Chapter 3

3.

On the morning of the wedding, Brooks Sterling listened to the mechanical voice on the other end of the line and crushed his cigarette in frustration.

He couldn't get through to the woman who used to answer his calls within seconds.

"Avery isn't picking up."

He scrolled through his call logs. That familiar number had called him ninety-nine times on the day he was taking wedding photos with Lyra.

Lyra had cried that day, saying she was leaving the country soon and wanted some photos to remember him by.

She said that wearing the dress he designed would feel like she had married him once.

Looking at her face―which was seventy percent identical to Avery's―he had felt like he was eighteen again, desperately wanting to marry Avery.

But why was the woman in the snow with him Lyra, and not Avery?

Lyra noticed his shifting mood and quickly sent him a video of the wedding car.

"Look, Mr. Sterling. Avery is already in the car."

"Maybe she just doesn't have her phone on her?"

Brooks watched the video. I was in a white dress, looking down and smiling with a joy he hadn't seen in years.

He felt an inexplicable sense of relief. A smile played on his lips. "Maybe you're right."

No matter what had happened before, he promised himself he would make it up to Avery after today.

Lyra's face turned pale as she opened another video sent by her assistant.

In that video, I was sitting next to a cold, handsome man who was gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

She grit her teeth. "Impossible... I must be seeing things. How could Avery be with that man?"

The media swarmed the entrance of the chapel. The flashes of the cameras made my eyes ache.

"Miss Thorne, we heard the dress you're wearing was custom-made by Mr. Sterling. Such a romantic gesture!"

"With the Sterling Group on the verge of collapse, was the hundred-million-dollar investment a personal choice or a business one?"

"How do you feel about this wedding of the century?"

I gently pushed the microphones aside and walked straight into the center of the hall.

Brooks turned around at the sound of the commotion. The moment he saw me, the glass in his hand shattered on the floor.

His voice trembled uncontrollably. "Avery... why aren't you wearing the dress I made for you? Who made this one? I've never seen it before."

I ignored the panic in his eyes and grabbed the microphone from the officiant.

In front of all the cameras, I smiled brilliantly.

"I apologize to everyone, but I'm here on behalf of the Thorne family to clarify something."

"The rumored hundred-million-dollar investment... is nothing but a fantasy!"

%%%