Otto stared at how serious I was, and the words came out ragged with impatience:

"It's a piece of paper, Denise. Do you really have to blow this up, embarrassing me on purpose in front of all these guests?"

"Our wedding isn't going to fall apart over one wrong word on the vows, and what I feel for you isn't going to cool over one typo."

He reached out and caught my wrist, straining to hold his temper down:

"Come on, be good, no more of this, all right? Everyone's watching."

My fingertips went taut. I didn't give an inch:

"I want new vows. This matters to me."

Otto's patience burned out completely. His brows knotted hard, he flung my hand away, his voice thick with accusation and disbelief:

"Are some lousy vows really that important? More important than me marrying you?!"

I didn't answer him. I asked the question I'd been keeping buried:

"You kept your bet with her, but you ruined our vows."

"Otto, in your heart, who is it you're really meant to spend your life with?"

"You, of course! But keeping your word to a friend is just basic decency!"

"Why do you have to throw a fit at me on a day this important?"

Oscar once told me that someone who truly loves you never mistakes you for anyone else, and never calls you by the wrong name.

Because that face was eighty percent Oscar's, I'd bent to Otto in everything these five years, never once losing my temper.

He knew better than anyone how much this wedding meant to me, and still he wouldn't yield an inch.

Because he was certain the deal was sealed and I had nowhere to go.

That no matter how big a scene I made, in the end I'd marry him like a good girl.

I lifted my eyes and looked straight at him, my voice very calm:

"I'm not throwing a fit. I only want a set of vows that's my own."

Otto looked at me like I was a person too stubborn to reason with, and finally let out an incredulous laugh.

"Denise, if you keep this up, there's really no point in getting married at all!"

A wave of sharp gasps went through the guests.

Lena chimed in softly:

"Denise, you're really taking this too seriously. You're making things awkward for everyone…"

I slowly loosened my grip on the vows and let that absurd piece of paper drop.

Five years tangled together, void with one sheet of paper.

Oscar wouldn't have some "girl friend." He wouldn't humiliate me in front of a crowd like this.

And he'd never use "no wedding" to threaten me.

Otto could never be him.

Before, I'd understood and forgiven every single time. But today this typo-ridden set of vows tore through every lie I'd been telling myself.

Seeing me go quiet, Otto thought I'd caved, that I was scared, and his tone hardened further:

"If you've come to your senses, get over here and go through the ceremony. Stop making things difficult for the elders."

I swept my eyes across the room. My parents and all eight of my brothers were waiting for me to decide.

So, in front of every guest, I spoke calmly:

"Fine. This wedding is off."

Otto Sanchez stared me down like he'd never met me before.

In his eyes I had always been meek and long-suffering, loving him with a stubborn, self-effacing devotion that could never, on our wedding day, walk out in front of everyone.

He decided I was just putting on a show, sulking, and the corner of his mouth curled into a cold, mocking smile.

"Denise Henson, do you even know what you're saying?"

His voice climbed higher, sharp and dismissive, dripping with contempt.

"It's one wrong word. A tiny, trivial thing. And you have to blow it up into some big principle and turn a perfectly good wedding upside down?"

"You are completely impossible!"

I watched him, cold-eyed.

"Weren't you the one who said the wedding was off? I'm only agreeing."

Otto choked on that, his jaw clenching.

His parents stepped forward at once, dressing me down in front of everyone.

Katherine Sanchez frowned, her tone scathing.

"Denise, don't take this the wrong way, but your temperament really is dreadful. You never talk, you sit there dull as a mute, and you're contrary and touchy on top of it."

"Throwing a tantrum at something this important, at your own wedding? Who could put up with that?"

"Our Otto is young, accomplished, a success. He could have any kind of woman he wanted. His being willing to settle down honestly with you is a blessing beyond your wildest hopes. Don't sit in the middle of good fortune and fail to see it."

Saul Sanchez put on the same stern face and chimed in.

"It was just a little joke, no need to cling to it. What are people from a small, ordinary family like yours doing putting on grand-lady airs? Do as Otto says, finish the wedding, and stop making a spectacle for people to laugh at."

Lena Quinn's eyes reddened, and she played the wronged, sensible peacemaker.

