
The moment she said it, the guests started murmuring again.
“Say what you want, a pregnant woman is still a pitiful thing.”
“Isn't Lena Henson being a bit cruel?”
“The man's the one who did wrong. What did the baby do?”
Listening to all of it, I nearly laughed out loud.
This world really was something.
When a woman gets her wedding stolen out from under her, they say she doesn't know her place.
When the mistress kneels down and sobs a couple of times, suddenly the baby is innocent.
Dean started to speak.
I gave his hand a squeeze.
“Let me handle this.”
I walked over to Nina.
She looked up at me, tears hanging on her face, but there wasn't the slightest panic in her eyes.
“Miss Henson……”
“Drop the act.”
I crouched down, my gaze settling on her belly.
“That baby in there. Is it really Ralph's?”
Nina's face froze.
Ralph snapped “Lena Henson, you'd even slander an unborn child?”
“Slander?”
I took out my phone and opened a recording.
Nina's voice came through almost at once.
“As long as I show the baby on the wedding day, the Delgados will have to acknowledge it.”
“That idiot Ralph is the easiest one to fool.”
“He says I look like his dead first love. I squeeze out a couple of tears and he'd hand me his life.”
Another man laughed, low and dirty.
“And the baby?”
“The baby's yours, obviously.”
“Once I've got the Mrs. Delgado spot, I'll find a way to kick Ralph out.”
The recording ended.
The banquet hall went terrifyingly quiet.
Ralph looked like every bone had been pulled out of him.
Nina's face went white, not a trace of color left in it.
“No. That wasn't me.”
“It's fake.”
She scrambled up and lunged to grab my phone, and Dean's bodyguard blocked her.
I looked at Ralph.
“Hear it clearly?”
“Your true love.”
“Your baby.”
“For her, you wanted me to hand over my own wedding.”
Ralph's lips trembled.
“Nina, say something.”
“Tell me it's fake.”
But Nina's face changed all at once.
She reeled in her tears, turned, and pointed at him.
“Ralph, quit playing the victim.”
“If you hadn't told me Lena Henson was easy to push around, would I have come here to make a scene?”
“You said she couldn't leave you, said her parents were in your hands, said she wouldn't dare fight back.”
“Now that it's all blown up, you want to shove everything onto me?”
Ralph's eyes went bloodshot.
“You lied to me?”
Nina let out a shrill laugh.
“So what if I did?”
“Didn't you lie to her too?”
“We're all filthy. Who's any nobler than who?”
Martha was so furious she clutched her chest.
“Drag this woman out of here!”
Nina thrashed and screamed “Your Delgado family isn't clean either!”
“Ralph siphoned off the Henson money, and every one of you knew!”
That line went in like a knife, straight into the Delgados' lungs.
The officers turned to Ralph.
“Mr. Delgado, please cooperate with the investigation.”
But Ralph seemed to go mad, wrenching free all at once and throwing himself at me.
“Lena Henson, I'll kill you!”
Dean yanked me back behind him.
The next second, the bodyguards had Ralph pinned flat to the floor.
His face pressed into the red carpet, wretched as a dog.
I stood over him, looking down.
“Ralph.”
“Weren't you the one who cared most about keeping face?”
“Today, I'll give you all the face you could ever want.”