"Denise, a wedding is the great event of a lifetime. Don't let your feelings run away with you. As long as you don't throw a fit and just get married properly, I promise I'll keep my distance from Otto from now on. I'll never get tangled up in your life again, all right?"

She said it generous and aggrieved, and the moment the words were out, tears came rolling down.

Otto's heart clearly broke for her, and his face filled with fury as he suddenly rounded on me and shouted.

"Denise Henson! You just have to keep pushing until you make her cry, is that it? What is it you're really after?!"

"Lena's the one stepping back and apologizing, promising to stay away from me, and you still won't let it go. Apologize to her, now!"

Before I could open my mouth, a cold, cutting man's voice cut in.

Aiden Henson stepped up and planted himself in front of me, tall and straight, staring dead at Otto.

"Her apology is something you can't afford!"

All eight of my brothers moved into place behind him, their presence filling the space.

Otto faltered for a moment, then slid back into the posture of a man who thought himself above us, his tone an aggrieved accusation.

"Aiden, even you're going to indulge Denise in this nonsense? It's a small thing, one apology, and you'd rather see both families lose face over it?"

"As long as Denise apologizes nicely to Lena, I'm willing to let it all go, and the wedding goes ahead as planned."

Benedict Henson let out a scoffing laugh, cold rolling up in his eyes, the pressure of him bearing down.

"Who exactly do you think you're threatening?"

"Otto Sanchez, I'd advise you to think before you speak. One more wrong word and I'll show you, right now, just how flimsy this so-called success of yours really is."

Otto wasn't having it. He shoved Benedict aside, seized my arm, and started dragging me toward the front.

"Denise Henson, don't think having a pile of brothers makes you right. A wrong is a wrong, and an apology's an apology—you're going to own both!"

The pull sent me stumbling. Two of my brothers grabbed Otto's arm and snapped,

"Let go of our sister!"

The rest closed in around us, ringing him in, leaving him no way out.

Lena's face went pale. She screamed,

"You—what do you all think you're doing? Throwing your weight around like this?"

"Brendan Lambert, Carter Fleming, what are you standing there for? Can't you see they've got Otto surrounded?"

The words had barely landed before Otto's groomsmen crowded in, faces twisting, shouting over one another.

Otto's parents charged over too, grabbing at me, until one of my brothers swatted them off.

Katherine shrieked in my face,

"Denise Henson, don't be so ungrateful. We watched Lena grow up. She's the sweetest, most cheerful girl, and you've bullied her to tears. Is one apology really so hard?"

The whole thing was one spark from blowing up.

Benedict couldn't be bothered with another word. He took out his phone, tapped the screen, and sent off a single message.

Barely a minute passed before Otto's assistant came rushing onto the stage, white-faced and frantic, shoving through the crowd, his voice shaking.

"Mr. Sanchez, we've got a problem! All three investors on the West Harbor project just pulled out at once—the multimillion-dollar one!"

"And—and they've put the word out that they'll never work with our company again!"

The line dropped, and the room erupted.

Otto froze, his pupils shrinking to points. His head whipped around and locked onto Benedict, his voice stunned.

"That's impossible!"

"You're just some ordinary working stiff. Last month you took a hundred grand off me to buy a car. How could you tear down a multimillion-dollar project of mine just like that?"

He shook his head like a madman, panicked and stubborn all at once.

"Coincidence! This has to be a coincidence!"

He clenched his fists white and threw his threat out cold, in front of everyone.

"Fine. Your Henson family's got nerve! She calls off the wedding today, then someday she can come crawling back crying, and I won't spare her a second glance!"

I stood quietly amid all that red silk, and all that was left in me was indifference.

I had actually spent five whole years swallowing everything and bending for a man this shallow, this arrogant, this incapable of telling what mattered from what didn't.

I lifted my eyes to him and let out a cold laugh.

"Otto, I won't beg you."

"The moment you deliberately misspelled my name and turned my own wedding into a joke for a laugh, we were completely finished."

Otto's face went ashen. He ground his teeth and forced out one last vicious line.

"Fine! Let's see who else wants a worn-out shoe like you once you're free of me! Who else can give you the silk and the feasts!"

And just then, from the entrance of the banquet hall came a low, familiar voice.

"Who says no one wants her?"